Dining-room addition has 'living' floor

By Tim Woodward | McClatchy Newspapers • Published October 04, 2008

OWYHEE COUNTY, Idaho - When she added on to her home, Jeri Rutherford found a way to go green - literally.

A 170-square-foot dining-room addition has helped cut her power bills by as much as 20 percent.

And it brought a lush, if small, island of tropical greenery to her home overlooking the Snake River near Marsing.

"I love the tropics and the fern grottos of the California redwood forest," she said. "I know I can't be there all the time, so I wondered how I could bring those places into my home."

The result is a living wall and floor with plants that clean the air and - paired with a whole-house fan and a heat well that releases hot air through a skylight - help cool the entire house.

"Plants transpire and evaporate water, which cools the environment,"

Rutherford said. "I have 170 square feet of natural refrigeration." The plants also clean the air of pollutants, she says. "And the fan circulates cool air from downstairs and outside when the downstairs windows are open. It changes the air in the house every 13 minutes. Now, the air conditioning comes on at 2:30 on hot days instead of 10 in the morning." In winter, the plants and soil act as an insulator and moderator of temperature.

But the best part, she says with a straight face, is her morning coffee.

"I like to sit with my shoes off and drink my coffee with my feet on the moss of the living floor," she said. "When we have inversions and it's nothing but gray outside, that's where I'll be. In my fern grotto with my feet in the moss."

Idaho Power gave her a $450 incentive for incorporating energy efficiency and conservation into a new living space. It was a small fraction of the $17,000 cost of the project. But Idaho Power Energy Efficiency Engineer Chris Pollow, who worked with Rutherford on the project, says it could serve as an inspiration for other customers.

"What impressed me is that she added square footage and electrical load with the pump for the plants' irrigation system and still cut energy costs," he said.