Westport home shines with innovative solar technology

By Meg Barone

A colorful icon of the sun adorns the north-facing side of a house at 130 Compo Road South in Westport. The decorative art work hints at a secret connection between the sun and the structure, which is not apparent until the house is viewed from the opposite side.

Multiple solar panels covering the roof provide much of the residents' electricity and hot water. The Rountree family has lived in the 1910 farm house for 14 years, gradually transforming it into a state-of-the-art green home that has earned an Energy Star designation. They have updated the building to include the latest environmentally friendly technology, the most recent of which is an innovative Synergy Roof manufactured by Schuco Solar, a German company, to combine solar electricity generation, solar hot water heating and heat recovery in one integrated roof system.

The Synergy Roof has been available in Europe for a number of years, but this is the first installation on a home in the United States, said Judi Friedman, of PACE (People's Action for Clean Energy), which sponsored a tour of the Rountree residence Aug. 28. PACE representatives described it as "one of Connecticut's most amazing green renovation homes." The roof was installed in October 2009 by Aleris Renewables.

"It sends warm air into the house in winter and in the summer it draws the heat out," Friedman said. "This is elegant technology that has no emissions," she said.

John Rountree, the homeowner, architect and solar consultant, conducted tours throughout the afternoon, starting in a neighbor's yard for the optimal view of the solar panels and then taking visitors inside to see the improvements he has made.

"I wanted to design this house as a showcase for my work, but also as a showcase of state-of-the-art solar, sustainable design," said Rountree said, a member of the PACE board of directors and a principal of Westport Solar Consultants.

"This is not just his home, but a teaching venue," Friedman said.

This same house was open to the public for a tour about seven years ago, but Friedman said even those who took the tour then might not recognize it now. "You would never know it's the same house because he's done so many more green changes," she said.

Rountree improved air flow with an open floor plan, installed a special European wood stove with a complex flue system that provides efficient heating of the first floor level, and added bamboo floors throughout the house in 2006 because it is a renewable resource.

"The solar system we put on our house is a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art system which combines solar hot water and solar electricity in one integrated roof system," Rountree said. Since then, he said it is generating about 70 percent of the family's electricity. In some months the system over-produces, providing more electricity than the residents need and when that occurs the excess electricity is fed back to the grid and the Rountrees get a credit from the utility company. In April and May of this year, Rountree said his electric bills were $16, basically, that's just the service fee.

"It would be great to have a $200 heating bill a year instead of $200 a month," said David Popoff of Darien, one of dozens of people who took the recent tour. Popoff said green houses aim to save money over the long term while being environmentally friendly. Popoff said he wanted to get a first-hand look at the house because he has made energy-efficient upgrades at his own home and is considering additional work. He said the tour will help in his decision about the next step to take.

People were intrigued with the many features Rountree added. He designed the roof configuration so that the solar panels are flush with the roof, making them more aesthetically pleasing than some solar installations. There are three panels in the middle that are solely used for the hot-water heating system. Those panels are surrounded by others that are designated for the solar electric.

The Wittus wood-burning stove stands vertically in the living room with the "fireplace" portion of it at the lower end and a functioning bake oven above that, which can actually be used to cook a family meal while heating the house.

Friedman called the stove "innovative, efficient and 93 percent green." It provides "a dance of flame at eye level," so people still get the aesthetics of a fireplace while also getting the energy conservation benefit that comes with innovative green technologies, she said.

"The stove basically heats our whole downstairs with a few logs (and creates very little ash residue). We use it almost every night when the temperature is around 30 degrees," Rountree said.

"We made the house very tight. We used spray foam insulation in all the walls and in the roof we used a combination of foam and cotton made from recycled blue jeans," he said.

He also installed a high-efficiency heating and cooling system that he referred to as "hybrid heat," a system that allows the homeowner to control the type of fuel they want to use -- switching back and forth between gas and electricity, depending on what's cheaper at any given time.