Progress > Perfection

A CARBON-FREE HOME

Teton Valley residents for the past three decades, Porter and Ann-Toy Broughton now reside in a custom-built, carbon-free, 2,800-square-foot “mountain modern” home—which also has a 750-square-foot second-floor garage apartment—in Creekside Meadows. The home is completely carbon-free/grid-free (which means Porter and Ann-Toy utilize solar energy and solar-heated water) and built with highly energy-efficient and sustainable products at every nook and cranny.

After spending decades building timber frame homes back east, Porter and his family ended up in Teton Valley in 1993 in a cabin north of the valley. He and his son brought the timber frame business with them, along with a custom door shop. Most wood products used were from recycled or sustainable sources.

“I really got into energy efficiency and sustainable resources when I moved out here,” Porter says. “I realized that we could really make this work. You do what you can to save the planet.”

The couple had never built a home to call their own from the ground up, so when Ann-Toy came across the property in Creekside Meadows, they realized the potential to build a truly carbon-free home, using eco-conscious products, that would meet all their needs as retirees.

“I saw this piece of property and I thought this could really work for us,” Ann-Toy says. “Then Porter realized we could build an eco-friendly home, so we said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

“We were thinking about what our next chapter would look like,” Porter explains. “This land has good solar exposure, with water running through it all year long, and we have a lot of wildlife, and shade protection from big trees. I had never built a new house for ourselves—always fixer-uppers. It was a big challenge, and we were fortunate to have the right team to do it.”

Ann-Toy and Porter brought on their close family friend and long-time high-performance builder, Adam Riley, the owner of Cloud 9 Builders, as well as an architect friend from Seattle who exclusively designs eco-friendly homes.

“Our business model is we only build healthy, high-performance houses, and fortunately, there’s a market for that here in Teton Valley,” Adam says. “We don’t have to travel over the pass anymore or up to Montana looking for our projects. There are people who understand and appreciate what we do, like Porter and Ann-Toy, here in Driggs.”

The Broughtons’ home is proof that high-performance mechanics can be combined with beautiful interiors and design. Every detail was considered in optimizing performance, from triple-pane windows to orienting the house for optimal sun exposure, both passive and active. The roof’s dark color enhances heat absorption. The wood used for the interior cabinets, doors, timbers, and trim, as well as for exterior trim and siding was either reclaimed from a burn in Oregon, sustainably harvested, or recycled.

They opted for an ERV system that pulls ambient air into the house and exchanges fresh air every three minutes. Heat from stale air leaves the building as fresh air is distributed throughout the structure. The system also has filters that remove allergens like pollen and particulates from smoke, helping to ensure great indoor air quality, even during the wildfire season.

“Some of the affordable things you can do to create a high-performance building are to utilize a passive solar design, super-insulate the building envelope, and pay attention to the air barrier,” Adam says. “Conventional homes are framed in such a way that there’s a lot of leaks around windows and doors and gaps through the wall framing. The resulting drafts are uncomfortable and waste a ton of energy over the life of the building. We use a blower door test and thermal imaging camera to find and fix those leaks before applying the siding and interior finishes.”

The Broughtons’ home is super-insulated with 12-inch-thick walls full of densely packed cellulose, a recycled plant-based insulation. The “double stud” walls were framed with inner and outer two-by-four walls, separated by a four-inch gap to minimize thermal bridging through the framing members.

Heat pumps are used to warm and cool the home, making the space comfortable no matter the season while using about one-third the energy of a conventional electric boiler.

“This is a great example of a home that will be healthy, comfortable, and affordable to operate for many generations,” Adam says.

“I don’t consider upfront purchases of high-tech alternative systems as additional expenses,” Porter says, “[but] rather well-spent necessary expenses to avoid carbon fuel pollution. Our next vehicle will be electric and charged by sunshine!”

The Broughtons are part of a new wave of clients building homes with the eco-friendly values in mind as much as the home’s aesthetics.

“The demand for it is growing, partly because of building codes that are requiring better quality construction, both structurally but also adhering to the energy code,” Adam says. “While Idaho doesn’t enforce it, lots of people are aware of their carbon footprint and want to have a house that’s comfortable with good indoor air quality. These are easy to achieve if you just pay attention to the materials that you’re working with and the assemblies to enclose the house.”

GROWING THE SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY

For the Broughtons, Adam and his team obviously pulled out all the stops to create a carbon-free, eco-friendly oasis. But both Porter and Adam stress that choosing to build this way can start with a few simple choices, like utilizing passive solar design or investing in solar on the front end. They agree that paying more energy-conscious upfront costs actually creates future savings.

The next wave of sustainable and high-performance building is rooted in education, for builders, contractors, and clients alike. Matt and Amanda Engle, the husband-and-wife team behind Engle Built, say that sustainability derives from the use of materials that are healthier to live amongst. “We believe soon people will [understand] that our homes need to be healthy and resilient first, which is sustainable,” Matt says. In their builds, Matt works to create homes that are not just more health-forward in materials used, but resilient to the happenings of the world around it—including features like an off-grid option for long-term power outages.

Tim Henderson is a proponent of smaller footprints and smaller homes with all the bells and whistles of a truly optimized space. “People get scared away from building smaller and worry about appraisals and resale,” he notes.

Plainly speaking: Why spend the extra money for cleaner materials or healthier insulation if it won’t show up in the resale value? The answer is twofold: “It has to not just be about the economic incentive of building high-performance,” Tim says. “Sure, the performance of the house over the long-term will economically be beneficial to you, but environmentally, you’re creating a more efficient, warmer, more comfortable, and healthier space to live in.”

And shifting the industry perspective must come from both the construction side and the clients. Cameron Mitchell, a carpenter with Domicile Construction, has spent the past five years building his own high-performance, sustainable home in Tetonia, bringing in the guiding principles he’s learned from growing up in the building industry and working with companies like Tim’s and Adam’s that share his values.

“Being raised in the construction world and the house I grew up in, I realized that this style of building, one that focuses on creating a healthy home, with healthy indoor air quality, is good for the occupants and good for the planet,” Cameron says. “That makes a lot of sense to me.”

Cameron hopes the movement continues to shift toward better understanding, from the ground up. “It is becoming more mainstream, and builders are recognizing that it is a better system,” he says. “Smart builders are pairing up with smart clients, and saying, ‘Yeah, this is the way to move forward.’”

One way the industry is shifting is thanks to guidance from experts like Lindsey Love. Lindsey is certified as a passive house tradesperson. She is also a Living Future accredited professional, and holds a certificate in utilizing healthy materials. Her passion for implementing sustainable practices, particularly the use of natural materials like straw, clay, hemp, and lime, led her to focus on consulting and education. With her business, Regenerative Building Solutions, she consults with architects, owners, builders, and contractors on how to utilize natural, healthy, and local materials in conventional buildings.

“It is really cool to have someone around like Lindsey, with her wealth of knowledge aimed at teaching people that there is another way you can do this,” says Cameron, “and that it’s going to work with what you’re doing and help the planet.”

Lindsey and her team also offer hands-on work. Interested in using hemp or straw bales for insulation? Lindsey will act as a subcontractor to teach the crew how to assemble the materials, helping to grow a network of individuals wellversed in these practices.

“I went into architecture because I learned that we could build buildings with materials from the earth, like straw-bale building, which is pretty radical in most people’s minds,” says Lindsey. “But for some reason, I was really drawn to that.”

Originally from Jackson Hole, Lindsey got her start in construction in the American Southwest, working on tribal affordable-housing projects. There she learned about adobe. “I fell in love even further with natural materials,” she says.

While her work typically goes from one project to another, consulting for both architects and owners, she is beginning to take on more industry-
wide educational opportunities to help train contractors and others in how to install and work with natural materials.

“What Lindsay’s doing to create a community and educate people is really impactful,” Tim says.

While Lindsey focuses primarily on the sustainable side of building, she acknowledges the need to find a balance between both high-
performing and natural materials. “I believe in high-performance, but I really try to balance an understanding of the value of performance and our wellbeing and health.” To her, materials from the earth are the solution.

“Natural materials are the only thing that check all of the boxes of being nontoxic and low-embodied carbon or carbon-storing potential,” she says. “They can be high performing if you use them properly.”

When asked about the higher costs involved, Lindsey echoes others consulted for this story by advocating for shifting perspective on initial costs versus longevity.

“If you’re just going to consider your upfront costs, which is what we do in our culture all the time, we’re really missing the boat,” she says. “The organic food movement has taught us that spending a little more on groceries pays off, for our own wellbeing and the planet. When we build or renovate a building, we are spending several lifetimes’ worth of groceries in one go. Consumers deserve to understand the impacts of their monetary choices.”

LOOKING AHEAD

“The challenges are lack of education within the market, within our culture, and lack of acknowledgement of market value,” Lindsey says.

But with a group of hyper-focused industry leaders in Teton Valley, and owners like the Broughtons willing to go the extra mile, there is no doubt that here, the needle will continue to move toward buildings that provide healthier conditions over the long haul.

“It definitely takes more [thought and energy], but it is totally worth it,” Cameron says. “It isn’t that every little detail must be to the next level. Our place is still not done; it is a work in progress. But we are willing to do that because I know the benefits of all that high-end intentional work.”