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Pleasant Lake Residence
New London, NH
Design of a highly energy efficient residence with alternate sources of energy.
Nestled on a wooded hill on the west side of beautiful Pleasant Lake, this highly efficient, low maintenance home is a warm, quiet winter retreat while providing the perfect summer destination. The 3 acre property, purchased in the mid 1990's, housed a small cottage that the owners used for several years. The family, living in Maine, used the home first as their vacation home while their neighboring property under went renovation, then later for visiting guests. As time passed, the family fell in love with the beautiful New England lakeside, and in 2006 they decided to make New London their home.
The owners, founders of a successful wind and solar energy consulting company, wanted to limit the environmental impact of the new home. The existing cottage was torn down and sent off to be locally recycled, and all trees removed were milled to be used as flooring. Care was taken in all aspects of the design stages; from corrections made to the new home that reduced the amount of harmful run off to the lake, to the high performance, environmentally responsible finishes selected.
New Hampshire is home not only to beautiful lakes and mountains, but beautiful natural building materials as well. By using materials that are renewable and timbered or quarried right here in New England, we make the conscious choice to not only stimulate our local economy, but reduce the impact on our local environment. To be able to achieve this, and deliver a product that gives a family a place to make memories for years to come, we consider this home to be a great accomplishment.
Our team was responsible for the design, construction documents and construction observation of this 5,000 square foot residence. This residence is highly energy efficient, low maintenance and environmentally friendly home. The thermal envelope is several times more insulated than required by code. All the electrical fixtures are compact fluorescents and other low energy use lighting. The heating system is a high efficiency modulating propane boiler with a wood fired boiler which feeds into the heating system or a storage system for later use ( the home owner prefers to burn wood.)
The propane and wood burning usage is a fraction of what a house half the size would be. Domestic hot water is provided by a solar hot water system with a propane instant hot water system backup. Electricity is provided by a roof mounted photo voltaic system. This system provides all the electricity for the residence.
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