Our artistic friend drew a cute house cartoon and framed it as a housewarming gift. We absolutely agree; it sure is nice to have a passive house!

Throughout the 4 frigid months that we've lived here, we've found that our Nordeast Nest is simply a super comfortable home. There's no need to wear slippers to keep your feet warm on the wood or tile floors. You can open a closet door and walk in without experiencing a drop in room temperature, even though the closet has two exterior walls and no heat vents. We appreciate the extra storage space in our mechanical room that has no furnace. We've had our (electric) heat pump set to maintain a baseline of 64 degrees, and we let the modulating gas fireplace heat the house up to a cozy temperature during the day. In January, with an average outdoor temperature of 19 F, our gas bill was $30 (which $15 is tax and fees) and the electric bill was $140 (which $21 is tax and fees). We definitely use a lot less energy than we did in our old house next door, despite the new house having over twice the heated square footage. We look forward to coasting through spring with even less heating (or cooling) needed. Spring has to arrive at some point, right?

Artwork by the multi-talented scientist/artist, Lisa LaGoo.