Read our blog here and the feature story in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle here.

A few years ago, we bought a turn of the century house in the historic district of Bozeman, Montana. When we decided to renovate the cozy, but energy wasting house, we decided to "green" it up - both the paint on the exterior, and the philosohy behind the renovation.

We Montanans contribute an average of 36 tons of CO2 per person per year, nearly double the US average. This ranks Montana as the 7th highest per capita emitters of CO2 in the US, according to the Dept of Energy. If Montana were a country, we'd be the 4th highest per capita CO2 emitter in the world, right behind Qatar (69 tons), Kuwait (38 tons), and the United Arab Emirates (37 tons). CO2 is the primary greenhouse gas causing global warming, and the choices we make today will have a big impact on our world of tomorrow.

Along with the climate change crisis, sharply rising energy costs and worries over our countries dependency on imported fossil fuels, convinced us our home needed to be more energy efficient. We decided to use "eco-friendly" and so called "sustainable" building materials whenever possible. We wanted to reduce water consumption, harness solar power for heat and electricity, and use local materials. We wanted our daughter to grow up in a healthy home with fewer toxic chemicals, such as formaldehyde in the building materials. We wanted our house to look nice too.

We had no idea how challenging this would prove to be.

Like many towns in the New West, Bozeman has been growing rapidly, and growth brings with it problems. We're sprawling, congested, subdivided, sufficiently caffinated, and we now have most of the big box stores too.

Bozeman is also fortunate to have a charming and vibrant old downtown, and just off Main Street, the innovative and extremely green Refuge Sustainable Building Materials. Refuge played a big part in motivating us to renovate our home. If you haven't been there, put it on your list of things to do. Many of the materials we reference within this website can be found at Refuge.

We also want to mention Corey Williamson's Make My House Green project. Corey brought needed attention to green construction techniques in Missoula, and now Cory is bringing his knowledge to Bozeman.

BozemanHouse.com documents what we learned obout sustainable building practices during our one year house renovation project: We incorporated alternative energy systems throughout our home: photo voltaic panels and solar thermal hot water systems, hydronic radiant floor heating, a heat exchanger, Montana's first legal gray water recycling system, polished concrete floors, recycled glass and cement countertops, super insulated walls and ceilings, drought tolerant landscaping and much, much more. By sharing our experiences with our neighbors, we hope it might help make YOUR renovation or building project a little more green and a little less frustrating.

BozemanHouse.com includes an easy to use resource list of green building materials, builders, subcontracrors and practices, specifically focusing on the climate and lifestyle we enjoy in Southwestern Montana. To better illustrate the green renovation of a typical house, Bozemanhouse.com also includes our running commentary and personal obervations during the renovation of our own house in Bozeman.

Your neighbors,

Ron Gompertz and Michelle Gantt
BozemanHouse.com
810 South Willson / Bozeman, MT