Epoch Homes and Powerhouse Enterprises Build First Green Modular Powerpod Classrooms for Yellow Barn Music School in Vermont

Epoch Homes, a New Hampshire based leader in Custom Prefab Green Building has partnered with Powerhouse Enterprises of Boston, Mass. to build eight modular classrooms for the prestigious Yellow Barn Music School in Vermont

Pembroke, NH, February 07, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Epoch Homes (www.EpochHomes.com) continues to lead the industry, building award winning, fully custom designed Green modular buildings for residential and light commercial markets across the Northeast. Recently, architect John Rossi and partner Quincy Vale, owners of Powerhouse Enterprises, saw a need for a quick, green solution for a small office, weekend home, starter-house, or bachelor pad. They created the “PowerPod”, a self contained modular green building with about 500 square feet of living space.

“There are a lot of different views right now on what green means. We try to respond to what the customer wants and give as much guidance as we can,” says Company CEO, Ela. He argues that this approach is more effective at introducing green building to the mainstream market than the practice of offering specific green home models or features. Many of the firms making green modular housing offer only a few models with several customizable options, he says, and “home-owners want more options than that.”

Units come stripped down or tricked-out for a more complete living experience, and the whole deal ships complete and can be installed in one day.. Roof designs depend on location and use. Decks, bathrooms and kitchens come in a variety of configurations and options or you can do the interior build-out and finishing yourself.

PowerPods feature options such as:

active solar array
remote building monitoring system
high efficiency lighting and water use
heavy insulation and airtight exterior
radiant floor heating
solar windows
rainwater collection scupper
optional composting septic and grey water technology

The company recently signed on its first customer, The Yellow Barn Music School, which will be using eight PowerPods for its practice rooms, located across the campus. Yellow Barn Music School and Festival was founded in 1969 by cellist David Wells, then chair of the Chamber Music Department at the Manhattan School of Music, and his wife, pianist Janet Wells. Yellow Barn students include many of the finest up-and-coming young professional musicians currently studying at, or recently graduated from Juilliard, the New England Conservatory, the Curtis Institute, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, Peabody, Yale, and other leading conservatories and schools of music.

PowerPod’s solar butterfly roof can be fitted to generate electricity, and provide hot water. This configuration also allows windows to be placed up to ten feet high, bringing in lots of warm southern sun in wintertime. (Conversely, the roof’s sizeable overhangs keep things cool in summer.) Other advantages: high ceilings without excessive volume, lovely northern light and a center trough that’s ideal for rainwater collection. Finally, the butterfly’s asymmetrical pitch makes the solar collection system almost invisible from ground level.

In 2009, Epoch Homes celebrates its 26th year of innovation and providing quality homes to discerning home owners. Epoch became the first modular home manufacturer in the nation to be approved under the Modular Green service now offered by the NAHB Research Center, which administers the National Green Building Certification program for residential construction that now supports in-plant verification of Green Building Elements.

For more information on Green Building, to visit their online Design Center, and to see hundreds of Epoch Homes, please visit their web site at www.EpochHomes.com.

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Epoch Homes
David Wrocklage
603-225-3907
www.epochhomes.com
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