BENNINGTON, VT - The Regional Affordable Housing Corp. officially opened its latest project, eight new units built just next to its South Street headquarters, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday. RAHC Executive Director Ed Bove said he believed the homes, called Downtown Crossing, which are already filled, comprise the most energy-efficient affordable housing project in Vermont.
The project also included four units of affordable housing on School Street which involved the renovation of existing housing stock. Patrick Kane, of Kane Architecture in East Hardwick, said the new housing units included features like solar panels which are expected to provide about 70 percent of the occupants' hot water through the year.
The panels should be able to supply 100 percent of the water in the summer and about 30 percent in the winter, which Kane said created an overall yearly advantage of 30 percent. The units are heavily insulated to prevent hot air from leaking out in the winter and have energy-efficient lighting fixtures installed.
Kane said the units were built to take advantage of their placement with passive solar design. Because the long sides of the buildings face almost true south, the long, low windows allow the sun to heat the air. Frame-like wooden pieces on the south side provide shade in the summer, using a low-tech design that doesn't block the occupants' view and still keeps the inside from becoming too hot.
Heating recovery units in the homes take advantage of the circulation in the building. When fresh air from the outside comes in to replace the stale air inside the building, the recovery units recapture some of the heat energy from air that's now going outside the building.
Low-chemical paints were used, which Kane said didn't increase the energy efficiency but did make them healthier living spaces. Because Downtown Crossing, as its name implies, was built in Bennington's downtown, the people who live there should be able to do many of their errands without having to drive, another energy savings.
Kane said efforts were also made to use local materials when building the homes to cut down on the energy needed to transport them. "This was made possible in very large part to the vision of Ed Bove and the RAHC board to build as energy-efficient a housing project as possible," Kane said.
Downtown Crossing could become a model for other nonprofits in the state, Kane said. Bove said the housing unit rates were set at $500 to $600 a month. Gov. James Douglas, who was in Bennington on Thursday for the ribbon-cutting, said his conversations with Bennington County employers earlier in the day had demonstrated a need for more affordable housing in the area.
The "enviro-friendly" model also made the units attractive when fuel costs have become a source of distress for many in the state, Douglas added. "It's not a large number of units overall in this project but it's the example it sets for all of Vermont that makes it so important," he said.
Source: RutlandHerald.com.