Above-average Linden Hills home with below-average energy needs listed at $2.1M

Brian and Peter Rood looked at a lot of houses back in 2022 before finding the contemporary-style home in Minneapolis' Linden Hills neighborhood they wound up buying.

"My husband and I were searching for homes for quite some time, and we could not agree," Brian Rood said. "This is the first house we saw that both of us really fell in love with."

Possibly for slightly different reasons.

Brian Rood, a psychologist, said he loved the home's aesthetic features, such as its abundance of natural light, exterior landscaping and the sliding doors to the patio that provided a "beautiful indoor-outdoor feel."

Peter Rood also appreciated the property's beauty, but as chief development officer for a company that focuses on battery-energy storage systems, he especially valued the home's efficiency.

"Beyond the aesthetics, we were drawn to this home for its thoughtful design aimed at minimizing energy consumption … while still being a nice home to live in," he said.

Both men, who have been working from home, will be spending more time at their offices and needed a place more convenient for commuting. So they've put their five-bedroom, five-bathroom house on the market, listing it at just under $2.1 million.

Like many houses whose owners want to conserve energy, this one had solar panels installed when it was built in 2015. But the panels are far from the home's only energy-saving feature.

Martin Morud — CEO of Arden Hills-based TruNorth Solar, which installed the panels — noted that the solar-power system isn't new or particularly extensive. Yet the 4,200-square-foot home has a better than average ranking on the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index, an efficiency measure.

"It seems like an above average-sized home with a far below-average electrical need," Morud said, adding other features of the home — and perhaps the habits of its occupants — must explain its efficiency.

Exactly, Peter Rood said.

"From my perspective, based on the work I do, solar is just one piece of the sustainability puzzle," he said. "… What's really compelling about the home is that it was designed to function as a system."

Some of the home's automated features include blinds that open in the morning and close in the afternoon. A panel — with settings like low-lit "movies" and brighter "playtime," perfect for the couple's 6-year-old son — controls lighting throughout the house. A multi-zone HVAC system lets thermostats set to different temperatures.

"We also arranged for Xcel to upgrade their meter to a time-of-day meter, and we optimize charging to off-peak hours," which is cheaper, Peter Rood said.

The garage contains chargers for two electric vehicles and space for a third.

Milind Angolkar, a home inspector with St. Louis Park-based Structure Tech, is familiar with the house.

"The biggest thing for me is how they went with specific materials that are known to be energy efficient but then they applied them in a very efficient manner, from the ground up," he said.

The insulation uses structural insulated panels, which offer strength and energy efficiency, Angolkar said. The basement walls are concrete on both sides with several inches of foam between them, or as he called it, "a foam sandwich." The above-ground walls have a similar structure with plywood instead of concrete.

"You're essentially in a big Styrofoam cooler of a house," Angolkar said. "That makes it really hard for energy to flow in or out without controlled entry points."

A house that efficient can be expensive to build, he said, but is so much cheaper to heat, cool and maintain. That means savings on utility bills might eventually offset the initial price.

"Once you get it to a certain temperature, the mechanicals aren't working very hard to keep it at that temperature," Angolkar said.

Even some of the features designed for visual appeal offer energy efficiency, Brian Rood said. All the windows face south, allowing warm sunlight to pour into the home in winter.

"I never owned any plants before; I think I now own 12 to 15 because we get so much light," Brian Rood said.

A pergola above the patio has angled wood slats, which direct sunlight into the house while shading anyone sitting below. The patio also shares an indoor-outdoor fireplace with the living room.

Outdoors lies a no-mow lawn, planted with "wild-grown kinds of flowers and plants," Brian Rood said. In the backyard, flowers, trees and bushes create a sense of privacy, he said.

"Even though we're in this very urban environment, when we're in the backyard, it's like a retreat," Brian Rood said, adding the family moved in during the winter without knowing about the beautiful landscaping. "It was such a wonderful surprise. It really does transform the backyard."

Even the basement interior plays a role in the energy-efficient system. Its concrete floor has radiant heat. An egress window lets in light. The most unusual feature: a 10-foot-long glass panel built into the floor upstairs that lets sunlight through to the lower level.

"The home inspector who came to the house when we first purchased it, he took a picture of it," Brian Rood said. "He was like, 'This is the coolest, most unique thing.'"

David K. Wells III (612-845-8186, david@dkw3.com) and Wren Wells (612-802-3456, wren@dkw3.com) of Coldwell Banker have the $2,095,000 listing.