Massachusetts Zero Energy Challenge Winning Home

This is a very impressive less than zero energy home.  It uses a
combination of reasonable size, excellent thermal envelope, very
efficient appliances, some passive and some active solar heating, and a
PV driven mini-split heat pump for additional heat and cooling.

The end result is a true zero energy house that can be built within a reasonable budget.

I cover a few of the highlights below, but all the details on the house are in the article here...

Performance
The monthly performance chart below speaks for itself.  For the year 2009, the house produced significantly more energy than it used.


Highlights
Double stud, R42 walls insulated with cellulose insulation.
R100 cellulose attic insulation.
Triple glazed R5 windows with R7 interior thermal shutters.
Very good infiltration sealing.
Emphasis on south windows for solar passive gain.
Concrete slab floors for heat storage thermal mass.
Solar water heating
Solar air heating collector to for additional space heating.
Exceptionally efficient appliances and lighting.
Heat recovery ventilation system.
Efficient mini-split heat pump for heating and AC.
4.9 KW grid-tied PV array supplies all electrical power and then some.

Double stud R42 cellulose insulated walls

Total cost of the house without land is $180,000.

Altogether, and exceptional house.

Thanks very much to Doug and Tina for providing this material.

Gary

Some New Stuff

This is just a collection of some interesting (at least to me) items added tot he site over the last week or so....

Harvesting Fresh Water From Fog
Areas with regular daily fogs (e.g. some coastal areas) can harvest impressive amounts of fresh water from the fog.  Nets catch the fog and then channel droplets from the fog into a catch basin. 



Details...

Booklet on "Hot Water From Your Woodstove"
This is a good 45 page booklet from Lehman's describing a couple systems for adding a heat exchanger coil to the firebox in your woodstove to heat water.  Good detail on both thermosyphon and pumped systems, and lots of information on troubleshooting and doing the installation safetly.




Details...




Skysails -- Kites for Towing Ships
These are large kites that can be deployed under favorable wind conditions to reduce fuel consumption.  With favorable winds, fuel consumption can be reduced as much as 50%.
Operation of the Skysails is largely automatic.




Details...



Homes From Cylindrical Grain Storage Bins
A collection of links to homes made from cylindrical steel grain bins.  These homes offer a thermally efficient shape, and some options for good insulation thickness -- plus and interesting look.

Details...









Gary

UAZ Students Help Local Businesses to Reduce Energy and Water Consumption

I thought this was a great program to
get students involved with renewable energy and also help local businesses with
energy and water costs. 

Students from the UAZ Free Enterprise team identified two local Tucson businesses in need of some help on energy and water use, and then worked out and implemented a program to help the businesses reduce energy use, water use, and carbon emissions.

Here are the details on what the team
did -- there is contact information at the end if you want information on
starting a similar program ...

I have to brag a little here and mention that my granddaughter Kelly was one of the team members :)

Gary

Zero Energy Homes for the Rest of Us

While visiting St George Utah recently, we found that we were in
town during the parade of homes, so we looked at a few of them.  One of the
display homes was a very efficient home built by Sun-Savvy Inc.  I was very
impressed by this home and the other homes they offer.

Their design combines a very good and very tight thermal envelope, heat
recovery ventilation, passive solar, solar thermal and PV arrays, and efficient
mini-split heat pumps to make a home that should be able to achieve net zero
energy use in the southern Utah climate.  The display home has a LEED
Platinum rating. 

Even more impressive to me is that these are very nice and very "normal"
looking homes.  These homes appear to be very easy for the homeowner to live with. 
While the energy efficiency does add some cost, the homes appear to be cost
competitive with ordinary construction homes.  In other words, these are
net zero or near net zero energy homes which should have a very wide appeal to
ordinary home buyers -- you don't have to be an eco-freak (like me) to like
these homes. 

We took the full tour, got a lot of pictures -- all the details here...

Much more on solar homes here...

Clerestory windows -- great daylighting.  These open automatically when a set temperature is exceeded.


The energy recovery ventilation unit -- an earthtube is used to precondition the intake air to the ventilator.

It seems like a lot of the "net zero" energy homes you see are a long ways
out of the mainstream -- they tend to be architecturally unique (some would say
strange) and come with an acre of PV panels that would add $100K+ to the cost of
the house were it not for some very very generous (and perhaps questionable)
rebate programs.  I don't see this type of near zero energy home ever
catching on and becoming widespread.  On the other hand, a design like the
Sun-Savvy homes seems like it could have very wide appeal.  I hope it turns into a trend.

Gary

Energy Fairs

This is the season for a lot of the annual energy fairs, so check around and see if there is a good one to go to in your area.

The fairs are a great way to learn about renewable energy projects, go to workshops, meet some renewable energy people in your area, and find some deals.

I keep a list of all the Energy Fairs I know about here...

If you know of others that are not on the list, please let me know...

Gary

Single Seat VW Car to Get 250 mpg -- Production in 2010

This
single seat car that VW is working on would get 250+ mpg, top speed 75 mph. 
It can travel over 400 miles on its 1.7 gallon fuel tank! 

It weighs 660 lbs.

This car is powered by gasoline only, and its 250 mpg is not one of the
phony plug in hybrid mileage ratings that does not include fossil fuel
burned to make electricity -- its an honest 250 mpg -- amazing.













Said to be ready to go on sale in Shanghai in 2010. 

More here...

Gary