Bob visits with Mark Lundquist of Burnham Hydronics to check out the boiler for the hot-water heating system being installed in the Mashpee, Massachusetts, affordable homes. This Burnham Spirit model is a medium efficiency, easy-to-maintain, sealed-combustion unit. Since it is sealed combustion, it pulls the air it needs directly from the outdoors and vents to the exterior without the use of a chimney or flue. This enables a homeowner to close off the space surrounding the boiler without worrying about available combustion air for the furnace. This model uses standard parts, so any repairs will be fast and easy. The boiler is made of cast iron and has a 25 to 40 year life expectancy. It operates at 84 percent efficiency, so the homeowner will use energy dollars wisely. Charlie Delvecchio of Cape Plumbing breaks out the cost of the boiler to about $1,500 and the baseboard tubing for another $6,000, for a total cost of $7,500 for installation of the home heating system. The domestic hot-water tank is linked to the heating system as hot water from the boiler passes through a coil in the insulated hot-water tank, warming the household water through energy exchange. If the water is maintained at the proper temperature just from this passive exchange, the boiler will never be called upon to heat water for faucets and showers.

Back at the Cobb Hill co-housing community, Bob meets up with builder Kevin O'Hara who shows Bob the enormous Garn wood gasifying boiler that has just arrived. The boiler heats hot water by burning the particulate in a second chamber after the wood has been burned. The hot water will be sent throughout the co-housing for heat. Community members will manually feed the lumber which will be harvested right on the property as fuel for the boiler. The individual residences will be tied together with Ecoflex insulated underground pipe that runs throughout the project. Each pod (there are three in the community) will have its own backup gas boiler for when the temperature really drops.

A high-efficiency Buderus boiler is installed in the Roxbury, Mass., house. Steve Offutt from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes the Energy Star Program for high-efficiency heating and cooling equipment, kitchen appliances, and office equipments. The program strives to save energy and reduce pollution from homes. The average home pollutes more than the average car.