A Net Zero Energy Home at Conventional Cost
The design of this home was, in part, a test of a design process—of a philosophy of design—known as performance-based design. The central idea is that performance analysis (energy, daylight, and thermal comfort analysis, among others) has a central role to play in informing design decisions at every step of the process.
Continue reading “Designing a Net Zero Home: A Map of the Design Process”
We set out to design a Net Zero Energy house at conventional per-square-foot costs. We got pretty darn close. Sans solar panels (which will be installed after two years of operation), the house came in at 8% less than a conventional new home. With solar panels, the house is still 2% less than conventional.
Here’s a full cost breakdown, and the seven strategies we used to get there.
Continue reading “Seven Strategies for Net Zero Energy at Net Zero Cost”
Things have to come through the walls, roof, and floors — even in an airtight house. How do we detail these elements in a way that (1) keep bulk water out, (2) meets our ambitious (Passive House level) air-tightness goals, and (3) avoids risk of condensation? Here are my details.
Continue reading “Penetration Details: Puncturing the Envelope of an Air-Tight House”
How should you design and detail a wood stove in an airtight Passive House? Here are some of the considerations, and the approach we used on this project.
First off: should you even have a wood stove in a Passive House? This is rightly a matter of some debate. It’s certainly not necessary, as our temperature data have shown: this particular house has proven it can stay habitable even through the coldest of cold snaps—maintaining ~55 degF even in -20 degF outdoor temperatures without mechanical heating.
And, a wood stove in a Passive House comes with downsides and risks:
Below is the slideshow I presented on April 20, 2017 to the Iowa Building Enclosure Council, and to a sustainable construction class from Hawkeye Community College.
The version below is slightly edited to make it easier to follow online. (I tend to avoid text in my presentations, which can make them difficult to follow without accompaniment.)
Continue reading “Slideshow: Achieving Net Zero Energy at Conventional Cost”
I was on-site last week (Jan. 9-10) for the installation of Zola windows. This was both exciting and nerve-wracking for a few reasons:
Further complicating the process were extremely cold temperatures, and one day of rain (just enough to cover everything with mud).
In charge of the installation was Harry Schilling of Schilling Construction. I was incredibly pleased with Harry’s work and would highly recommend him for other projects. He and his team were fast and efficient while also paying close attention to detail. Harry also taught the owner and his assistant how to perform the installation, so they could help out with many of the steps, thereby reducing the labor costs.
Here’s how the windows were installed — both in theory and in practice.
In order to use building performance results as an input into the creative design process, it’s not good enough to know how a design performs — or even how multiple design options perform —; you need to know why they are performing that way. A designer needs to understand what levers they can pull to change performance — what design elements have the biggest impact, and how they interact. This is the only way to truly integrate performance into the very DNA of a design — what I call a “performance parti.”
I incorporated energy and daylight analysis as part of the conceptual design for the Iowa Nest Residence. This meant that early design discussions encompassed both traditional topics like floor plan layout, siting, and aesthetics, as well as performance criteria. The addition of analysis added a trivial amount of time, but proved incredibly valuable. Here’s how I did it — and what I will do differently next time.
One of the goals for this house is durability: a lifespan of 200 years or more. Is concrete an appropriate material to achieve that aim?
First, some background: It’s not the concrete itself that’s problematic; it’s the rebar embedded in concrete. This rebar tends to corrode over time, and as it does, the rust increases the diameter of the rebar slightly, spalling the concrete, and eventually causing the concrete to fail. This is the main reason why Roman concrete (which had no rebar) has lasted for 1000s of years, whereas contemporary concrete’s lifespan is typically measured in decades.
I’ve had several requests to post additional images of the house design — so here are the floor plans and exterior elevations. Enjoy!
