Different Houses, Different Places, Same Airetrak

August 2000

Tamarack Technologies, Inc. gets some of its best operational information from special installations that are carefully monitored. At the same time, our products are installed in homes that are "pushing the envelope" on delivering cost effective housing. Recent involvements include the NextGen home developed through PATH (the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing) led by the Steven Winter Group, and the Erie-Ellington Homes designed by another Building America team, the Hickory Consortium, and the GrowHome developed by Hickory and Pliny Fisk at the Center for Maximum Potential in Buildings. These projects are all directed at the low end of the housing market, providing shelter where it is most needed. And the truly remarkable fact is that this housing can be produced and delivered with no increase in up-front cost. In fact this housing will cost the same or less up-front, and considerably less on a day to day basis due to reduced energy costs.

These houses are three remarkably different solutions to relatively the same housing problem. The NextGen house is a manufactured or HUD Code housing unit. The Erie-Ellington houses are "stick" built three family houses. And the "GrowHome" is a very small, very affordable "starter" house. Each of these houses are exceptionally energy efficient, and although they don’t look remarkable (which is part of their charm), they deliver extraordinary value and comfort to their residents.

Next Gen  (additional study)

Danbury, Connecticut

The NextGen prototype house in Danbury, Connecticut is remarkable in how well it blends into its neighborhood. It is not possible to regard the home pictured to the left as a "trailer"! The three-bedroom, two story house has two sections joined together. The 12-in-12 tilt-up roof pitch allows second floor rooms.

The house is Energy Star compliant utilizing energy efficient appliances, windows, and lighting. Heating is supplied by the hot water heater and all the ducting is inside the envelope of the house.

Ventilation for the house is supplied by two Tamarack Airetrak™ controls operating two Panasonic fans. The controls automatically activate the fans to change the air in the air-tight house periodically throughout the day. The fans run at a very slow, unnoticeable background speed. The boost button on the control allow the homeowner to boost the flow as needed.

The manufactured sections of the house were produced by New Era Homes, Strattanville, Pennsylvania and erected for the Danbury Housing Authority by Jensen’s Residential Communities of Southington, Connecticut. The ribbon cutting for the open house took place on a very hot day in mid-May.

Steve Winter at the Ribbon Cutting

Erie-Ellington Homes

Boston, Massachusetts

The Erie-Ellington homes were delivered on-time and within budget of $94 per square-foot. Energy Star and Boston Gas rebates for the project amounted to almost $66,000. As with the other homes described here, because of the minimized heating load, the heating components could be reduced in capacity, in the Erie-Ellington homes saving $1,900 per unit, allowing those funds to be used for the installation of low-toxic paint and flooring. The homes include Airetrak™ controls and Panasonic fans to provide continuous, positive ventilation.

Erie-Ellington Homes

The Green Story

The Erie-Ellington Homes development brings fifty beautiful, affordable homes and a community center to the Four Corners Neighborhood of Boston.  The project is the result of important partnerships between neighborhood residents, the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation (CSNDC), the City of Boston, and public and private agencies. Erie-Ellington is also important because it points the way to a new model for residential development; quality, community based housing that is affordable and environmentally friendly.

The key to environmental performance at Erie-Ellington Homes is whole building design. Greenvillage architects and designers considered all of the components of a home, and how they interact, to make design decisions. A whole building approach made it possible, for example, to use higher quality, low-e windows.  Good low-e windows cost a little more, but because they help to conserve energy, engineers can design smaller equipment to heat each building.  This in turn saves the project money and energy.

Greenvillage developed it's systems-based approach in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy Building America Program.  The Building America Program supports technical innovation across the country for energy efficiency and affordability in residential building.

GrowHome

Austin, Texas

The Center for Maximum Building Potential and the Hickory Consortium have developed the GrowHome in the entirely different environment of Austin, Texas. These are 625 square foot "starter" homes that tuck a living room, bathroom, kitchen and loft bedroom into a very small footprint. These houses go way beyond "standard" housing. For example, the modular alternating stair can serve as a room divider, large table, and part of a closet as well as being a stair to the loft that folds up into the ceiling. The kitchen is mobile and can be wheeled outside. These alterations can open the entire ground floor up into a much bigger space than it would otherwise be.

On top of these unique features, the house is superbly energy efficient, achieving the lowest infiltration level ever recorded in the fourteen years of testing by the Austin testing agency. And that low leakage includes leakage through the doors of our HV Whole House Cooler. This fan is used for nocturnal cooling, making use of the great temperature differential that occurs naturally in the evenings.

The house also includes a Panasonic fan controlled by an Airetrak™ control. Because the kitchen and bath are so close together, the simple system can ventilate both "rooms" easily. The only problem is that the house is so tight, fresh air will have to be brought in throughout the year to make up for that exhausted by the fan.

Tamarack products have shown that they are the best solution to a variety of ventilation problems in a wide range of applications. The Airetraks are the only controls that include speed, time, and interval operation all in a single product. Our line of house cooling products are the only fans that include well insulated, fully powered covers to prevent unwanted air movement.

For more information, a product brochure, or technical and pricing assistance, please contact us at 800-222-5932 or E-mail us at: sales@tamtech.com

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