Eco House Tour Features Davis Village

The Kathryn W. Davis Student Residence Village features solar panels, composting toilets and efficient, wood pellet heating.“The tour will provide those interested in building from an ecological perspective a closer look at some of the technologies and construction practices that create well-built, energy efficient buildings,” said Ted Koffman, IHT board vice president, who is helping to coordinate the tour along with Meredith Randolph of Four Winds and members of IHT’s Development Committee. Koffman is a former state representative who chaired the Environment and Natural Resources Committee while representing portions of MDI in the legislature. He also is a former Executive Director of Maine Audubon.

The buildings will include the Kathryn W. Davis Student Residences at College of the Atlantic, one of IHT’s energy efficient homes at Ripples Hill in Somesville, Meredith Randolph’s straw bale house in Somesville, a rammed earth house on Bayview Drive in Bar Harbor and a double-wall construction house on Otter Cliff Road in Bar Harbor.

“I get a lot of questions about my house and I know others who have built with sustainability and energy efficiency as primary considerations get those questions as well,” said Randolph. “The tour is an opportunity to not only see what we have done to accomplish our goals, but also to ask questions and get answers.”

The tour is free to the public but a donation of $5 per person to Island Housing Trust is requested. Island Housing Trust promotes viable, year-round island communities by advancing permanent workforce housing on MDI. Since 2008, IHT has enabled 26 working households in MDI villages and towns to own year-round houses.

More information about the tour, including schedule and directions may be found at  islandhousingtrust.org or by calling the IHT office at 244-8011.