Homearama Builder Chuck Miller of Miller Custom Homes promises that whoever buys his showcase home will pay only $92 a month for heating and air conditioning – or he’ll make up the difference.

Miller became a leader in the local building green movement by becoming one of the first builders in the area to become an EarthCraft House certified builder. His home is also the first EarthCraft House located in Virginia, east of Richmond. It is one of 17 showcase homes on display in Tidewater Builders Association’s annual showcase of homes Sept. 29 – Oct. 14 in the Edinburgh Meadows neighborhood of Chesapeake.

"I've been building green for over 10 years," says Miller, "But I could never find an agency qualified to test and certify the homes as energy efficient." That is, until the EarthCraft House program was introduced to the Hampton Roads area.

EarthCraft House is a green building program that provides homebuilders with a set of guidelines to construct energy-efficient and environmentally friendly homes. Lower utility bills, better indoor air quality, durable construction and reduced environmental impacts are just a few of the many benefits to living in an EarthCraft House.

From the green roofs to the conditioned crawlspace, the EarthCraft House built by Miller has incorporated energy efficient building products and features from top to bottom.

One of the major energy-efficient products used is the home is spray polyurethane foam (SPF) insulation. SPF is a liquid insulation, which is sprayed into the home's wall cavities. Once in place, the liquid expands to 20 to 30 times its liquid state, filling all the nooks and crannies of the wall as it solidifies into polyurethane foam. SPF provides a much more effective air and moisture barrier than traditional fiberglass and cellulose insulation. It also keeps dust and pollen out, it doesn't shrink or sag over time, and it allows for the use of smaller capacity HVAC equipment, ultimately reducing energy costs.

The geo-thermal HVAC system in the EarthCraft House uses natural energy from the Earth to heat and cool the home. The combination of the SPF insulation and the geo-thermal HVAC system guarantees costs of heating and cooling the 5,350 square foot home will not exceed $92 a month.

The slightly higher up-front costs associated with constructing energy efficient homes has proven to be well worth it considering the savings in utility bills the homeowner will reap, according to Chuk Bowles of Energy Consortium Inc., the firm that provides EarthCraft House builder training and certifies the energy efficiency of the homes.

"Payback on an EarthCraft House is immediately seen within the first month of residence," says Bowles.

All EarthCraft Houses undergo rigorous inspection and testing before being certified. One such test is done to measure the amount of air leakage in the home's duct system. The duct system in the EarthCraft House has been tested and found to have only a three percent leakage.

"Typically, the average leakage for a house of this size is 18-25 percent," says Bowles "This leakage allows precious heating and cooling energy to escape, resulting in higher utility costs."

The effectiveness of the home's duct system reinforces the philosophy of "tight" construction in green building and is an important component of the overall energy efficiency of the home.

Another significant energy saving product in the EarthCraft House is a tankless hot water heater. This device continually heats the water as it circulates through a heat exchanger coil, providing an endless supply of hot water (between 200 to 500 gallons per hour, depending on the size) and saving energy by using gas only when needed to heat the water. This economical system takes up only about two and one-half cubic feet of space, produces low emissions, uses all copper and brass waterways, a rust resistant finish and even has pipe-freezing protection.

The EarthCraft House is also outfitted with florescent lighting throughout, which doesn't produce heat to create light and uses 75 percent less energy than incandescent light bulbs, providing another source of substantial savings on utility bills.

An aluminum foil radiant barrier is on the interior of the roof of the EarthCraft House, which minimizes heat gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter. The barrier prevents up to 97 percent of the radiant heat from entering the home in the summer and prevents indoor heat from escaping in the winter, reducing the amount of energy needed for heating and cooling.

This spectacular home also features two living green roofs, covered with soil and vegetation to be enjoyed as an upstairs expansion of the home's yard areas. This type of roof reduces storm water run-off by capturing rainfall and using it to maintain the life of the vegetation. These roofs also aid in the filtering of pollutants out of the air.

Other green building features of the EarthCraft House include Energy Star appliances; low-E, double paned windows; engineered and renewable wood flooring products; recycled carpeting; a conditioned, heated and cooled crawlspace and energy efficient framing methods.

In the past, many homeowners and homebuilders were not willing to sacrifice the custom-built beauty and elegance of their homes for the long-term benefits of energy efficiency. But now, with progressive new homebuilding efforts such as the EarthCraft House program, both gracious and energy efficient living can be achieved under the same roof.

Even with all of the energy efficient features of the EarthCraft House, Miller has in no way sacrificed any of the beauty and luxury traditionally associated with Homearama homes. The spacious five bedroom, four and a half bathroom house has both upstairs and downstairs master suites. It features granite countertops in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room, stainless steel appliances and ceramic tile flooring. Outdoor living amenities include a 470 square-foot covered concrete veranda, a three-car insulated garage, a whole house audiovisual package and an in-ground swimming pool.

Recent surveys estimate by the year 2010, half of all new homes will incorporate green building elements. Lower operating and maintenance costs of energy efficient homes, along with the environmentally sensitive aspects of this type of building are the primary reasons behind this shift in building practices.

For more information about the in Homearama, call 757-420-2434 or visit www.homearama.tv
For information about the EarthCraft House, visit www.earthcrafthouse.com.