Home Energy Makeover Semi-finalist: The Harp-Truex Family

Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the EnergySmart Home Energy Makeover contest! We had over 300 participants - wow!

One part of the winner selection was asking our semi-finalists to submit creative answers to "why we need a home energy makeover". Over the next few weeks we will share the stories of all our semi-finalists.  Enjoy!

The Harp-Truex Family & The Little Yellow House (a short story)

Once upon a time...a little yellow house was built.  It was a happy little house and like most houses built a long, long time ago it was built to be naturally efficient—the plaster walls were deep  and kept the little house cozy all winter. A very tall tree was planted and grew and grew, and kept the house cool all summer.

One day a family bought the little yellow house. They moved in and were very happy. But by now the little yellow house had been standing for more than a hundred years and was starting to leak, and crack, and it’s workings were starting to wear out. The little yellow house became less and less efficient as cold air blew in from the west, and hot air seeped out through the attic. The family wanted to fix the little yellow house but the man came from a bustling city very far away, where people didn’t understand how houses worked; and the woman understood only computers.

Then one day the family won a contest, and the city where they lived helped them fix the little yellow house. The stopped up the leaks and fixed the cracks and gave the little yellow house shiny new workings. The little yellow house was saved, and stood for another hundred years.

Posted by Shawn Lindabury