The Invisible Machine: Why High-Performance is The New Standard for New England Homes
By: H. Sloane Mayor, AIA, NCARB
When we talk about trends in residential design at MA+KE, we often find ourselves steering the conversation toward something a bit more substantial than the latest kitchen design or a popular paint color. While style and furniture are part of the fun, we look at a home more technically, as a complex system where every decision affects your long-term comfort and health. In our unpredictable New England climate, the most important trends are the ones that keep you warm during an ice storm and lower your energy bills for years to come.
What Exactly is a High-Performance Home?
Think of your home as a machine (building on the concept described by Le Corbusier in his 1927 book Toward an Architecture). This machine is made up of your walls and roof, your windows and doors, and your mechanical systems. A high-performance home is one where these components are engineered to work together with maximum efficiency.
The primary goal is to reduce the building's energy load. By investing in a superior envelope, the insulation and air sealing that wrap your home, we can often reduce the size of the mechanical systems needed to heat and cool it. This is about creating a home that is truly resilient.
The Shift to All-Electric
One of the most significant shifts we are seeing is the move toward all-electric homes. For decades, the standard home upgrade was a new fossil-fuel boiler. Today, we are guiding many clients toward advanced heat pump systems that provide both heating and cooling. While these systems are a larger upfront investment, they offer a level of steady comfort that traditional systems simply can't match.
High-performance design, as it relates to health and air quality, is about temperature and the air you breathe. Older homes rely on being leaky to get fresh air, which is inefficient and often brings in allergens or moisture. Modern high-performance homes utilize mechanical ventilation, often through Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs), that constantly cycle in filtered, fresh air, exchanging the heat from the stale air leaving the building. The result is a home that feels noticeably fresher and healthier for your family.
Why Homeowners in NH and VT are Making the Switch
The advantages of this approach are clear, especially for those of us living in the North Country:
Reduced Risk: We never know where oil or gas prices are headed. An energy-efficient, all-electric home helps make you more self-reliant and protects you from future price spikes.
Future-Proofing: A high-performance home is built to a higher standard than the code minimum alternative, which significantly helps with resale value.
True Resilience: This is the big one for our region. A well-insulated home with a tight envelope can maintain a comfortable temperature for much longer during a power outage.
At MA+KE, we live this ourselves. I often tell the story of an ice storm where my family stayed comfortable in a super-insulated home for a week without power, while my neighbors had to flee to hotels. That is the peace of mind high-performance design can provide.