About two hours north of New York City, amid the lush forests and babbling brooks of the Catskill Mountains, sits a new housing development — where every home is designed to avoid the use of fossil fuels.
Hale: “The whole approach is about reducing emissions from the built environment.”
Greg Hale is one of the founders of the development, called the Catskill Project.
He says the homes are designed to maximize efficiency. They’re tightly insulated with triple-glazed windows to prevent heat loss.
And each comes with a ventilation system that brings in fresh air and pushes stale air out. In winter, it captures heat from the exhaust and uses it to help warm the incoming air.
Hale: “So that your heating equipment doesn’t need to work as hard to reach the same internal temperature.”
So the homes need very little energy for heating or cooling. And they run entirely on electricity from rooftop solar panels or community solar.
The Catskill Project now has three finished homes, with plans to build up to 25 in total.
Hale hopes the project inspires other builders to take the same approach.
Hale: “There’s just no reason to be building houses that are going to contribute further to the climate issue.”
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
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