Geothermal Living—

Couple Builds Home Free Of Fossil Fuel Heat

By Kendra Bobowick

Stepping out of a small blue lakefront cottage, Sandy Kuzmich walked past a low stonewall where Lake Zoar lapped at dry stone. She moved toward a footbridge leading to a new 3,400-square-foot home next door. She and Greg Sideleau are building the cedar shingled house on the spot where Ms Kuzmich’s parents’ cabin once stood. The cabin had been perched at the end of an unpaved trail off Great Quarter Road where the ground sloped gently into the lake. In its place is an innovative new structure.

In the mornings she wakes in the nearby cabin that she and Mr Sideleau share and looks at the new construction wondering, “Who is going to live there?” Mr Sideleau had said, “I never pictured living in the house. Since we are [currently] next door, it’s like we have neighbors moving in.”

Reaching down to pet her new puppy that ran free on the job site in late April, Ms Kuzmich looked across a small inlet where CPTV Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network sound and video crew members worked with independent producer Christina DeFranco of Danolas Productions. Minutes later Ms Kuzmich and Mr Sideleau faced the camera. The couple’s home will be featured as part of a series, Empowering Connecticut, on June 23 at 8:30 pm. The show’s theme focuses on energy efficiency and “making the home as efficient as possible,” Ms DeFranco said.

The couple spoke of their new home, its green building features, and their hope to move in by September. “We are really ready,” Mr Sideleau said. The couple has been working on the construction’s concept and design for more than four years.

Touring the build site with the film crews, builder, and contractors, Mr Sideleau nodded toward the light blue cottage where Ms Kuzmich had been earlier. “We’re in a 900-square-foot cottage with two dogs and a wood stove, so we’re chomping at the bit,” he laughed.

Before crossing the bridge joining her old property with the new construction site of mounded earth and bare soil and gravel, Ms Kuzmich looked at the four-level home going up in place of the little cottage her parents had bought in 1956.

“They came up here on weekends,” she said. The structure had featured a great room overlooking their nook on the lake’s shoreline. She and Mr Sideleau had wondered what to do with it. “It was too hard to renovate, so we thought we would start from the ground up. Considering the constraints of building on a waterfront lot with an existing structure, she said that working with the town, following regulations, and designing their new home “took a long time.”

Builder Kim Danziger of Danziger Homes walked with Ms Kuzmich to meet the CPTV crew. Glancing at the front façade, he said, “The fun part of this house is, it’s like art. It’s putting up a piece of art.” He noted that architect Duo Dickinson had designed the home based on the property and the homeowner’s needs. “Its’ been fun to execute,” said Mr Danziger.

“We probably spend three seasons a year outdoors. We’re outdoor people,” Ms Kuzmich said, appreciating features in the architecture that blend the outdoors with the interior. She feels the home’s design “captures that.”

She described a “sleeping room,” which was like a screened-in porch off the bedroom overlooking the forest and a stream feeding into Lake Zoar.

“It’s a movie theater view of the forest,” Mr Sideleau said. “Honestly, I could not be happier.”

A fourth level above the third-floor sleeping area included a room Ms Kuzmich plans to use for office and workspace. “At first I thought about not adding this level, but I could not pass it up.” Thinking of the work she could get done at home, she said, “I didn’t want the clutter in other areas.”

The ground floor basement room is partially below ground on one side of the house, but is open on the other side where interior stone floors will spill out through double doors onto a patio. “It will have the feel of one big space,” Ms Kuzmich said.

Despite the years of planning and the alternative methods used in the home’s heating system, she never encountered an uh-oh moment, she said. “We have prepared for so long,” she said. Crediting both the architect and builder, she said, “We felt really prepared at each stage. We’re prepared.”

Straightening her blouse and standing before the camera, Ms Kuzmich was soon restating her story for the Empowering Connecticut interview, while her new puppy pawed at its reflection in the water, then trailed wet feet along the dock.

Pausing during the filming, Ms Kuzmich glanced back at what will be her new home. “I am so excited,” she said.

Mr Sideleau had said during a phone call days before filming, “The big thing is the geothermal heating and cooling. It’s a big deal.” Their new home will use an “open geothermal system.” Ground water comes up from wells, runs through the system, and returns back to the ground, he said. He had specific reasons for sidestepping the traditional oil heating.

“It’s practical.” Noting that the house is at the end of a roughly 75-yard-long, narrow and steep gravel drive ending at the lake, he said, “How will we get an oil truck there in the dead of winter?”

He also anticipates that they will save money as the price of oil climbs.

“And, it’s political,” he said. Noting his personal trucks and cars, he said, “I buy enough gas…” He would rather buy energy “generated here in the US than buy oil.”

A Geothermal System

Mr Danziger said geothermal is a fancy word for heat pumps. “Rather than exchange heat with the air, we exchange it with the ground.”

The system requires a series of wells to both draw and return water to the ground. The significant expense comes from drilling, he said. All other costs for the heating and cooling system are comparable to traditional systems. Aside from the well, all other parts of the system including the ductwork, etc, are similar.

He described the way the system worked as similar to air-conditioning. “We take the warm air outside and blow cold air inside, but this is the reverse; you’re converting cold ground water into warmth indoors, and reverse in the summer.”

It is efficient and free. Although the homeowner will still need to pay for energy to run the system, there are no longer any fuel costs. “You get back so much more,” he said, estimating that the geothermal system is approximately 400 percent more efficient.

He said that $1 of oil is about $1 of heat, but the electric comparison is about 24 cents to run the geothermal system for the same $1 of heat

He imagines the homeowner will “recapture the cost of the wells” more rapidly as the price of oil increases.

Federal and state tax credits and incentives could also offset the homeowners’ costs for the heating and cooling system. Mr Danziger noted that residents considering new construction should think about taking the green, geothermal approach.