Matthew Beaton has been an environmentalist since his fourth-grade science fair. He received undergraduate degrees at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in biotechnology and engineering, and then a graduate degree at Boston University for energy efficiency and sustainability.
Then five years ago, he started a construction company, Beaton Construction.
“I saw it as a great opportunity to incorporate all the energy studies and environmental passion into what I really love to do, and that’s building,” Beaton said.
He also owns a subsidiary, Residential Energy Solutions, which does energy audits for houses.
His newest project combines those two companies, and hits close to home. Actually, it is his home: Beaton is building a LEED Platinum-certified, passively-heated, 4,000-square-foot house in his hometown of Shrewsbury for himself and his wife. His goal, he said, is to go the whole year without having to turn on the heater. And yes, he’s serious.
Matthew Beaton
Title: President/Owner
Company: Beaton Construction; Residential Energy Solutions – Shrewsbury
Age: 31
When you started out, were you the ‘Weird Guy’?
Yeah, people always questioned what I was doing. The number one questioners were my parents. They’d say, “What the heck are you doing here? You went to school for how long to do this?” Now they kind of see the big picture.
Once you explain things to people, and show them the numbers – I’m a big numbers guy – it all of a sudden starts to make sense. I’m passionate about the green building movement, and the only way the green building movement is going to go forward is if all these phony gimmicks and all these phony claims are weeded out, and the people who are true to it are left standing, and they can say to people, ‘Hey, it does make sense, from a financial perspective, from an energy saving perspective, and from an environmental perspective.’
There is a difference between green building and energy efficiency, is there not?
Yes and no. So much of the green word, the buzzword, is being associated with throwing a solar panel up on your roof, or throwing a bamboo floor down on your floor. I look at it as more of a big picture. Energy efficiency is a part of green building – a major part – and the part I’m probably most passionate about.
We focus on that building envelope, so whatever heat you are supplying to the house, we want to keep it inside as much as possible, and that – from an environmental perspective – has a lot of benefits. So if you invest a little bit more money in materials, and put a little more materials in … it’s justified in the long-term life of the house, because that much less oil and everything else you’re going to have to use to keep that house conditioned.
There are 136 possible points on the LEED scale, and you need 90 to achieve the platinum level. Where are you getting your points from?
We’re nailing every energy efficiency point. The building envelope is where we’re going to excel. Our site disturbance is minimal. We’re keeping about 65 percent of our overall site undisturbed. It makes it a lot harder for the guys who are used to having an open site where they can just drive their machines all over the place, so it takes a lot of up-front coordination with them, and finding the right people for the site.
[Also] material use. We’re using the floor [boards milled locally from on-site trees], stuff like that. Super insulation, triple-pane windows. The walls of the house are 19 inches thick … and it’s filled with a completely-recycled, dense-packed cellulose insulation. It’s actually all old Boston Heralds and Boston Globes. It’s made in Belchertown. They get the shipments of the [papers], recycle it and chip it all up. It doesn’t have to go very far. It’s not a fiberglass that started out of sand, and the amount of energy required to make glass out of sand is incredible.
It’s the little things. I was fly fishing and found a bunch of railroad ties. I was looking at them; they’re going to be coat hooks all around the house. We’re getting a claw-foot tub: a lot of reused things. There is a local manufacturer of LED lighting here in Shrewsbury. They just started out; we’re going to have the first residential application of their product, and it’s super high efficiency, way better than fluorescent lighting.
In and of itself, I suppose I’m a hypocrite, because I’m building a new house, and how green can it be? But it’s an inevitability that we’re going to be building more houses still. We’re going to be doing it, let’s start doing it right. Let’s start building houses smart, and let’s take our existing housing stock and do the right things with it. I’m trying to use this as a model, and saying, “This is what we can do.”
Five Favorite Local Outdoor Spots:
Wachusett Mountain and Reservoir – It’s just a close mountain to go hiking. It’s a beautiful area, and cool this time of year; there are a lot of fall festivals.
Quabin Reservoir – There is just so much to do.
Walden Pond – I’m a big [Henry David] Thoreau guy. “Walden” was my favorite book growing up, so that was the genesis for all my environmental stuff.
Franconia Notch, N.H. – I don’t know how you beat it. I love it up there and it’s beautiful.
Sugarloaf, Maine – You can go fly fishing in the summertime, you can going skiing in the winter.
