# Tell Me about your Energy Efficient/Zero Energy House



## crunchy_mama (Aug 7, 2010)

We are researching building a new house and while reading all the threads on here I thought it might be interesting to take a survey of what others on here have done. I would love to build zero energy house although with our budget I don't know that it is possible, but it sure sounds nice especially after just getting this months bill which has a 10% rate increase!

My knowledge of the energy efficient building is not the best(we just started on extensive studying) so excuse my ignorance- I tried to include everything that I have came across so far.


1)Family Size-

2)Construction Style-
-Stick Frame
-Metal
-Earth Berm
-Earth Bag
-Straw Bale
-Cob
-Cord
-Other

3)Climate

4)Heating/Cooling
-Heat Pump
-GeoThermal
-Wood
-Solar
-Wind
-Hydro
-other

5)Insulation
-Cellulose
-Spray Foam
-ICF
-SIP
-other

6)Water Source
-Municipal
-Well
-Water Catchment

7)Water Heating
-Traditional-with insulation and conservation
-EE Water Heater
-Tankless Water Heater
- Solar
-Thermal
-Other

8)Lighting-time usage and percentage used
-CFs
-LEDs
-Natural Lighting
-Candles/Oil Lamps
-other

9)Windows Style and Values

10)Exterior house
-Vinyl
-Concrete Board
-Wood
-Brick
-Stone
-Masonry
-Adobe

11)Appliances
-ones used
-Energy efficency rating

12)Best feature of your house

13) Biggest Regret?


----------



## crunchy_mama (Aug 7, 2010)

Our house is not the most energy efficient, although we did try to do some things that way, we still have lots of things we need to address though and hope to change next time.

)Family Size-5 and growing

2)Construction Style-
-Stick Frame

3)Climate
-Southeast MO- very wide temp ranges and very humid

4)Heating/Cooling
-Heat Pump-2 Stage 

5)Insulation
-Spray Foam

6)Water Source
-Well


7)Water Heating
-Traditional- ours is 12 yrs old and we have been horrid about conserving- dh finally put insulation around it that we have had forever

8)Lighting-time usage and percentage used
Combo of CFs and traditional in fixtures which cannot use CF's, try to use natural lighting when we can- go to bed early and open windows when weather cooperates- next time we hope to go w/ LED and make sure all our fixtures are accomodating

9)Windows Style and Values
Double-pane, double -hung vinyl- very cheap

10)Exterior house
-Concrete Board


11)Appliances
-Energy Star Dishwasher, Refrigerator, Stove- HE Washer, Dryer
-27in CRT tv, 2 laptops(1 used as a router only), 1 netbook, 1 printer, blue-ray player- try to keep tv and player usage to a minimum


12)Best feature of your house
Our biggest investment was the spray foam insulation, although I don't think the payoff is worth it

13) Biggest Regret? 
I wish we would have went w/ cellulose and then a geo-thermal heat pump, but we couldn't afford both. We both really, really wish we would have bought nicer windows and looked more into the low-e glazing.


----------



## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Hi,
Its tough to get all the way down to zero, and I'm not sure its really worth the pretty extreme effort involved. Reducing energy use by 50 to 80% is workable without breaking the bank, and it seems to me we should be building all houses this way.

I've tried to put together a lot of real examples of low energy use homes and construction techniques here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SolarHomes/solarhomes.htm
There are many pages on construction techniques and good practical examples -- should keep you busy for a while 

For cost effectivness, I like the double stud wall with cellulose or the Mooney strapped wall with cellulose combined with raised heel trusses in the attic with lots of cellulose. 
Efficient windows can add a lot of cost, and I'm not sure that regular double glazed low e (R3) windows combined with a good thermal shade is not a more cost effective way to go.

Passive solar can help a lot if you have a site that works well for solar.

One of the most important things is keeping the size down and making every sqft work.

Try Googling the Passive House Institute US -- I think they have a pretty good approach. 

Gary


----------



## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

Don't forget the importance of orientation relative to sun and wind, as well as summertime shading.

Also, eves/overhangs need to be calculated for your site to keep summer sun out but allow winter sun in.


----------



## crunchy_mama (Aug 7, 2010)

SolarGary thanks for another great link- have to say dh and I LOVE your site and already have a long list of projects.

We are looking at what we can reasonably afford to do with the biggest payoff it is easy to do zero energy when you dump unlimited funds in but that doesn't make it cost effective though.

The windows we have are really, really poor and from what I have read don't meet the min standards for energy efficiency, I wish now that I had went for the glaze but didn't know enough at the time that it was worth it. We are also extensively studying plans trying to find something that works w/ the least amount of wasted space. We have already came across some good designs. 

re: orientation we are already considering this as well, but until we know for sure where the homeplace may be hard to move forward exactly on that issue, we are just trying to figure out all the options that are reasonable to do. I have looked at the optimal overhang as well, we are in the education phase right now as the last 2 times we ended up going into this way too fast- first because we were getting married and the 2nd due to the house burning down the same time as the baby coming, leaves little time or mental energy. Hopefully, 3rd time is a charm.


----------



## AgrarianDr (Mar 25, 2011)

We have an earth berm home, solar draft roof with earth tubes. We rely heavily on rain harvesting and reuse of grey water. S-l-o-w-l-y working our way off grid. Currently have several sources of electrical production, none of which really stand out, although working on my first biodigester and am very interested in algae production

For heat and hot water for the home and greenhouse (also a berm design) we use solar air collectors, the solar draft roof and a russian/masonry/mass heater unit - which we cannot over-praise as to it's gentle and constant heat and efficiency.
For the greenhouse we use the solar air collectors to heat the soil in the beds and don't worry so much about heating the air

It all sounds weird, but it works - except for the grid power, but I'm working on it!


----------



## crunchy_mama (Aug 7, 2010)

Cool thanks for the info, I hadn't heard about the Russian heater yet so adding that to the list research, we were looking into thermal masses and it would be swell to have it also provide active heat as well. Does it provide all your heat? Where are you located, what's your climate?


----------



## AgrarianDr (Mar 25, 2011)

Crunchy Mama,

I'll start last question first; near the Tenn, GA, NC state borders. Climate is 4 seasons with a little more emphasis on winter (mountains)

Whether intentional or not, you mentioned something that should really be your big focus; Thermal Mass.
When you get down to brass tacks, you want a really well insulated home that will retain whatever "condition" you have created. Thermal mass will keep it cooler longer in the summer and warmer longer in the winter

We will never, ever - under any circumstance own anything again but a Russian, Rocket Mass, Masonry heater (all one in the same). 
Here is the background; back in the 16th/17th century wood as a resource became extremely limited in Europe, so they had to do everything possible to conserve - including building a better stove - one that would still do the trick but use far less wood.
That was never a problem here in North America. Wood was everywhere, and as such, our fireplaces/stoves were designed on a "burn to your hearts content with no worries"
But in Europe and Russia you had to be VERY careful not to run out of wood, which is when they discovered what we now call Thermal Mass.
The concept is a fast, hot fire where virtually ALL of the heat that is created is absorbed and released slowly. The truth is, when you start understanding all of this "convection, thermal mass, radiant heat" stuff, you will start looking at regular fireplaces and think "what a bunch of crap!" 

Here is a decent induction article

And once you understand the whole concept of rising heat and convection, then really dive into earth tubes. Again, nothing new here. This is tech used by ancient Romans. 
We use earth tubes for both the house and greenhouse and have been as pleased with those as the masonry stove


----------



## crunchy_mama (Aug 7, 2010)

It is kind of coincidental but we were looking at the rocket stoves last year as a good efficient way to burn wood. I know any kind of fireplace had long since shut down as they are so inefficient. We know we needed a thermal mass for taking advantage of passive solar but I didn't realize there was an inside design of the rocket stove. It seems like a great idea to combine the passive and active heat at the same time, thank you so much for introducing the idea to me. 

You use it for cooking and heating water as well, is that right?

Did you make it yourself?

I found some designs online and someone had mentioned making one for around $1000 which seemed like a great deal.

I haven't looked into the earth tubes yet, thanks for bring that up as well!


----------

