New Housing Development Features Shared Renewable Energy

January 18, 2008

New Housing Development Features Shared Renewable Energy

by Jennifer Runyon, Managing Editor

In a small town in southwestern New Hampshire a big idea is emerging. It's a concept called cohousing and it's beginning to break ground across America. Here, twenty-nine families live in a neighborhood of single-, double-, and quadruple-family homes that are clustered on a small portion of 113 acres of pasture, ponds and open land. The families will live independently of each other but share some important aspects of life including a farm, entertainment space and energy.

Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm, located in Peterborough, New Hampshire, is made up of quality-built, environmentally-designed homes, a common house, professional office space, a working farm and woodlands with walking trails. The homes are clustered together to encourage interaction between neighbors and foster a real sense of community.

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Because the founders are building houses that should last over 100 years, the design of the buildings is simple, elegant and completely sustainable. "We wanted the houses to be as basic but as quality as possible," says Hulbert. "Kind of in the Shaker mentality of beauty, health and permanence."

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Seven central pellet boilers that use locally produced biomass fuel from New England Wood Pellet will provide heat and hot water to all the homes. According to Hulbert, the array of boilers is the largest residential pellet heat system in the country. "An average family of 4 can expect to pay approximately $900 annually on heating and hot water," says Hulbert. That's a significant savings in New Hampshire where families can have annual heating costs that are more than twice that. Heat recovery on the warm wastewater also lowers hot water costs.

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