High-school science teacher builds energy-surplus house

Dave Boyer built himself a teaching tool.

With the help of a "green" architect and a "green" builder, Boyer, who teaches science at Kernersville Middle School, is putting the finishing touches on a ridge-top home in Stokes County that not only won't require power from commercial sources, but will generate enough extra electricity to sell to Duke Energy.

"On a personal level, I am passionate about the environment and concerned about the planet," he said. "I wanted to back that up."

The solar panels, geothermal heating-and-cooling system and other features make the house so green that the National Association of Home Building has given the house its highest rating -- Emerald. The association says it is the first house in North Carolina -- and one of only 22 in the country -- to receive that rating.

Boyer, 31, has brought students out to see the house as it was being worked on, and he intends to continue keeping them engaged through features such as a system that enables students to monitor, over the Internet, the operation of his home's solar panels.

He traces his desire to building a green house to the life-changing experience of being lost in the Amazon rainforest with a friend for six days in 2002. (Their ordeal was later dramatized on a Discovery Channel show.)

"Before I was lost in the Amazon," he said, "I wanted nothing to do with people or the next generation. Now I have dedicated my life to doing my best to invoke change in the next generation of Forsyth County teens.… I believe my house and property will be the best tool I have for opening the eyes of the youth around me.

"So many of my students last year said, ‘When I get older, I want to live in a house just like yours.'"

Boyer said he started thinking about the project about five years ago. After extensive research, he enlisted the services of Ron Ricci, a Forsyth County builder who works on energy-efficient projects only, and Matthew Rodda, an architect with Steele Group Architects in Winston-Salem, which designs green projects for individuals and for retirement communities statewide.

"I believe it's the right way to build," Rodda said. "Buildings are one of the largest consumers of resources. It has a far-reaching effect."

The house has two types of solar panels -- one that generates electricity and another designed to heat water. The house's air is heated and cooled by a geothermal system set into a trench 75 feet long. The roof is designed to funnel rainwater into a 1,000-gallon cistern behind the house that collects water to use for watering plants. (Drinking water comes from a well.)

Many of the elements inside are made of renewable resources or recycled materials. In the kitchen, the floors are cork, and the countertop is concrete made from dredged river pebbles and fly ash, a residue of burning coal.

Boyer, who is single, estimates that the green features directly added $60,000 to the cost of the 1,375-foot-square house. Ricci has calculated that Boyer will get all that money back in nine years.

"Sixty-five percent comes back almost immediately with tax credits," Ricci said.

The rest would come from energy savings compared with a standard-built home. Eventually, the house would make some money from the electricity supplied to Duke.

Altogether, the house cost about $260,000 to build, and some of the total costs were related to building the house as tightly as possible.

"We say that green-built is better-built," Ricci said.

That has fringe benefits in addition to energy savings.

"We can build a house that is more comfortable for the people living in it," Ricci said. "It's healthier because we control the air in the house."

Rather than air coming in as drafts through gaps, the air comes into the house through a system that filters the air and controls moisture, so mold won't ever be a problem.

Boyer wanted a contemporary design. To maximize the sun's benefits, Rodda put a heavily windowed wall on the south side of the house. Some of the energy efficiencies come from that and from design elements.

"We tried to make everything serve a dual purpose," Rodda said.

For instance, solar panels on the roof serve not only to generate power but also to shade the windows, reducing the amount of heat-generating light that comes in during the summer. The winter sun is lower in the sky, and the design enables that light to come straight in and heat the slate floor.

When the house was being certified, it received points for harvesting lumber from oak trees that grew on the property and using it for such things as stair treads and bookshelves. Other green touches include compact fluorescent lights inside and landscape lighting outside that is solar-powered.

The house sits on 81 acres and has a spectacular view. Looking to the southwest, Boyer can see Hanging Rock, and, when the leaves fall off the trees, he can see Sauratown Mountain.

When looking for the right balance of price and acreage with natural beauty, he looked all around before finding an initial 26 acres that he bought. His parents bought an additional 10 acres. After a timber company harvested the timber on 45 acres, he was able to buy that with help from his family.

Boyer's parents live near Kernersville Middle. Their support and living at their home while he has been developing his project has helped make it possible for someone on a teacher's salary to do what he is doing, he said.

"If it weren't for living with my parents, this house would still be just a dream," Boyer said. "I have been blessed and supported by my parents."

Now that he is living in his house, he will be driving 75 miles round trip to work and even more to referee high-school soccer.

"I have tried to minimize the atmospheric and environmental effects of driving by purchasing a Prius," he said.

One day, Boyer hopes to modify the hybrid electric car with a battery system that would enable him to use power generated by the house to drive all the way to work on battery power only and to plug into his parents' house at the other end.

"Ultimately, I would love to have a zero-emissions vehicle," Boyer said.

kunderwood@wsjournal.com
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