GreenBuildIndiana

Our "Radically Energy Efficient" Home Gets Nice Local Press

Thanks to Mike Leonard and Jeremy Hogan -- and to the Bloomington Herald-Times, for the great feature story on our energy-efficient house today in the Sunday paper.

"The home that David and Carol Gulyas are building is based on many of the cutting-edge concepts in green construction and energy conservation, and while it most closely approximates concepts employed in the German passive home, there are differences.

'The German model really emphasizes being airtight, and while that’s a fundamental concept in this house, too, we have a different attitude about quality of life,' Gulyas said. 'In Bloomington, we like to open the windows and let the air in. Feel a breeze. So we’ve incorporated systems to accommodate that as well.'" --Mike Leonard, Bloomington Herald-Times, May 17, 2009.

Systems and features that will make the house so radical include:

• Energy modeling and design by Marko Spiegel and CTI
• Cool, heat reflecting metal roof finish
• 12-inch thick SIP walls and roof from Porter SIPS in Michigan
• Triple-pane Loewen windows
• Ten inches of insulation under the floor slab
• Energy Recovery Ventilator

Plus some not-so-radical features such as excellent construction quality provided by Chris Sturbaum's Golden Hands Construction crew, and outstanding interior design and construction management provided by David Gulyas (full disclosure, the latter is my husband).

Green Kitchen Design

It sure is nice to be married to an Interior Designer.   Here is the design of the kitchen, which we hope to begin work on in the spring, after the house is closed up.   (We are still in the foundation phase at present.) 

Planned green features include:

• Finished concrete floor, stained and sealed
• Locally, sustainably harvested wood for cabinets
• Energy Star appliances, including an induction cooktop (which are all electric and energy usage can be offset by the planned 2.5KW PV system)
• LED and/or infrared halogen lighting throughout
• Low-flow water fixtures

The rendering above was done using SketchUp. It shows the high degree of daylighting that will be provided by the open design and clerestory windows.

Las Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World

Image Credit:  Las Gaviotas.  This tiny hydroelectric turbine is one of four technologies that keeps Las Gaviotas off the grid. It generates 30 kilowatts off a 1-meter drop in a low-fall dam.  Las Gaviotas was a feature in yesterday's "Living on Earth" broadcast on NPR. Founded by Colombian Paolo Lugari, Las Gaviotas has out-innovated some of the world's biggest corporations in its effort to create a sustainable society:

"Built from scratch in a treeless corner of [Colombia], this community of scientists, tinkerers, and refugees - now numbering more than 200 - has created a verdant rainforest where once there was nothing but scrub grass. It has also devised and deployed dozens of inventions with a frequency and success rate that puts some of America's most storied technology companies to shame.

"Its products include a hydroelectric microturbine that generates 30 kilowatts and thousands of RPMs from a mere 1-meter drop in a low-fall dam; a system of solar panels, spherical boilers, and tanks that can provide hot water for housing projects as large as 30,000 units; and a remote-controlled zeppelin that uses video cameras to spot forest fires."  CNN Money

Alan Weisman wrote a book on Las Gaviotas, and he has recently updated it and re-issued it in a new edition. In addition to advancing renewable energy technologies and successfully creating a verdant forest out of nothing, Las Gaviotas has some lessons on what is most appropriate technology for a post-carbon world, and what really makes human beings happy.   Says one of the community's leaders: "We believe austerity is a better path to happiness and to man's comfort. In Colombia's oil camps, what have they gotten? Prostitution and alcoholism, because salaries are too high. Then the oil is gone. What's left is misery." 

Affordable Passive Solar House Plans

The Energy Center at Appalachian State University offers affordable passive solar house plans, which range from 900 to 1300 square feet in size.   It's interesting to see these designs try to replicate the past.  Do these houses have good daylighting inside to avoid having to burn electricity to light them?  How is the indoor air quality -- does the house ventilate itself well, or will air conditioning and fans be needed?  Passive solar design is a good thing, but I wonder if these house designs have gone far enough.

Living Designs Group's Green Condo Development in Taos, NM

Living Designs Group suggests once again that people who live in New Mexico just know how to design things more beautifully.  Of course, the weather helps. This condo development, Suenos de la Loma, is located in the historic district of Taos, New Mexico and its units are carefully sited to receive maximum solar gain and daylighting. The use of historic adobe walls helps the structures blend with the historic architecture of the area.   Adobe is also very effective as a passive solar design element, as it absorbs heat through the day, in effect sheltering interior spaces from the heat of the sun, and slowly gives off heat during the cold desert night.  This condo development is within walking distance of Taos Plaza.

Clara Cabin by HiveModular Rethinks the Cabin in the Woods

Providing a lot more shelter than a tent, but with a carbon footprint that barely registers, this modular cabin in Minnesota is a captivating example of green modular design. As profiled by the designer Bryan Meyer in his own blog:

"The only technology incorporated is a 12 volt lighting system powered by a solar charged marine battery. Two sides of the building open to draw in the adjacent national forest land and allow views to the lake. Three bi-folding doors operate independently, allowing the user to open just one or all, thus converting the interior in to a stage-like volume (and a chapel, since we were married there). Small aperture-like windows contrast the large openings and provide framed views of the surrounding wilderness."

The cabin folds up to a "mute box" when the owners leave to go back to the city.  Bryan is an architect at HiveModular.

The Heart of a Green Home: The HVAC System

Bloomington Hollyhocks
Originally uploaded by cgulyas2002

We are finalizing plans for our high-performance home in Bloomington, Indiana, and received this email from our Energy Modeler and Home Engineer, Marko Spiegel.

David,
I'm enclosing a number of pdf files, some of them  RemRate summaries, and one of them my summary.  Here is the conclusion:

a.  All electric at $0.065 is the most economical way to heat and equip your house - least capital and least annual cost

b.  air source heat pumps will do the trick and all alternatives and not economically justifiable - if you guys were economists - not passionate promoters of sustainability

c.  The #1 energy saving measure you guys do is dramatically lowering all loads - therefore all paybacks of high tech solutions look really questionable

d.  Of all the renewable energy options and combinations the ground source heat pump in combination with 2.5kW Solar PV is of course the best - it achieves HERS17!!! - and lots of bragging rights

e.  Air source heat pump and 2.5kW Solar PV get you at least to HERS 29- not bad at all
If you asked me what I would do given the major difference in cost:  I would choose the simplest HVAC system using air source heat pump to start out with and add PV once the house is complete and you guys are comfortable in your situation.  An on-demand electrical water heater from Stiebel Eltron costs max. $500.-/piece.   PV will address ALL your loads and keeps your systems simple.  Simple is a big part of our design goal."

What combination would YOU choose?

Dream Green Homes Provides Green Home Designs & Plans

Green Dream Homes  is a companion site to Green Home Building, and both sites offer great background information on the typology of sustainable homes.   If you are looking for green home designs and plans, however, start with Green Dream Homes, where you'll find plans for:

• Conventional, Rounded, Earth-Sheltered, and Organic homes
• Earth, Wood, Straw, Stone, Manufactured, and Lightweight Concrete materials
• Residential, Studio, Greenhouse, Garage, Doghouse, and Cold Storage functional plans

Whether just dreaming, or starting to actually plan your green home, you'll find plenty of information here, mostly leaning toward the unconventional.

Image Credit:  Ecological Architecture P.C.

Ed Begley, Jr. to be Spokesperson for My Green Cottage

Ed Begley, Jr., the centerpiece of the celebrities-go-green cable show Living with Ed, has another gig as a spokesperson for the design/build company, My Green Cottage.   The company promises to build green homes that cost the same or less than conventional homes. They also do green remodels that avoid gutting and emphasize reuse.  They were in the spotlight during the California fires in which one of their houses was left standing while those around it burned to the ground.  In an  episode  of NBC's HouseSmarts, this fire-retardant quality was demonstrated by taking a blowtorch to the house.

Cheryl Teigs, Ed Begley and Rachelle on "Living with Ed"

PATH Home in North Omaha, Nebraska

Fine Homebuilding magazine features a multi-page spread on the PATH Home. PATH,  or the Partnership for the Advancement of Technology in Homebuilding, is a voluntary partnership between leaders of the homebuilding, product manufacturing, insurance, and financial industries and representatives of federal agencies.  "The PATH Concept Home features a number of innovations: a flexible floor plan that evolves with the homeowners' family, panelized framing, an insulating-concrete-form foundation, soy-based foam insulation, an on-demand water heater, and a state-of-the-art gray-water system, among many other features." --Fine Homebuilding.  And, it's beautiful.