Building an efficient house from the ground up.

i've discussed our passive solar here before, but here goes again in case you can pick up some ideas for your own place

we've got solar hot water... we really like it, can't tell the difference and we rarely (if ever) hear the real water heater running. brick floors (ie thermal mass) and some kind of special windows and patio door. curtains replaced by "window blankets". circulating fan to bring the heat from the bricks in the living room area to the bedrooms at night. all our windows are south facing. we haven't turned on the heat once since moving here in march but the a/c wasn't that great in the summer.

our energy bills are about $25/month with this setup.

this is a neat place, it will be a shame to leave.

 

I think it would be great to design a house from an energy use point of view and ignore the dictates of fashion. With a combination of active and passive solar design, thick walls for high thermal mass, and pipes in the floors for heating and cooling, you could probably get paid as an energy provider instead of paying for gas and electricity. There's lots of stuff in the library and on the internet to begin your education.

 

Get an architect. They can help you with a lot of this. I'm sure you can find one that specializes in the efficiency and green building you're looking for. But do your own research too. Try sunset magazine's website. I think they just did a green home. And hgtv.com too.

I've got a SolaTube tubular skylight. Best money I ever spent. I highly recommend them.

Also consider putting some of your home underground. Best and cheapest insulation. But you'll have to check to see what codes allow in your area.

Doing green from the ground up is easier than retrofiting an older home.

Check out past episodes of Living with Ed too. I think they toured a green home that was designed from the ground up.

 

Check out these guys: Enertia. What they're doing makes tremendous physical sense. Read through their web site.

 

Sunset's Green-built house.

Green Masterpiece on Living with Ed.

HGTV's earth friendly page.

 

In addition to the excellent suggestions you already received...

For sure, consider your house orientation as already mentioned. An architect can help you maximize your house's structure for energy savings (window location on the vertical wall as well as compass orientation, size of eaves/overhangs, etc.)

Consider how to recoup your gray water for use to flush toilets (I think some people advise against using it in the garden).

Definitely do the Sola-tube lights... you won't regret it.

Consider the thermostatically controlled water return at all taps (I don't know exactly what this is called), where water circulates until hot water arrives at the tap... no wasted cold water down the drain.

 

Biggest thing is to build the most insulated, tightest envelope for the house you can. It is a lot easier to mess with the loads (from appliances, lighting and equipement) inside but very difficult to mess with the house envelope once built. ICF (styrofoam blocks with concrete infill) are great for energy as well as the occasional tornado.

Wayne

 

There's so much to consider (building materials, structure orientation, selection of the various means of acquiring energy, energy efficient window placement, landscaping, recycling of water use) that I'd have to agree that a reputable architect in the construction of energy efficient homes would be the way to go. If the environment is your concern rather than saving money, than you'll also want to think about sourcing of materials and whether or not the materials are renewable (hopefully not invasive to the area in which they're grown).

Even if relying on an architectural professional, I think you're doing the right thing by compiling information and accumulating knowledge of all your options so that you're assured that you're utilizing the options best suited to meet your end goals.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ Nov 20 2007, 10:15 AM) [snapback]541940[/snapback]</div>

I second that. I built my hobby farm home around 5 years ago using 12 inch ICF forms, and have never regretted it. The home is very tight, so an HRV is essential to maintain a healthy indoor environment. Even if a person has to reduce their square footage by 10-15%, it's worth going ICF instead of stick framing

The HVAC selection is very important too. For a colder climate, hydronic infloor heat is a must, it saves a lot of energy. I went with a regular high eff gas furnace, but now wish I had gone with geothermal heat pump. Long term, a geothermal system more than pays for itself

Proper siting and planning are very important. Get a pro who knows what he is doing.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jayman @ Nov 20 2007, 10:48 AM) [snapback]541959[/snapback]</div>

What is an HRV? I am assuming high recirculation something for airflow and air quality. Am i even close?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ Nov 20 2007, 11:15 AM) [snapback]541940[/snapback]</div>

The above is the biggie. "Super insulate" the shell and use very good glass, something like triple layer Heat Mirror (find a U value under .3 and a SHGC under .35 with a high light transmittance).

HRV = Heat Recovery Ventilator, it pre-heats or pre-cools outside air being brought in from the inside air being exhausted. A new efficient home should be built tightly enough that it needs to be exhausted to keep 'fresh air' (ie, to eliminate bioeffulents and furnishing off gassing) inside.

For an example of a well done efficient home, check out RMI's headquarters (aka, Amory Lovin's house) at http://rmi.org/sitepages/pid229.php . Last I heard, his banana harvest was still going strong; note that his house is located near Aspen CO and to pay for the insulation he eliminated the heating system during design...

 

I have started to see an in crease in Modular homes popping up, they really look cool and are energy efficient...

http://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/DAC-ART/...kit-houses.html

 

Of course, the most energy efficient "house" is a condo unit in a large building near your job or near mass transit. Multiple housing units make the most efficient use of building materials and they insulate each other from the weather, and proximity to work or mass transit minimizes transportation energy use.

 

see

http://www.homepower.com/

if you are very lucky/persuasive you may convince them to support the writing of an article about the design/build process for their magazine. This could mean some gadgets donated by manufacturers.

 

yeah, circulation is critical. we've got a very tightly built apartment and no air recirc here- now that we keep the windows closed at night i'm experiencing some pretty nasty respiratory issues. we have to air out the house every other day or so, which is fine for now because it still gets up into the low 70s out.

so effin' weird... 70s in november... :wacko:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ 2007 11 20 18:38) [snapback]542243[/snapback]</div>

Yes, that's a problem. The tighter the place is sealed, the more important it is to have a heat recovery ventilator. Without one, you get no fresh air and an increasing concentration of pollutants. You could mention the issue to your landlord, but I'm not so sure he's going to spring for a retrofit. As a temporary measure, you might try a portable air filter, and frequent vacuuming with a HEPA bag and filter in the machine.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(madler @ Nov 20 2007, 02:53 AM) [snapback]541872[/snapback]</div>

I just checked out your link... this is fantastic. I'd love to builld one of these homes and then incorporate all the other things into it (solar, gray water, etc.)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Nov 20 2007, 10:09 PM) [snapback]542258[/snapback]</div>

don't get me started on the property manager. i gave up on those idiots. we're considering one of those hepa filter machines because i am afraid of what this is doing to our bird.