A Modern Farmhouse Emerges from a Deep Energy Retrofit

When they were ready to purchase their first home, Sara and Gareth Ross decided with great care. “We wanted to be thoughtful,” Sara says. “How should our first home reflect who we are and our values?” Both grew up loving and spending time in nature, Gareth in South Africa and Sara on Cape Cod and the woods of Vermont. “We also were increasingly and urgently absorbing the reality of climate change, and realizing the nature we love is at risk.”

Moreover, Sara continues, “We were new parents and wanted to be mindful of what we model for our kids. We also wanted to make sure we optimized the costs and the performance of our first home in ways that reflect our values.”

Put all of that together, Sara says, “and it was obvious we weren’t going to build an energy hog of a house.” Little did she realize then, however, that their renovation of the 1880s house in Amherst, MA, would also change her life professionally.