" The small box on the left serves as the hot water heater and the furnace for the new energy efficient home being built by Chris Chavez in Gallup. The small unit heats water on demand, rather than constantly heating a large tank like a traditional hot water heater, and the hot water is also used for the radiant heat system in the floor of the home. [Photo by Jeffery Jones/Independent]"

"GALLUP — There's nothing especially unusual looking about the guest house going up behind 1825 Milda Ave., nothing except maybe the sharp slant of the split metal roof. Tucked away at the end of a winding road less than a mile southeast of the University of New Mexico's Gallup campus, it should fit right in with the rest of the neighborhood once stuccoed to meet local zoning standards. "

" But a look inside, even with a month's worth of work to do, reveals a house that's anything but typical for Gallup. When finished, it might just end up being the "greenest" house in town. "

" When the Burgess' set out to build a guest house behind their home, they knew they wanted something a little different. As the owners of a wellness business, helping to bring "healthy water, air and nutritionals" into people's homes, they were concerned with more than just the economic costs of the project. "

" "We're very committed to not impacting the Earth any more than we have to," said Pam Burgess, "so going green worked well with those goals." "

" But finding the right people for the job wasn't easy. Burgess figures she must have approached just about every builder in town until a UNM-Gallup student finally referred her to Chris Chavez, an instructor at the branch. Chavez and wife Keegan Mackenzie opened a design firm here, Shelter + Design, three years ago. "

" Mackenzie, a certified architect, designed the guest house. Chavez, a private contractor, is building it. They started laying the foundation in early November. "

" "What we're trying to do is 'low impact,' " Chavez said, "low impact to the environment, low impact to the site, low impact on materials." "

" To best appreciate what he's talking about, it actually helps that Chavez and his crew aren't finished yet. It's a chance to see the "green" guts of the house before it's lost beneath a conventional skin. "

" When The Independent showed up on site one cold morning, Chavez was busy hammering a long plastic tube into a coiling recess in the floor panels. While most homes rely on forced air for heating, he explained, the "radiant floor" will use hot water pumped through the tubes in a series of four loops. Because the heat
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