BRIGHT-MINDED HOME – January 2014
By Melissa Coleman

Q+A with Jason Peacock and Steve Konstantino of Maine Green Building Supply  

Jason Peacock and Steve Konstantino of Maine Green Building Supply believe the primary goal of efficient building—creating a superior envelope that allows for a downsized heating system and using solar panels—is to ultimately have no utility costs (net zero). They recommend a Green Home Starter Kit, three products to help people create healthy homes that cost less to operate.

1) ProSLAB

Building on an insulated slab instead of a basement lowers construction costs and saves the expense of running a dehumidifier to mitigate dampness. ProSLAB is a pre-molded foam form that was used in the Souler House in Wiscasset (featured in MH+D September 2013 issue), as well as in GO Logic Passive Houses in Belfast.

2) Intus Windows

Triple-pane windows are often considered too expensive for their payback in energy savings. Intus Windows now offers affordable high-performance triple-pane windows with a glass R-value of R-11.36, as opposed to double-pane’s R-4. Horizon Maine’s energy modeling has shown that Intus triple-pane windows can reduce heating load by 30 to 50 percent.

3) SIGA Tapes

There’s a big push in the building science community to make house envelopes tighter in order to achieve higher blower-door ratings. SIGA’s nontoxic acrylic-based tapes have been dominant in Europe for decades. To try them out, Tom Fullam of Near Zero Maine built two houses next to each other. One used caulk and achieved a blower-door result of 1.3 at ACH-50, while the other used SIGA tapes and saw a blower-door result of 0.33 at ACH-50, which brought it well below the Passive House standard of 0.6 or lower.   

Learn more at mainegreenbuilding.com. Share your thoughts at brightmindedhome.com.