Living low-energy in Brewerytown

When Chuong Nguyen saw the listing for his Brewerytown home, he knew without a doubt it was the one.

Unlike other emotional tales of fraught homebuying searches ending in showings that feel kismet, Nguyen‘s connection to this house was rooted in one clear reason: It had the rare distinction of being a Zero Energy Ready multifamily home in Philadelphia. For Nguyen, a devotee to living with a small environmental footprint, an energy-efficient home was a must.

The aesthetic of the home, however, was a bonus. Designed by Bright Common, a Philadelphia studio devoted to creating low carbon emission buildings, the sleek two-unit building completed in 2018 is sheathed in black corrugated metal. That gives it a Scandinavian vibe that appealed to Nguyen, who works as a design strategist with Vanguard. Inside, the all-electric building is equally sleek and modern.

Nguyen lives with his Yorkie-poo, Milo, in the top unit, a two-bedroom with massive windows that not only frame views of Philly’s skyline but also invite in enough sunlight to heat the home throughout the year. (More on that later.)

He rents the bottom two-bedroom unit on Airbnb as The Dubbel, a pun coined by Bright Common that references both the building’s Brewerytown location and its two-unit configuration.

Nguyen, 36, has honed his low carbon footprint philosophy since childhood. Growing up with two parents and two siblings in a one-bedroom house in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, he learned that life could happen happily in small spaces. An eight-year stint in France for university and the beginning of his career backed that up and also introduced Nguyen to thinking about his carbon footprint.

“Living in France for so long, they really have ways to live small and be conscious about energy, be conscious about the environment,” he said. “Living small provides a coziness. It’s kind of a mindset I carry with me all along the way.”

Nguyen landed in the Philadelphia area after a one-year layover in Houston, which he hated because of its urban sprawl and oversized McMansions. After six years living with a roommate in South Philly as he saved for a home of his own, he purchased his Brewerytown house in October 2022 for $600,000.

Energy-efficient homes like Nguyen’s often cost more up front, but there’s relief down the line in reduced utility costs. Nguyen said he spends about $100 a month on all his utilities throughout the year. The cost to heat the home is almost nil, he said, as the windows provide warming sunlight year-round, and the home’s insulation keeps it temperate.

“Unless it’s under 22 degrees, I don’t even need to turn on the heat,” he said. The house doesn’t have solar power, but it was built for it, with all the necessary infrastructure and an ideal roof pitch for solar panels.

Nguyen did have an unexpected cost right after buying the house when he learned he needed to replace the energy recovery ventilator (ERV) system to the tune of $6,000. It exchanges stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air while transferring heat and moisture between the air streams. Its functioning is essential to the home’s energy-efficient design.

Nguyen said his home inspector missed that it wasn’t working properly before the sale closed because he didn’t recognize the system — one downside to owning a first-of-its-kind, energy-efficient building.

But still, the expenditures were worth it to Nguyen because they speak to his beliefs.

“It was a lot of investment, but I feel like it’s worth that for my lifestyle, for what I want to do and the ethics I believe in,” he said.

Adding to the home’s eco-friendliness, Nguyen furnished it in secondhand finds, mainly from Facebook Marketplace.

He made a day trip to Princeton to pick up the Flos Arco lamp that lights his living room. He had to carry it up the long flight of stairs into his apartment alone, one step at a time, owing to its heavy marble base. Nguyen also scored a Hay patio set — usually over $1,000 from Design Within Reach — from a Facebook Marketplace seller in Mount Airy for $200.

Another huge perk for him is the home’s location just a 15-minute walk from the Art Museum and Fairmount Park. He said the neighborhood knows him and Milo for the orange booties Milo wears throughout the year and the sound they make trotting down the street.

He loves the neighborhood and the community on his block, recalling the long table his neighbor sets up on Halloween to paint banners and how the lot that backs up to his, unbuilt on and dotted with trees, was saved by his neighbors from future development because it provides a green reprieve for the area.

Nguyen added of his community, “It’s really lovely to have that.”

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