W
hen local doctors Vignesh and Pavrithra Ranganathan arrived in Morgantown from New York about three years ago, they knew they wanted a “green” house, one that minimized its energy and environmental footprint while being modern and forward thinking. Then they found Bob Riffle, owner of the Fairmont-based Premier Construction Services, the only nationally certified green builder in West Virginia. They moved into their amazingly efficient 7,000-square-foot house overlooking Cheat Lake in February 2015. “We’re very happy with the end product,” Vignesh says from the main living area—a minimalist space with 17-foot ceilings and lots of natural light streaming through Climate Zone 5 windows. The windows are just one of dozens of features that make the house high-performance. “These windows will save so much more energy. And they let less UV light in, which is degrading to the floors, the furniture, things like that,” Bob says. Everywhere you look in the house is something environmentally friendly. Faucets turn on with a touch and turn off automatically
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should the homeowner—or the homeowner’s small child—leave them running for more than a few minutes. Nearly every light is efficient LED. Solar hot water panels line the roof for the home’s hot water supply. There’s even a rainwater harvesting system in which rain travels from the roof through the gutters, downspouts, and French drains that run the perimeter of the house. “They’re all tied to a 1,200-gallon cistern, and that in turn is pumped back out for lawn irrigation,” Bob says. “So for all of the drip systems and anything that’s going to water the planting beds, we’re not using municipal sources. We’re using harvested rainwater. Plus it will go back into the water table when it dissipates into the ground. And then it’ll flow into the lake rather than being sheer runoff.” The position of the house in relation to the sun even saves energy. When all is said and done—the house was more than 75 percent complete in March—the house will meet the National Green Building Standard. “It’s a very strict set of standards,” Bob says. The house’s automated features—from sensors on garage doors to timed lights and blinds—were installed by Morgantown company Wise Guys Media. Owner Travis Lemon uses Control4, a