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Dennis Maq Crook
"Green" Energy Efficient Builer & Developer, Energy Design, Consultant, Energy Auditor
I was only 14 when I designed my first building, a barn I made for my parents. My first real job came a few years later when I installed insulation in the small Iowa town that was my home. It was easy to convince people to buy our product. We just showed them how much they'd save on heating bills. Winters are pretty cold in Iowa!
It wasn't long before I became a master carpenter. When I worked for contractors, I noticed shortcuts they took to save costs. These were going to cost homeowners a bundle in heating bills in the long run. At the time, I was working and going to college. But after a year of this, I decided to concentrate on my trade.
So, in 1979, I packed up my tools and moved to Philadelphia. There, I met and married Siti. As our family grew, I had to earn a better living. Figuring that I could make more money as a contractor than as a carpenter, Siti and I started our own firm, E=MC². With Siti handling the marketing and financing, we made a name for ourselves in Philadelphia. Even the City Fathers took notice.
Drawing on my early experience, I incorporated every possible technique to make our homes energy efficient. Then the full impact of the 1970's oil crisis hit. Energy efficiency was suddenly headline news. Researchers rushed to find alternative energy and ways to make homes more energy efficient. I read every study I could find. Surprisingly, I already used many of the techniques explained in the studies.
In 1985, I put my research to the test in a housing development we built in Philadelphia's historic Overbrook Farms. I made all of the homes energy efficient. We participated in Owens-Corning Fiberglass' Thermal Crafted Home Program. They estimated our 1100 plus square foot raised ranch design cost less than $319 a year to heat and air condition. It's interesting seventeen years later 57% of the original home buyers still live our energy efficient home development. But, by the time I finished the development, the oil crisis was over. Consumers stopped being as concerned about energy efficiency.
I got word my mom lost her home to a fire in 1991. We packed up the family, moved back to Iowa and built her a new energy efficient home. Still today, Mom enjoys the affordability and comfort of her home. She only needs one delivery of propane a winter, even though she keeps her thermostat set at 70 degree. Once mom was settled into her new home, Siti and I enrolled at Iowa State University, in Ames. After a year, I accepted an invitation to attend the University of Wale's European Business Management School.
When we returned to Philadelphia in 1996, I continued to research energy efficient building methods and materials. For several years, Siti and I had experimented with a new "green" building material. Finally, in 2002, we received a patent for MAQCrete, a formed, cement-type material that is light, energy efficient, sustainable and recyclable.
Again, I needed a proving ground for my research. This time I used my family home, a beautiful 1880's post and beam barn that I reconstructed on a new foundation as an energy efficient home. The house is 4,000 plus square feet, with 18-foot cathedral ceilings. Yet we heat it with the smallest furnace available at 1/10th the cost of a similar sized inefficient home.
In 2006/2007 winter our propane heating system, set continuously at 70 degrees cost $997.72. In summer 2007 our electric air-conditioning, set continuously at 75 degrees cost $211.87. Some people pay that much a month and more.
It is my intention to teach others how to cut their heating and cooling bills by sharing what I have learned in nearly 30 years of experience.
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