Roxbury, MA: Renovation to a hundred year old Victorian that had been neglected for a number of years. The client's goals were threefold: create a beautiful and inviting home; minimize the environmental impacts of construction and operation; and achieve these in a cost-effective manner. I worked closely with the client to focus on items with the greatest impact: a rigorous strategy of insulating/sealing the building envelope; resuse of existing materials or use of second-hand and repurposed materials where possible, and concentrating on those areas of the house that needed the most work.
After the initial renovation work was completed, a 5.2 kW roof-top solar array and solar hot water panels were added. These measures, coupled with the conversion of the existing oil burner to run recycled cooking oil, have brought the client close to reaching her goal of being fossil-fuel free.
