By Sabrina Cardin
Editor's note: This week The Daily News is featuring some of the buildings on the "Green Building House Tour," which will take place on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. as part of a five-town, week-long Earth Day celebration. For more information on events, check out the Web site newburyportearthday.info.
WEST NEWBURY — For Steve Sarkissian and his wife, moving into a 1920s barn was a simple decision — as simple as seeing a "for sale" sign on a casual drive-by.
"We bought this barn to specifically renovate it into our own home and what we wanted," Sarkissian said. "It didn't take us long to decide this is what we wanted to do."
While taking on the task of renovating the barn into a home, the Newburyport native decided he wanted to find an efficient way to heat it. After living in an older Newburyport home and watching his heat flow out the single-pane windows, Sarkissian was ready for alternative energy.
"After seeing the oil truck pull up to my home too often, I decided with this home I never wanted to see an oil truck again," he said.
Sarkissian, who has worked in the carpentry business for the majority of his life, decided geothermal heat was the way to go. The home features a geothermal heating and cooling system, radiant floor heating and a tightly insulated envelope
The geothermal heating and cooling system runs off two bore holes 365 feet in the ground that recirculate water through plastic piles, while circulating heat pumps compress the water, further raising or lowering the temperature.
While living in Newburyport Sarkissian spent $2,600 heating his home in one winter. This year his winter heating bill was a mere $750. Although the geothermal heating and cooling system cost $13,000 more to install than the typical heating system, the average payback is around three to five years.
"Financial consideration was important, but to be considered green played a big role as well," Sarkissian said.
The heated floors are powered by the geothermal heating and cooling system and new windows, doors and energy-efficient insulation have all helped contribute to the home's savings. As well as saving money and helping cut down on energy use, Sarkissian said the heated floors are his favorite perk of thinking green.
"It's great — I love the warm floors," he said. "When planning the construction I knew the heated floors were non-negotiable."
Who: Steve Sarkissian
Where: 602 Main St., West Newbury.
How they went green: Geothermal heating and cooling system, radiant-floor heat and a tightly insulated building envelope.
Why it worked: The geothermal heating and cooling system also powers the radiant floor heating throughout the home, which, paired with the tightly insulated building envelope of energy-efficient insulation, windows and doors, has saved the Sarkissians around $1,800 last winter.
