GreenGeezer

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.

Pre-Fab Green Home in Sag Harbor, NY

Yesterday's New York Times featured an affordable (for the Hamptons) pre-fab home as a prototype which the architect, Laszlo Kiss, will live in with his wife.  The design has standard design elements such as a front and back cedar porch, and a translucent pergola, but what makes it special is its green features:

• Geothermal heating system
• Solar PV panels that will provide electricity and sell back excess power to the grid
• Light fixtures what will only accept CFLs
• Five sets of sliding glass doors and L-shaped windows which will allow passive solar heat

One of my favorite things about the house is that it is designed to make flexible use of space and is generous with its inclusion of storage.   Oh yeah, and it can be assembled quickly right from the factory. "The Kiss House design is 'exactly the kind of innovative thinking we need to make green homes that large numbers of people can embrace and afford,' said Neal Lewis, president of the Neighborhood Network of Long Island, a nonprofit alternative energy organization.'"  Treehugger shows the house layout and this image in their coverage of this article.

Earthship Biotecture Homes

Check out the Earthship website and get inspired to build one, or find out how to just spend the night in one.

"Earthship n.
1. passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials 2. thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization. 3. renewable energy & integrated water systems make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills.
Biotecture n. 1. the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their sustainability. 2. A combination of biology and architecture."

Adobe Builder Plan for Passive Solar House

This house plan from
Adobe Builder is inspiring yet practical -- even if you don't live in the Utah desert, its economical use of space and its modest footprint will be helpful in thinking about your green house....

New House Design by the GlideHouse Creator

Inhabitat's "Prefab Friday" column showcases a new green home design by Michelle Kauffman, the creator of the Glidehouse , and her new design pushes the envelope even further, incorporating a green roof and greywater capture , among other things:

"The home is compact and stunning, with gorgeous xeriscape landscaping, and the most high-tech green materials and sustainable systems available,including a greywater recycling system, green roof, solar panels, and even a spot to plug in your electric vehicle for charging!"

--Inhabitat's "Prefab Friday"

Tilting at Windows

The innovative architectural firm Studio Gang has designed  Windermere West , a 26-story condo building planned for the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, which will reduce summer peak energy use dramatically by tilting windows away from the sun.  The August online issue of Wired has a nice picture.   

   Neighborhood community meetings have expressed concern about the height of the building, but let's hope that however tall the building is, the design stays intact.

"Green Homes for Sale" Pick of the Week

This beautiful, compact (1600 sq. ft.) house is located in Milagro Cohousing in Tucson, AZ.   Its features include:

"Adobe walls 16" thick, passive solar orientation, dual cooling systems, solar water heater (roof ready for PV), spacious covered front porch with ceiling fan, ocotillo fence, plenty of storage, balcony with stunning mountain views..."

Typical of cohousing communities, homes are clustered together to reduce sprawl. An added benefit is that the community  captures rainwater in cisterns for irrigation, and has constructed its own wetlands to purify greywater naturally.