Unity Collection
What if a prefab home could save you money every month or give you independence from the local utility? Prefab timberframe manufacturer Bensonwood Homes in Walpole, N.H., says it has come up a collection of homes that do just that. Unity Collection, the company says, is the first engineered net-zero homes capable of producing as much energy as they consume.
Designed for efficiency, the house gets its annual energy requirements from sunlight, wind, or geothermal. The key to this system is a highly efficient and tight building envelope. Walls are R-40, the roof is R-67, and the slab is rated at R-20. A heat recovery ventilator will bring in fresh air, triple-glazed windows will help conserve energy, and Energy Star appliances will save water and energy.
“A Bensonwood home is comparable in cost to high-quality construction going on in the area where the home is being built, if that high-quality conventional construction is built with the same durability and comparable insulation in our timber frame homes,” the company says. “However, because Bensonwood home designs and estimates are highly accurate, our clients enjoy the benefit of having predictable costs with very few surprises.” www.bensonwood.com/unity
