DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home Hits the Market

• January 6, 2010

by Mark Wellborn

Back in September, we reported that DC’s first carbon neutral home was being built in Capitol Hill. Yesterday, the much-anticipated property hit the market.

The three-bedroom, 3.5-bath home at 19 4th Street NE (map) was gutted and renovated by GreenSpur, Inc., a DC-based building and design firm that uses sustainability techniques to deliver homes that are energy efficient as well as cost effective.

After overcoming a labyrinth of regulatory hurdles and permitting nightmares given the property’s location four blocks from the Capitol, GreenSpur enlarged the home (from 1,000 to 2,100 square feet), hand dug the basement and, in keeping with their mission statement, made it completely green but priced comparably to other (non-carbon neutral) homes in the area.

Living Room Built Using Reused Timber

To achieve carbon neutrality, the four-level home uses cutting-edge mechanical systems including ground source heating and cooling, solar hot water, tankless water heaters, LED lights, and Energy Star appliances to produce a home that will use 60-80 percent less energy than a standard home in the area. The remaining energy needed to power the home is “clean” power purchased from the local utility provider.

In addition to the mechanical systems, timbers from the former property were reused on the interior and the flooring is reclaimed heart of pine from a textile mill in Virginia. Our favorite feature, though, is the patio in the back of the house that has an ethanol fireplace. More specifics about the home below.

Ethanol Fireplace

• Price: $939,000
• Bedrooms: Three
• Bathrooms: 3.5
• Square Footage: 2,100
• Price per SF: $447
• Year Built: 2009
• For the full listing, click here.

Similar Posts:

• Unique Spaces: The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home
• The Right Contractor for Your Green Renovations

7 Comments

1. LookingtoBuy said at 10:56 am on Wednesday January 6, 2010:

   Needless to say…rad!

1. Franklin said at 6:24 pm on Wednesday January 6, 2010:

   Bravo!  This house would make me feel good! Great house and you would never be without dinner discussion with friends.  Im actually very surprised its under a million.

1. Mike Kiefer said at 12:34 pm on Thursday January 7, 2010:

   Exceptional design to say the least with all the right touches.  The channel 9 news clip on the home is here

   http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=95541&catid=158

1. Rick Bosl said at 12:55 pm on Thursday January 7, 2010:

   This is excellent! Hopefully we will see more carbon neutral homes coming up in the future.

1. Brendan said at 1:42 pm on Thursday January 7, 2010:

   So impressive.  This is a model renovation, setting the bar.  I want it… now if only i could dig up $939k somewhere.  hmmmm.

1. Sacha Cohen said at 4:05 pm on Tuesday March 2, 2010:

   What a beautiful home! Congrats on this big eco-friendly accomplishment.

1. LibertyAtStake said at 10:06 am on Thursday April 22, 2010:

   The owner should take good care of it - so it can become a museum for future populations who will look back at this period in history as possesses by a pseudo-scientific madness similar to the Druid Sun worshipers.  (The irony being today’s “druids” fail to recognize the Sun’s influence on regular gloabl warming and cooling cycles).

   http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
   [For a light hearted take on our present peril]