BrightBuilt Barn is a Net Zero, LEED Platinum home in Rockport, Maine, completed in 2008 to demonstrate certain principles of sustainable building design and construction. It was named the Most Innovative Home Project of the Year by the U.S. Green Building Council[1] and was featured in The New York Times,[2] and a short documentary film.[3] It is the subject of a 10-year retrospective review in the upcoming Northeast Sustainable Energy Association annual meeting in March 2018.[4]

The project's goals were to demonstrate the principles of sustainable building for future structures and to bring together a critical mass of green designers and builders to help create an "ecosystem" of green buildings in Maine, modeled on the ecosystem of technology start-ups in Silicon Valley.

Features

edit

The Barn was superinsulated and solar-powered. An array of photovoltaic solar panels on the south-facing roof creates electricity for lighting, the solar hot water system pump, and the backup heat pump. The solar panels create enough excess energy to power both the Barn and other homes on the property. The Barn used LED lighting. The Barn feeds electricity into the local grid on sunny days and draws electricity from the grid at night.[5][6]

References

edit
  1. ^ Benfield, F. Kaid (2010-03-18). "Village Green: It's Time to Update What Constitutes a 'Green Building'". HuffPost. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  2. ^ Kurutz, Steven (2009-01-15). "When Its Mood Is Green, So Are You". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  3. ^ "Green Synergy: The Story of Bright Built Barn". Schierholt Pictures. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  4. ^ "The BrightBuilt Barn 10th Anniversary: Celebrating the Birth of Affordable, Off-Site-Built Net Zero and the Industry Change It Spawned". Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  5. ^ Alter, Loyd (2013-07-03). "BrightBuilt Home introduces line of healthy, net-zero designs". TreeHugger. Retrieved 2013-07-03.
  6. ^ Blanco Mullins, Olivia (2009-04-07). "A Bright Idea: BrightBuilt Barns". Mother Earth Living. Retrieved 2013-11-12.
edit

44°9′49″N 69°8′37″W / 44.16361°N 69.14361°W / 44.16361; -69.14361