We began to retro fit our very small semi-bungalo towards a net zero goal last year. By switching to a tankless water heater alone our Enbridge bill was reduced by $100.00 a month or about 65%. I just changed the basement lighting to LED pot lights and added full insulation and firebreaks in the basement level living space. Last year we installed thermal windows and this week I'm installing an insulated steel side door. Next spring we hope to add the solar panels over my 8x12 garden shed's roof. I purchased the wind power generator to control the pot lights in the basement but it hasn't been installed yet. This video was inspiring and informative. Thanks for posting. We're on the right track folks!
Three simple rules: 1. Energy conservation 2. Passive solar energy 3. Renewable solar energy To which I would add: 1. Insulation 2. Air tightness 3. Ventilation From demonstration to mass production in ten years (not quite, you have all the hippies from the 1960s living in communes who were already thinking about this, and you have the developers of the Passive house concept in Europe working on it as well. Plus you have several generations of manufacturers, home builders, scientists, homeowners, and others. We stand on countless shoulders of giants who came before us.) Awesome 👍
Air sealing and blower door testing during construction or a remodel makes a huge difference. Every new building or remodel should be air sealed. Every existing home owner that wants to be more energy efficient should consider blower door testing and air sealing. Even small fixes can make a big difference.
There are homes farther north that have very high efficiency, even with the different problems some of the same solutions work, such as setting up the windows to benefit from passive solar techniques thick layers of insulation and large thermal masses. When combined with more efficient temperature control systems such as a heat pump, homes in colder climates can probably get pretty close to net zero capability.
Essentially, are you saying that by simply adding these Solar Panels and by making a few other modifications; some pre-existing homes can achieve a Net-Zero status? I'm also interested in how much of the Net-Zero dialog has been discussed and approved by your American neighbors?
I'm also chasing net zero by modifying an existing passive solar home. It already has plenty of thermal mass, but we installed triple pane Pella windows with the interior rremovable pane being low e (hardcoat). As i got further into this project I realized that this was a mistake, but fortunately we can replace the interior pane with clear glass, and substantially increase our solar gain. We use very effective cellular shades at night. Here I learned quickly to order them 1/3 wider than actual measurements, so that gaps along the sides are minimized. Sometimes we have to adjust them a bit to get them to open and close easily, but they are very effective. We also added 2 inches to the lenght to make sure the bottom rail was flat against the windowsill.
Good, keep making more of those alternative energy houses. For all new single family detached homes, require them to use some of those ideas to make sure that the newly built houses are energy efficient and can easily be powered by alternative energy solar and battery.
I just found your page. I live in Hawaii and this is what we need to do with some of the homes. Going to draw up some designs and ideas. I work at the Home Depot so I can figure some things out.
If you are interested in getting to net-zero get some energy modeling advice. Yes, it costs money, but it could save you money ensuring you make the most cost-effective improvements that support instead of compromise your journey to net-zero.
My neighbors electric bill are high compared to mine. I gave up on electrical items, dry my clothes on clothes line, open my windows, have ceiling fans throughout the house, and practice on buying less and less stuff. I don't have to buy more to save less just live simple with less it's easier on my pocket.
How many sunny days are in Canada from October till May (240 days in total)... ? In the best situation: 80 days partially sunny, the rest of the 160 days are cloudy and cold, really cold my goodness.... :( What kind of solar collector panels will work in such "unfriendly" environment ? Please answer to me with numbers and studies.
A year late, but I can give you an answer. Solar radiation is reduced by clouds and rain, but it still reaches the solar panels. You don't produce as much on those days, but it still works.
The solar resource in Edmonton, Alberta is 58% better than Hamburg, Germany, a city at the same latitude, with much higher numbers of solar installations. Southern parts of Alberta have the best solar resource in all of Canada.
Do you realise what an enormous country Canada is? You need to define which city you are looking for sunlight hour records, all of which are easily googled.
Edmonton is a fairly dry climate and stays sunny even during many days in winter, on average receiving bright sunshine more than 300 days per year. Days are short in winter so power generation would go down, but the opposite is true in summer
🤣🤣🤣 Never gonna happen. The infrastructure and their lobbyists will never allow that. Even if they do they'll find a way to charge you the same regardless.
It takes designers and planners with knowledge and experience that can choose the best, most cost effective strategies for each project and educate their clients.
I have a submission. I have a nearly passive house 1400sqft house my wife and I built while unemployed for $60k. The two biggest expenses were the insulation and the concrete in the slab.
The design on the last house has me stumped. It looks like the front half of the house is 1 story tall and the back part of the house is 2 stories. The front roof appears to tilt back to the side wall of the second story. How do you waterproof the junction between the front roof and the side wall of the second story? Am I seeing it wrong?
Canadians are light-years ahead of Americans in making Passive House or Net Zero Energy houses affordable. In the U.S., it's definitely a luxury item reserved for the rich, with fancy architectural styles and interior design which I don't want or need. We also keep ratcheting up the standards--so many now that it's really hard to keep up. LEED in four flavors, Earth Advantage, Green Points rated, and Living Building Challenge. They're all quite complicated and difficult to understand.
Does net zero factor in the cost of a new invertor every 6-10 yrs? How about failing batteries every 6-10 yrs? How is snow removed from the panels? How much gvt money subsidizies each aspect of these homes?
Interesting questions. The vast majority of the 10,000 solar owners in the province where I live do not have batteries, which are expensive to replace. They exchange energy with the grid, exporting in the summer and importing in the winter. Economically it's pretty easy to cover your entire electricity bill with your solar and your energy is cheaper. Few people clear the snow off solar for several reasons: It's not worth it (there is no production during clouds and snow storms and when the sun shines, even in the winter the snow often melts off of the solar modules). Good analysis of a solar systems lifetime performance should integrate the cost of replacement inverters. Some do and some don't. As for incentives there are some for energy efficiency upgrades and very few if any for building new net-zero (which is odd), and solar incentives come and go. In Canada we have federal incentives at the moment and no local incentives.
I'm trying to figure out how to turn my home to net zero with passive solar design. My other issue is that everyone keeps talking about free solar energy. I'm waiting for the governments to decide when it's time to start taxing every home with solar energy because they'll declare it as theirs.
Love these sort of video - in Australia we see little of these technology in the masses... In this video Mike - spoke about the fresh system and he was using bryant system - do you have more information? and is that all he uses to warm/cool the house... what do you think of hemp or phase change installation? i am looking at building a hemp home.. but want to have no heating / cooling... and these sort of videos are great..
The design really depends on where you live. Having your windows pointed towards the sun is great in cold climates, so you get passive heat energy and warm your house up. However in hot climates you want most of your windows pointed away from the sun to help stop the house heating up too much and cooling is more important.
Actually is quite reverse. You need to learn how the sun moves in the sky. In any climate you want if possible all your windows to be on the south side in norther hemisphere.
mlg779 Incorrect. When you're in Florida and it's 85 degrees in December, you don't want the sun coming into south-facing windows. Daylighting can be from north-facing windows.
I live in Gerorgia and right now is -1C. I have big windows on the south and I do not get too much heat even when is 15C outside. If it's getting too hot I can open the windows. Because majority of my windows are on the south, in the summer the sun does not touch my windows at all. Now, in Florida you need just a bigger roof overhang maybe for the winter months and open the windows, but in the summer if the windows are on the south, the sun will not touch the windows. In Florida the sun is even higher in the sky compared with Georgia and they need even less roof overhang.
@@mlg779 YES! The length of the roof overhang is the biggest secret. It can easily shade all of the glass during the hot months, but let the sun hit the glass in the cold months. Then a long overhang on the west side, maybe a porch, to keep the afternoon sun off the glass. Lots of glass on the north side can allow mor cold drafts when winter winds blow. Yes you can invest in better glass. But it costs less to put more glass on the south side. More efficient. Less cost. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the factors for a net zero home is the size of the home. I would love to see a study comparing, for example a 400 square foot home to a 1500 Square foot home and maybe some other examples in between or beyond those square foot sizes. Perhaps it is easier to achieve a zero net zero home if you are willing to accept the value of a smaller square footage dwelling area.
Small size is just one of MANY ways to reduce energy consumption. But a large home could also be a cost effective net zero home if good decisions were made during the design. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Simply find the angle of the sun on the longest day of the summer and build it so no direct sun hits the window in the summer. Check this against the angle of the sun in the winter to ensure you are getting full sun in winter.
Great video now I am looking for a video that will encourage builders to build Net Zero Condominiums since most of the population do not own the scarce land to build a home on.
Depending on where you live this is coming. In Vancouver they require developers to meet effectively a passive house standard already. Check out this story on one of their first 85 unit passive house apartment buildings. Each suite requires the equivalent of 300 watts of heat on the worst day of the year. This means one hair dryer could heat half a dozen suites! www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/skeena-passive-house
Are there any health problems? Some people say not to live near high voltage power lines because it causes brain damage and cancer. And now you are living right in a building that generates its own power could one of these homes cause problems like this?
I live in SW Florida. We have strong sun light almost all year around. I would like to see designs for our climate. I am retired and utility bills can be high do to airconditioning. The climate is also very humid.
Easy. The angle of the sun is different in each season. I design my homes for the roof to shade all of the glass during the hot seasons. Of course it's easier if the design is done before the construction starts.
Just a quick one for ye all, is the solar system a good idea in the long run do they last long I've got a price for one panel 6000 euro plus vat plus a few hundred to fit. With my checking my bill it would be 10 years before it would pay for it self that's if it ran everything but it can't.
Light weight Foam panel for walls, floor and roof with ballistic strength render applied to outer surfaces is the next big thing.. check gigahouse, strata house.
Is there another video where Peter elaborates on the pourded slab over floor system? I seem to remember one, but having trouble locating it. Thanks for the help.
i was shocked by that, too. sounds too heavy. seems like dark-colored floor tiles would make more sense - though not have enough mass to hold the heat for long.
I’m all for the concept except for the heat. In the gwn I need to have better access to heat n i use an out door wood boiler n with that I don’t depend on much of anything except my classic boiler.
Dumb question here. What is the seasonal energy imbalance, if any of this house? You say it is net zero energy but if all the houses in Canada were the net-zero and ignoring other sectors (such as industry and agriculture), would the power stations have to close?
The answer is: "You CAN'T ignore industry and agriculture." If, by "industry" you are including "commercial" buildings.......and, given that this is a discussion about "residential construction" I think we have to assume that apartments and condominiums are NOT included in "residential construction" (generally speaking)...then the answer to your question is somewhat self-evident........as "no". Commercial, industrial and agricultural power consumption would STILL represent a HUGE percentage of the demand for electricity and, therefore, NOT require the shuttering of power plants.
How expensive are these homes? Or to build following blueprint with a construction team & architect? There are many countries that have unlimited amounts of sun light, why has this concept not become more mainstream around the world?
If companies like this truly cared more about the environment than their bottom line, they wouldve started working on making methods like this more affordable and more accessible in more solar efficient places like Fl, Texas, Cali, etc. What great difference will this make if only like 15% of families can afford to do it?
Affordability is achieved by hiring a good designer/planner that can use these principles to design a home that fits your site, budget, and needs. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Funny I know someone who has been building self sufficient homes for more than 30 years. Just did not have a term to hang on their design. This is far from being first but hey it's good that the mainstream is catching on!
Passive architecture or bio architecture is older than 60 years. I learned the secrets from the masters that design for the benefit of the people not for profit!!!!
Good job, I remember their is something better than Net-Zero model but I don't remember the name. I think its called Extra-Energy home or Above energy home.
What a find a tab bit disheartening is calling it a net zero home in that you produce as much or more energy than it consumes to heat and operate the house. If the solar array produced 120KW of power instead of 12KW, you could have a pretty leaky house and still be "net zero". You could easily increase the insulation levels beyond what was in the video, use radiant barriers, double door systems and have insulating shutters for the windows at night and run the heating off intrinsic heat (body heat, cooking food, showers, electronics, etc). No primary heat source and no energy used for it. Still "net zero", but way more efficient. I do understand there would be increased costs with such systems, but it would also decrease the solar panel costs as well.
@@greenenergyfutures The information in the video is factually incorrect the first net-zero houses were built over 40 years ago based on Mike's designs called "earth ships". This is plagiarism.
The best way is to use the construction budget to get as efficient as possible. Each project is unique. Use what works best for the client, site, and budget. For a south facing site, it's orientating the glass to face the winter sun. For a north facing site it might be better insulation, and windows and doors. For a high wind site it might be more air tight construction and a turbine. Each home should be custom designed for the client, budget, and site. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Insulating has been standard here in Scandinavia since 60's. The first insulator panels were introduced in the late 60's and double-layered windows around the same time. Quad layered windows has been around 25 years and the newest invention is to use argon between the layers instead of air. Solar panels are still rare, but it is a fault in pricing. Those installing companies asks too much money to make them more common. But nice to see that our northern brother is now taking steps into better solutions! Keep inventing new and better solutions and probably the companies can learn from each other or even create some domestic partnership!
Impossible to do in the U.S., unless you're a g.c., architect or already have a lot of building experience. The Phius builders and consultants only want to do big, high budget projects.
Geothermal is one way of getting to net-zero. Many of the net-zero homes we have covered use air-source heat pumps instead of ground source heat pumps, so it's the same idea. However, we have spoken to a geothermal guy who believes geothermal could be used to cut the cost of taking an old home to net-zero by half. Of course you do have to accept a major impact to your yard to install the underground geothermal pipes.
You can't cover everything in one video. Your payback will depend on your design decisions. If your planner makes good decisions in harmony with your needs, budget, and site, you might even end up with a home that costs no more to build or maintain and uses half the energy. Or you might prefer a home that produces all of its energy and the energy savings might even be greater than the increase in your mortgage payment. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
All of this sounds really amazing but I want to know the cost of installations. Most of these homes look to be in the upper 300k-500k range, what about us poor saps who don't have high paying jobs?
Lily Mokuzai Hi there, Lily Mokuzai! There is good news. Net Zero Energy doesn't have to be so expensive. There is an answer and it is called ThermaShell. Check out their website. I think they can be built for the same price or even slightly less than typical stick built houses. Of course, adding solar panels would up the cost a bit but I think it would still be quite affordable because you will need a much smaller HVAC system, no insulation (the walls are the insulation) and much less labor because their shells go up very quickly. I would check it out.
Energy efficiency can be used to reduce your costs. It requires choosing the best options first, the ones that save the most energy and cost the least. Exaple: If you are going to build a house, move as much glass to the Southside as possible and size the roof overhang to keep that glass shaded in the summer. That might cut heating costs as much as 50% without increasing construction costs. Each project has its own unique challenges and advantages. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Yes. I live in a 460 square foot home that has all the glass in the sun in the winter, and in the shade in the summer. Foam insulation. Earth bermed on the north and west sides. I planned it. Heating and cooling costs are $100 a year in the Appalachian mountains. No solar panels, wood heat, etc. Just an electric heat pump and electric water heater. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Instead of spending all that money on 2x, 3x, 4x, insulation throughout the home, wouldn't it be better if you just built a greenhouse around your home? You'd also protect your home from the elements, so the lifespan of the building materials would probably double or triple, adding to the overall savings of this type of design.
By "built a greenhouse around your home"....I take it you're talking about building a greenhouse around an "existing" home. Yes? That, of course, would be VERY complicated from a zoning standpoint on a house in an existing neighbourhood.
That is an option. But it might not save enough energy to pay for itself, unless your site has lots of sun and is WAY up north, like northern Alaska. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Another aspect which will help the planet is to build a house only as big as you need. Unfortunately, in the U.S. tax deductions for home mortgages offers a financial incentive for people to build much bigger houses than they need (the McMansion syndrome). Is it any wonder that we use more fossil fuels and have higher CO2 emissions than most other industrialized countries? Why can't we get our act together?
I can't remember this particular case, but most solar-powered net-zero homes I am seeing these days are using hybrid heat pump electric water heaters. They are very efficient and have somewhat slower recovery rates.
FYI CALIFORNIA 2020 : Zero Net Energy As spelled out in the California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan, the state has ambitious goals for the development of zero net energy buildings. These include: All new residential construction will be zero net energy (ZNE) by 2020. All new commercial construction will be ZNE by 2030 50% of commercial buildings will be retrofit to ZNE by 2030 50% of new major renovations of state buildings will be ZNE by 2025. In 2016, the Department of General Services issued these definitions of zero net energy:
+Pat Emilio (Illogic Buster) sure if higher construction costs (because it's non standard) and lower resale value (because it's non standard) are ok with you.
+Joseph Malovich NOPE. The cost sq/ft is the same as wood custom designed home. NOT higher. In fact, as the square footage increases, the cost DECREASES. Simple geometry that any engineer knows. Also, resale has shown to be equal PLUS, they are FAR more energy efficient. Recouping entire building cost within 20 years. PLUS, tornado, earthquake, hurricane, fire & termite proof.
Suitable everywhere if the home is designed for the client, budget, and site. Of course a home in Indonesia should not use the same energy saving ideas as one in the Appalachian mountains. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
There are numerous pathways to net-zero. The best thing you could do is to get some energy modeling work done. This is what the builders do to find the most cost-effective trade-offs.
Cost vs function….. reality is most people don’t make six figures,I love the ideas that come from innovative individuals but don’t mandate it thru building codes all you end up doing is making housing the biggest part of a families budget which isn’t fair to lower income families that don’t have the cash for a new Tesla every 7-8 years and live in rural communities so driving to work may end up being 45 minutes to an hour….the attack on energy will end up being what puts a further divide of the rich and poor….I have very expensive electricity so…I put in a wood stove and plan on using it daily…..so maybe that coal plant did produce a lot of emissions but it did provide 500,000 homes will clean electricity…..how many of those home owners will be switching to wood heat?
Personally I am using a wood stove as the only source of heat and if I had enough local supply and did not value my labour it would be affordable. But for folks who must buy wood, it is not very affordable at all. The price of all vehicles is out of control (ICE or EV) - no argument there. The pick up truck used to be a service vehicle for farmers and they were very affordable. Today they run $60-$100k and have every luxury feature imaginable. So buying a pick up truck today is like buying a Cadillac of yesterday. As for net-zero, it will make homes more affordable over time and it will insulate people from wildly fluctuating energy prices and carbon taxes etc. You can already pay a lot more or just a little more for net-zero new. In my province there is a builder building net-zero homes for $399k (1200 sq. feet). As competition increases and builders learn how to do it smarter this will improve over time. We produced a video story for the City of Edmonton on the Salvation Army that just built a net-zero ready 175 unit complex. They were very surprised when the costs went up less than 2 percentage points. They will save $240k per year in utility costs and $6 million over the life of the systems. ua-cam.com/video/VoLGjQfrCDw/v-deo.html
it is not excusable that this is being treated as novel. this is old. old. and old. a completely net zero house that is 100% passive has been proposed and built by Bill Mollison et al since his movement began. The technology it uses is enabled by ... windows and a thermal mass. To not even reference past work in the field and give homage is bad bad behavior. "oh its all new" attitudes like appear in this video are really unprofessional and completely destroy your reputation among thinking people..
towardthelight:) that happens in all feilds, recycling ideas and taking credit is as old as the hills. id be more critical of the carbon cost of adding concrete mass and then stating"look its green" people always cherry pick what suits them . i know folks who have built mcmansions and put a few solar panels on the roof and call it an "eco" house, it makes me laugh and cry at the same time. we have to be more critical of the folks who jump on the green bandwagon, and hold there bullshit to account, or the whole thing becomes a false PR excercise.
the green man hi! as far as house design I go to the Bill Mollison 30-70deg lat house that passively heats and cools. and this society is so ass hat that there are none in existence. makes upgrading and seeing real differences a snap. thanks for your reply! :)
+towardthelight:) All ideas are serially generated (built upon the ideas and discoveries which came before) and even Bill Mollison did not invent the idea of passive architecture. It is far better to support good ideas and oppose bad ones rather than linking ideology to personality. It's just divisive and has no place in sustainability. Not trying to insult, just wishing to help shed the veil of ego and indicate message over messenger.
towardthelight:) its the bureaucracy that stops it not the people....its people like warren buffet, who owns almost every home manufacturer on the planet, that lobby to get laws passed to regulate innovation right out of existence. otherwise they would be using a lot of these left over shipping containers to build low income housing and apartment buildings....they are a far more sturdy and safer structure than any wood frame house yet they will hit you with safety regulations that raise costs up so high it defeats the purpose. it doesn't matter that they are above and beyond the strength of the wood structure, they will still hit you with some one size fits all regulation, this keeps the competition from breeding. so its not the peoples fault that billionaires corrupt our elected officials to regulate competition and innovation purely to keep the power structure from being challenged.
No no we can't do that cause it actually works. Instead we must install a 60kW array with 200kWh battery pack for every home so they can run electric space heaters.
12KWp solar for 1 hous??? sound not so efficient... We have total of 2KWp and we selling back to grid (hous is 192m2 total but 70m2 unused basemant with no heating) Why a such efficient hous use 12 *1100 KW/year?
I'm no expect and I'm not sure where you live, but I would assume that you have to use a lot more KW of panels in climates with lower annual solar radiation. I mean 12KW could run a small factory in Central Australia but maybe it's a lot less effective in Canada. Also the colder the climate the much greater need of energy to heat it. Not only do you need more energy to raise the temperature from outdoor ambient to a comfortable habitat, but your heat pumps are less effective, your insulation losses are greater and your solar panels receive much less light. So the losses compound.
MsSomeonenew not all of us are rich or were born in places where its a garden year round.and -40c is normal here in winter which is 8 or so months.it was just a ponder as to weather it could work in a cold climate.
+Darrell barron Its obviously way more difficult to achieve net-0 in a sub-arctic local but strong insulation, eliminating air gaps, maximising solar gain and re-using internal heat to cut having to heat incoming cold air can have a massive impact. Even Eskimos realised that having a big fire in the house made little sense if their home let most of the heat out and let in lots of cold air.
yes ive been in many igloos before and they are pretty good.that is pretty good if you are ruffing it.as far as solar goes it doesnt work as well here as it would in more southern areas.still im looking at all things to try
Very interesting and exciting at the same time. If it's possible, we'd like to feature Green Energy Futures in our social network platforms. We are a startup company in Nova Scotia that focuses in promoting sustainable housing and sustainable features in real estate across Canada. If you have any educational media you'd like to share we'd be glad to feature them. Sincerely, Efficiency Properties.
aim for smaller homes with smarter (and more) storage. I keep seeing huge houses that fool themselves into believing that they are sustainable. I'm guessing all of the crap they stuff in those large houses is also not sustainable. Working on local minimum square footage codes/laws to get smaller houses built (less than 900 sq ft) would be a good start, too.
oh, and those high ceilings require a crap-load of energy to heat the house. I had high ceilings in a living room and, while it felt like i used the AC in summer (I never did), it also was impossible to heat that room and because I had an attractive open floor plan, the heat from the other open rooms went to the high ceilings in the living room.
remember! net zero is not a necessity to good living. its not a math problem we have to solve. i could care less about "net zero" i want a good safe HOME that's mine. make clean energy, self efficient living, it don't need to be "NET ZERO!" what ever price they quote you. triple it!
There are many ways to be net zero. Some pay for themselves. Some dont. The success depends on the abity of the planner and builder to make good decisions and install them well. I am a planner. Each efficient home is unique because it was designed for the client's budget, site, and budget. But all the houses are successfully efficient and budget conscious. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
We began to retro fit our very small semi-bungalo towards a net zero goal last year. By switching to a tankless water heater alone our Enbridge bill was reduced by $100.00 a month or about 65%. I just changed the basement lighting to LED pot lights and added full insulation and firebreaks in the basement level living space. Last year we installed thermal windows and this week I'm installing an insulated steel side door. Next spring we hope to add the solar panels over my 8x12 garden shed's roof. I purchased the wind power generator to control the pot lights in the basement but it hasn't been installed yet. This video was inspiring and informative. Thanks for posting. We're on the right track folks!
ok bud
You didnt mention how much your propane bill went up per month over the course of a year.
keep it up!
We have a natural gas tank type water heater and it costs about $5.00 a month for 2 people
any changes you'd make 7 years later?
This was a very well done piece even now, 3 years later. Very informative and strong knowledge-base on info.
Three simple rules:
1. Energy conservation
2. Passive solar energy
3. Renewable solar energy
To which I would add:
1. Insulation
2. Air tightness
3. Ventilation
From demonstration to mass production in ten years (not quite, you have all the hippies from the 1960s living in communes who were already thinking about this, and you have the developers of the Passive house concept in Europe working on it as well. Plus you have several generations of manufacturers, home builders, scientists, homeowners, and others. We stand on countless shoulders of giants who came before us.)
Awesome 👍
Great. Now stop local governments from restricting or taxing this
@G Galilei Both of you are right
Air sealing and blower door testing during construction or a remodel makes a huge difference.
Every new building or remodel should be air sealed. Every existing home owner that wants to be more energy efficient should consider blower door testing and air sealing. Even small fixes can make a big difference.
I especially love what they're doing in desert locations with these homes. For these sunny, hotter climates they really make sense.
Yeah. Unfortunately, for 99.99% of the population....not so much.
There are homes farther north that have very high efficiency, even with the different problems some of the same solutions work, such as setting up the windows to benefit from passive solar techniques thick layers of insulation and large thermal masses. When combined with more efficient temperature control systems such as a heat pump, homes in colder climates can probably get pretty close to net zero capability.
Essentially, are you saying that by simply adding these Solar Panels and by making a few other modifications; some pre-existing homes can achieve a Net-Zero status? I'm also interested in how much of the Net-Zero dialog has been discussed and approved by your American neighbors?
I'm also chasing net zero by modifying an existing passive solar home. It already has plenty of thermal mass, but we installed triple pane Pella windows with the interior rremovable pane being low e (hardcoat). As i got further into this project I realized that this was a mistake, but fortunately we can replace the interior pane with clear glass, and substantially increase our solar gain. We use very effective cellular shades at night. Here I learned quickly to order them 1/3 wider than actual measurements, so that gaps along the sides are minimized. Sometimes we have to adjust them a bit to get them to open and close easily, but they are very effective. We also added 2 inches to the lenght to make sure the bottom rail was flat against the windowsill.
Robert Lord hello sir might get some skill from you, sambolt483@gmail.com
How are your cellular shades holding up? In photos, they look rather flimsy.
As solar gets more efficient and cheaper, we can realistically aim for net positive clean energy production on all new homes.
Good, keep making more of those alternative energy houses. For all new single family detached homes, require them to use some of those ideas to make sure that the newly built houses are energy efficient and can easily be powered by alternative energy solar and battery.
loving the net zero total concept!
Very well done video! Net Zero homes help preserve the environement AND help homeowners save on utility costs
This is the coolest show I am so glad I just found it! Liked and subscribed
I just found your page. I live in Hawaii and this is what we need to do with some of the homes. Going to draw up some designs and ideas. I work at the Home Depot so I can figure some things out.
If you are interested in getting to net-zero get some energy modeling advice. Yes, it costs money, but it could save you money ensuring you make the most cost-effective improvements that support instead of compromise your journey to net-zero.
Net Zero is nice, Passive House is next step up.
My neighbors electric bill are high compared to mine. I gave up on electrical items, dry my clothes on clothes line, open my windows, have ceiling fans throughout the house, and practice on buying less and less stuff. I don't have to buy more to save less just live simple with less it's easier on my pocket.
I use my clothing til i have holes in them
How many sunny days are in Canada from October till May (240 days in total)... ? In the best situation: 80 days partially sunny, the rest of the 160 days are cloudy and cold, really cold my goodness.... :( What kind of solar collector panels will work in such "unfriendly" environment ? Please answer to me with numbers and studies.
A year late, but I can give you an answer. Solar radiation is reduced by clouds and rain, but it still reaches the solar panels. You don't produce as much on those days, but it still works.
The solar resource in Edmonton, Alberta is 58% better than Hamburg, Germany, a city at the same latitude, with much higher numbers of solar installations. Southern parts of Alberta have the best solar resource in all of Canada.
Do you realise what an enormous country Canada is? You need to define which city you are looking for sunlight hour records, all of which are easily googled.
Edmonton is a fairly dry climate and stays sunny even during many days in winter, on average receiving bright sunshine more than 300 days per year. Days are short in winter so power generation would go down, but the opposite is true in summer
The various levels of government have to step in and update building codes so that this stuff becomes mainstream
🤣🤣🤣 Never gonna happen. The infrastructure and their lobbyists will never allow that. Even if they do they'll find a way to charge you the same regardless.
How about people choose what they want.
and no minimum codes!!!!
It takes designers and planners with knowledge and experience that can choose the best, most cost effective strategies for each project and educate their clients.
I want to start a net zero house build competition. but lets make it coast vs efficiency.
Any one interested?
who isnt?
Definitely sounds interesting, perhaps giving a specific size requirement and then judging based on the cost per square foot.
I have a submission. I have a nearly passive house 1400sqft house my wife and I built while unemployed for $60k. The two biggest expenses were the insulation and the concrete in the slab.
What kind of floor are they using to store the heat?
they are making a simple concept seem complex. it's easier than they are leading you to believe.
The design on the last house has me stumped. It looks like the front half of the house is 1 story tall and the back part of the house is 2 stories. The front roof appears to tilt back to the side wall of the second story. How do you waterproof the junction between the front roof and the side wall of the second story? Am I seeing it wrong?
Nano tech clear insulation applies to window glazing to make double glazing more effective and more affordable..
Canadians are light-years ahead of Americans in making Passive House or Net Zero Energy houses affordable. In the U.S., it's definitely a luxury item reserved for the rich, with fancy architectural styles and interior design which I don't want or need. We also keep ratcheting up the standards--so many now that it's really hard to keep up. LEED in four flavors, Earth Advantage, Green Points rated, and Living Building Challenge. They're all quite complicated and difficult to understand.
Does net zero factor in the cost of a new invertor every 6-10 yrs?
How about failing batteries every 6-10 yrs?
How is snow removed from the panels?
How much gvt money subsidizies each aspect of these homes?
Interesting questions. The vast majority of the 10,000 solar owners in the province where I live do not have batteries, which are expensive to replace. They exchange energy with the grid, exporting in the summer and importing in the winter. Economically it's pretty easy to cover your entire electricity bill with your solar and your energy is cheaper. Few people clear the snow off solar for several reasons: It's not worth it (there is no production during clouds and snow storms and when the sun shines, even in the winter the snow often melts off of the solar modules). Good analysis of a solar systems lifetime performance should integrate the cost of replacement inverters. Some do and some don't. As for incentives there are some for energy efficiency upgrades and very few if any for building new net-zero (which is odd), and solar incentives come and go. In Canada we have federal incentives at the moment and no local incentives.
Gooood el vídeo
I'm trying to figure out how to turn my home to net zero with passive solar design.
My other issue is that everyone keeps talking about free solar energy. I'm waiting for the governments to decide when it's time to start taxing every home with solar energy because they'll declare it as theirs.
Love these sort of video - in Australia we see little of these technology in the masses... In this video Mike - spoke about the fresh system and he was using bryant system - do you have more information? and is that all he uses to warm/cool the house... what do you think of hemp or phase change installation? i am looking at building a hemp home.. but want to have no heating / cooling... and these sort of videos are great..
The design really depends on where you live. Having your windows pointed towards the sun is great in cold climates, so you get passive heat energy and warm your house up. However in hot climates you want most of your windows pointed away from the sun to help stop the house heating up too much and cooling is more important.
Actually is quite reverse. You need to learn how the sun moves in the sky. In any climate you want if possible all your windows to be on the south side in norther hemisphere.
mlg779 Incorrect. When you're in Florida and it's 85 degrees in December, you don't want the sun coming into south-facing windows. Daylighting can be from north-facing windows.
I live in Gerorgia and right now is -1C. I have big windows on the south and I do not get too much heat even when is 15C outside. If it's getting too hot I can open the windows. Because majority of my windows are on the south, in the summer the sun does not touch my windows at all.
Now, in Florida you need just a bigger roof overhang maybe for the winter months and open the windows, but in the summer if the windows are on the south, the sun will not touch the windows. In Florida the sun is even higher in the sky compared with Georgia and they need even less roof overhang.
Try living in the desert west that way. You will quickly change your philosophy.
@@mlg779 YES! The length of the roof overhang is the biggest secret. It can easily shade all of the glass during the hot months, but let the sun hit the glass in the cold months. Then a long overhang on the west side, maybe a porch, to keep the afternoon sun off the glass. Lots of glass on the north side can allow mor cold drafts when winter winds blow. Yes you can invest in better glass. But it costs less to put more glass on the south side. More efficient. Less cost.
www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the factors for a net zero home is the size of the home. I would love to see a study comparing, for example a 400 square foot home to a 1500 Square foot home and maybe some other examples in between or beyond those square foot sizes. Perhaps it is easier to achieve a zero net zero home if you are willing to accept the value of a smaller square footage dwelling area.
Small size is just one of MANY ways to reduce energy consumption. But a large home could also be a cost effective net zero home if good decisions were made during the design. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Interesting video, how do you calculate the pitch and overhang size of your shed roof for a passive solar house design based on your location?
Simply find the angle of the sun on the longest day of the summer and build it so no direct sun hits the window in the summer. Check this against the angle of the sun in the winter to ensure you are getting full sun in winter.
Great video now I am looking for a video that will encourage builders to build Net Zero Condominiums since most of the population do not own the scarce land to build a home on.
Depending on where you live this is coming. In Vancouver they require developers to meet effectively a passive house standard already. Check out this story on one of their first 85 unit passive house apartment buildings. Each suite requires the equivalent of 300 watts of heat on the worst day of the year. This means one hair dryer could heat half a dozen suites! www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/skeena-passive-house
Are there any health problems? Some people say not to live near high voltage power lines because it causes brain damage and cancer. And now you are living right in a building that generates its own power could one of these homes cause problems like this?
I live in SW Florida. We have strong sun light almost all year around. I would like to see designs for our climate. I am retired and utility bills can be high do to airconditioning. The climate is also very humid.
Easy. The angle of the sun is different in each season. I design my homes for the roof to shade all of the glass during the hot seasons. Of course it's easier if the design is done before the construction starts.
Just a quick one for ye all, is the solar system a good idea in the long run do they last long I've got a price for one panel 6000 euro plus vat plus a few hundred to fit. With my checking my bill it would be 10 years before it would pay for it self that's if it ran everything but it can't.
The concept is exciting.
Wow great technology amazing project.
Well done everyone. Soon,...there will be a rating for Net+.10/+.25 Homes.
The numbers should self-evident. ....I'd say....10 more years.
Light weight Foam panel for walls, floor and roof with ballistic strength render applied to outer surfaces is the next big thing.. check gigahouse, strata house.
very cool concepts
Wow incredible story. I need help designing a Net 0 house. Or as you say in the video and Energy smart home and then put the panels up last :)
Is there another video where Peter elaborates on the pourded slab over floor system? I seem to remember one, but having trouble locating it. Thanks for the help.
i was shocked by that, too. sounds too heavy. seems like dark-colored floor tiles would make more sense - though not have enough mass to hold the heat for long.
Where do you get quad pane windows in Utah? What do they cost?
Very innovative
I’m all for the concept except for the heat. In the gwn I need to have better access to heat n i use an out door wood boiler n with that I don’t depend on much of anything except my classic boiler.
Are there grants in the U.S. for net zero builds?
Dumb question here. What is the seasonal energy imbalance, if any of this house? You say it is net zero energy but if all the houses in Canada were the net-zero and ignoring other sectors (such as industry and agriculture), would the power stations have to close?
The answer is: "You CAN'T ignore industry and agriculture." If, by "industry" you are including "commercial" buildings.......and, given that this is a discussion about "residential construction" I think we have to assume that apartments and condominiums are NOT included in "residential construction" (generally speaking)...then the answer to your question is somewhat self-evident........as "no". Commercial, industrial and agricultural power consumption would STILL represent a HUGE percentage of the demand for electricity and, therefore, NOT require the shuttering of power plants.
How expensive are these homes? Or to build following blueprint with a construction team & architect?
There are many countries that have unlimited amounts of sun light, why has this concept not become more mainstream around the world?
Great question!
If companies like this truly cared more about the environment than their bottom line, they wouldve started working on making methods like this more affordable and more accessible in more solar efficient places like Fl, Texas, Cali, etc. What great difference will this make if only like 15% of families can afford to do it?
Affordability is achieved by hiring a good designer/planner that can use these principles to design a home that fits your site, budget, and needs.
www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Funny I know someone who has been building self sufficient homes for more than 30 years. Just did not have a term to hang on their design. This is far from being first but hey it's good that the mainstream is catching on!
Why is "Self Sufficient Home" not a term to hang on it?
FullSpectrum Survivalist
Passive architecture or bio architecture is older than 60 years. I learned the secrets from the masters that design for the benefit of the people not for profit!!!!
Good job, I remember their is something better than Net-Zero model but I don't remember the name.
I think its called Extra-Energy home or Above energy home.
Think it's called Net-Positive
What a find a tab bit disheartening is calling it a net zero home in that you produce as much or more energy than it consumes to heat and operate the house. If the solar array produced 120KW of power instead of 12KW, you could have a pretty leaky house and still be "net zero".
You could easily increase the insulation levels beyond what was in the video, use radiant barriers, double door systems and have insulating shutters for the windows at night and run the heating off intrinsic heat (body heat, cooking food, showers, electronics, etc). No primary heat source and no energy used for it. Still "net zero", but way more efficient. I do understand there would be increased costs with such systems, but it would also decrease the solar panel costs as well.
Rick Teran : IN SOME COUNTRIES THE EXCESS CAN BE SOLD BACK TO THE NATIONAL GRID. [not shouting; oh,maybe I should !]
@@greenenergyfutures The information in the video is factually incorrect the first net-zero houses were built over 40 years ago based on Mike's designs called "earth ships". This is plagiarism.
The best way is to use the construction budget to get as efficient as possible. Each project is unique. Use what works best for the client, site, and budget. For a south facing site, it's orientating the glass to face the winter sun. For a north facing site it might be better insulation, and windows and doors. For a high wind site it might be more air tight construction and a turbine. Each home should be custom designed for the client, budget, and site. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Hi, how long does those solar panels last??????? Thanks!!!!
@@greenenergyfutures ok thanks for that info!!!!!
They last long enough for you to break even taking into account installation cost vs money saved on electricity. Then you need to replace them. Lol
Is it safe from monkeys survial area?how much it costs
Great Design!
Great! Now get the cost way down!!
You should take instructions from InpliX website if you want to learn how to make it easily.
Insulating has been standard here in Scandinavia since 60's. The first insulator panels were introduced in the late 60's and double-layered windows around the same time.
Quad layered windows has been around 25 years and the newest invention is to use argon between the layers instead of air. Solar panels are still rare, but it is a fault in pricing. Those installing companies asks too much money to make them more common.
But nice to see that our northern brother is now taking steps into better solutions! Keep inventing new and better solutions and probably the companies can learn from each other or even create some domestic partnership!
Exciting possibilities!
I like your new intro but you still have the issue with the music being too loud whilst people are talking during the video.
Thanks for the feedback.
Impossible to do in the U.S., unless you're a g.c., architect or already have a lot of building experience. The Phius builders and consultants only want to do big, high budget projects.
I wish...
No mention of geothermal?
You mean the furnace? Or the house? If "the house"...not many people want to live "semi-submerged"...and zoning is always a challenge.
no, pipe drawing warmth or energy from the ground under the house is the geothermal
@@michaelscott356 Geothermal means more than just an Earthen-Burmed Home.
Geothermal is one way of getting to net-zero. Many of the net-zero homes we have covered use air-source heat pumps instead of ground source heat pumps, so it's the same idea. However, we have spoken to a geothermal guy who believes geothermal could be used to cut the cost of taking an old home to net-zero by half. Of course you do have to accept a major impact to your yard to install the underground geothermal pipes.
How come there are no builders that are promoting net zero homes in Ontario.?
It will increase the cost of a house by 50% if not more.
No mention of cost vs conventional construction or payback period.
You can't cover everything in one video. Your payback will depend on your design decisions. If your planner makes good decisions in harmony with your needs, budget, and site, you might even end up with a home that costs no more to build or maintain and uses half the energy. Or you might prefer a home that produces all of its energy and the energy savings might even be greater than the increase in your mortgage payment.
www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
All of this sounds really amazing but I want to know the cost of installations. Most of these homes look to be in the upper 300k-500k range, what about us poor saps who don't have high paying jobs?
i totally agree.... seriously... what about the rest of us who cant afford this... D; monetary system sucks.
Lily Mokuzai Hi there, Lily Mokuzai! There is good news. Net Zero Energy doesn't have to be so expensive. There is an answer and it is called ThermaShell. Check out their website. I think they can be built for the same price or even slightly less than typical stick built houses. Of course, adding solar panels would up the cost a bit but I think it would still be quite affordable because you will need a much smaller HVAC system, no insulation (the walls are the insulation) and much less labor because their shells go up very quickly. I would check it out.
Energy efficiency can be used to reduce your costs. It requires choosing the best options first, the ones that save the most energy and cost the least. Exaple: If you are going to build a house, move as much glass to the Southside as possible and size the roof overhang to keep that glass shaded in the summer. That might cut heating costs as much as 50% without increasing construction costs. Each project has its own unique challenges and advantages. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Can this be applied to a tinny home I wander?
I wouldn't put any of these houses on a trailer, but a small houses can definitely be made incredibly efficient.
Yes. I live in a 460 square foot home that has all the glass in the sun in the winter, and in the shade in the summer. Foam insulation. Earth bermed on the north and west sides. I planned it. Heating and cooling costs are $100 a year in the Appalachian mountains. No solar panels, wood heat, etc. Just an electric heat pump and electric water heater. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
It's easier and less costly to make a small home net-zero.
Instead of spending all that money on 2x, 3x, 4x, insulation throughout the home, wouldn't it be better if you just built a greenhouse around your home? You'd also protect your home from the elements, so the lifespan of the building materials would probably double or triple, adding to the overall savings of this type of design.
By "built a greenhouse around your home"....I take it you're talking about building a greenhouse around an "existing" home. Yes? That, of course, would be VERY complicated from a zoning standpoint on a house in an existing neighbourhood.
That is an option. But it might not save enough energy to pay for itself, unless your site has lots of sun and is WAY up north, like northern Alaska. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Another aspect which will help the planet is to build a house only as big as you need. Unfortunately, in the U.S. tax deductions for home mortgages offers a financial incentive for people to build much bigger houses than they need (the McMansion syndrome). Is it any wonder that we use more fossil fuels and have higher CO2 emissions than most other industrialized countries? Why can't we get our act together?
net zero only works with dial up service
Awesome!
Thank you David Dodge, the governor of the bank of free energy. LOL!!
***** HeHe! I am glad you like it.
MN mu
Mo no NJ
At :28 seconds in -what type of firebox is that?
It would have been useful to know how they get hot water.
I can't remember this particular case, but most solar-powered net-zero homes I am seeing these days are using hybrid heat pump electric water heaters. They are very efficient and have somewhat slower recovery rates.
FYI CALIFORNIA 2020 :
Zero Net Energy
As spelled out in the California Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan, the state has ambitious goals for the development of zero net energy buildings. These include:
All new residential construction will be zero net energy (ZNE) by 2020.
All new commercial construction will be ZNE by 2030
50% of commercial buildings will be retrofit to ZNE by 2030
50% of new major renovations of state buildings will be ZNE by 2025.
In 2016, the Department of General Services issued these definitions of zero net energy:
what about snow on solar panels.
"tap the sun" book? where to get?
Why hasn't anyone implemented the Tesla roofing tiles/solar panels?
Cost and they are poor tech wise... wait till the new solar panel tech gets released and you'll see
They look cool. But there are other options that work better and cost less. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
Hey it's Bobby Riggs!
Huh???
4:50 _(heat recovery ventilator)_ ✓
Reinventing the wheel and at a higher cost. A monolithic Dome home is FAR more energy efficient from the get go.
+Pat Emilio (Illogic Buster) sure if higher construction costs (because it's non standard) and lower resale value (because it's non standard) are ok with you.
+Joseph Malovich NOPE. The cost sq/ft is the same as wood custom designed home. NOT higher. In fact, as the square footage increases, the cost DECREASES. Simple geometry that any engineer knows. Also, resale has shown to be equal PLUS, they are FAR more energy efficient. Recouping entire building cost within 20 years. PLUS, tornado, earthquake, hurricane, fire & termite proof.
Great in the wilderness......not gonna work in the city...you know, where most people live. :-)
Is that Paul Wheaton as the narrator?
Ryan Kudasik .. no
suitable for Indonesia
Suitable everywhere if the home is designed for the client, budget, and site. Of course a home in Indonesia should not use the same energy saving ideas as one in the Appalachian mountains. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans
i my doing project on net zero energy building , i didnt know the steps involved in this project ,if anyone already ddone guide me.
There are numerous pathways to net-zero. The best thing you could do is to get some energy modeling work done. This is what the builders do to find the most cost-effective trade-offs.
Cost vs function….. reality is most people don’t make six figures,I love the ideas that come from innovative individuals but don’t mandate it thru building codes all you end up doing is making housing the biggest part of a families budget which isn’t fair to lower income families that don’t have the cash for a new Tesla every 7-8 years and live in rural communities so driving to work may end up being 45 minutes to an hour….the attack on energy will end up being what puts a further divide of the rich and poor….I have very expensive electricity so…I put in a wood stove and plan on using it daily…..so maybe that coal plant did produce a lot of emissions but it did provide 500,000 homes will clean electricity…..how many of those home owners will be switching to wood heat?
Personally I am using a wood stove as the only source of heat and if I had enough local supply and did not value my labour it would be affordable. But for folks who must buy wood, it is not very affordable at all. The price of all vehicles is out of control (ICE or EV) - no argument there. The pick up truck used to be a service vehicle for farmers and they were very affordable. Today they run $60-$100k and have every luxury feature imaginable. So buying a pick up truck today is like buying a Cadillac of yesterday. As for net-zero, it will make homes more affordable over time and it will insulate people from wildly fluctuating energy prices and carbon taxes etc. You can already pay a lot more or just a little more for net-zero new. In my province there is a builder building net-zero homes for $399k (1200 sq. feet). As competition increases and builders learn how to do it smarter this will improve over time. We produced a video story for the City of Edmonton on the Salvation Army that just built a net-zero ready 175 unit complex. They were very surprised when the costs went up less than 2 percentage points. They will save $240k per year in utility costs and $6 million over the life of the systems. ua-cam.com/video/VoLGjQfrCDw/v-deo.html
This guy is Wolverine's little brother... he's even from Canada
it is not excusable that this is being treated as novel. this is old. old. and old. a completely net zero house that is 100% passive has been proposed and built by Bill Mollison et al since his movement began. The technology it uses is enabled by ... windows and a thermal mass. To not even reference past work in the field and give homage is bad bad behavior. "oh its all new" attitudes like appear in this video are really unprofessional and completely destroy your reputation among thinking people..
towardthelight:) that happens in all feilds, recycling ideas and taking credit is as old as the hills. id be more critical of the carbon cost of adding concrete mass and then stating"look its green" people always cherry pick what suits them . i know folks who have built mcmansions and put a few solar panels on the roof and call it an "eco" house, it makes me laugh and cry at the same time. we have to be more critical of the folks who jump on the green bandwagon, and hold there bullshit to account, or the whole thing becomes a false PR excercise.
the green man
hi! as far as house design I go to the Bill Mollison 30-70deg lat house that passively heats and cools. and this society is so ass hat that there are none in existence. makes upgrading and seeing real differences a snap. thanks for your reply! :)
+towardthelight:) All ideas are serially generated (built upon the ideas and discoveries which came before) and even Bill Mollison did not invent the idea of passive architecture. It is far better to support good ideas and oppose bad ones rather than linking ideology to personality. It's just divisive and has no place in sustainability. Not trying to insult, just wishing to help shed the veil of ego and indicate message over messenger.
towardthelight:) its the bureaucracy that stops it not the people....its people like warren buffet, who owns almost every home manufacturer on the planet, that lobby to get laws passed to regulate innovation right out of existence. otherwise they would be using a lot of these left over shipping containers to build low income housing and apartment buildings....they are a far more sturdy and safer structure than any wood frame house yet they will hit you with safety regulations that raise costs up so high it defeats the purpose. it doesn't matter that they are above and beyond the strength of the wood structure, they will still hit you with some one size fits all regulation, this keeps the competition from breeding. so its not the peoples fault that billionaires corrupt our elected officials to regulate competition and innovation purely to keep the power structure from being challenged.
Calm down Ramona...
No no we can't do that cause it actually works. Instead we must install a 60kW array with 200kWh battery pack for every home so they can run electric space heaters.
12KWp solar for 1 hous??? sound not so efficient...
We have total of 2KWp and we selling back to grid (hous is 192m2 total but 70m2 unused basemant with no heating)
Why a such efficient hous use 12 *1100 KW/year?
I'm no expect and I'm not sure where you live, but I would assume that you have to use a lot more KW of panels in climates with lower annual solar radiation. I mean 12KW could run a small factory in Central Australia but maybe it's a lot less effective in Canada.
Also the colder the climate the much greater need of energy to heat it. Not only do you need more energy to raise the temperature from outdoor ambient to a comfortable habitat, but your heat pumps are less effective, your insulation losses are greater and your solar panels receive much less light. So the losses compound.
+berglerlemur I'm no expert *
U are right in Canada solar hours 2030-2500hour/year, in my place 2100-2300 hour/year (from this optimal production is 1050-1150= anual 1100)
he says down to -25 but edmonton gets much colder that that,and didnt explain how they dont freeze to death
+Darrell barron
Turn on a heater I presume?
To point isn't to live uncomfortably, it's to make your input minimal.
MsSomeonenew
not all of us are rich or were born in places where its a garden year round.and -40c is normal here in winter which is 8 or so months.it was just a ponder as to weather it could work in a cold climate.
+Darrell barron Its obviously way more difficult to achieve net-0 in a sub-arctic local but strong insulation, eliminating air gaps, maximising solar gain and re-using internal heat to cut having to heat incoming cold air can have a massive impact. Even Eskimos realised that having a big fire in the house made little sense if their home let most of the heat out and let in lots of cold air.
yes ive been in many igloos before and they are pretty good.that is pretty good if you are ruffing it.as far as solar goes it doesnt work as well here as it would in more southern areas.still im looking at all things to try
how we can contact with you ?
david@greenenergyfutures.ca
Lol. I listen to the album that this song is on. Summer, by Cool Aberations. Haha.
He needs to put a small sign in front of the house that says net zero home no utility bills here.
interesting
why is nobody taking about VACUUM INSULATED PANELS ???
That guy who made the house probably drives a Prius
lol
+Sahib Grewal or a Tesla ;)
+Sahib Grewal and you drive a ?....tricycle?.
what does it matter what some one drives?.... just curious...
Do you really want to know, or was that just a statement?
1
Супер!
Very interesting and exciting at the same time. If it's possible, we'd like to feature Green Energy Futures in our social network platforms. We are a startup company in Nova Scotia that focuses in promoting sustainable housing and sustainable features in real estate across Canada. If you have any educational media you'd like to share we'd be glad to feature them. Sincerely, Efficiency Properties.
aim for smaller homes with smarter (and more) storage. I keep seeing huge houses that fool themselves into believing that they are sustainable. I'm guessing all of the crap they stuff in those large houses is also not sustainable.
Working on local minimum square footage codes/laws to get smaller houses built (less than 900 sq ft) would be a good start, too.
oh, and those high ceilings require a crap-load of energy to heat the house. I had high ceilings in a living room and, while it felt like i used the AC in summer (I never did), it also was impossible to heat that room and because I had an attractive open floor plan, the heat from the other open rooms went to the high ceilings in the living room.
remember! net zero is not a necessity to good living. its not a math problem we have to solve.
i could care less about "net zero" i want a good safe HOME that's mine.
make clean energy, self efficient living,
it don't need to be "NET ZERO!" what ever price they quote you. triple it!
There are many ways to be net zero. Some pay for themselves. Some dont. The success depends on the abity of the planner and builder to make good decisions and install them well. I am a planner. Each efficient home is unique because it was designed for the client's budget, site, and budget. But all the houses are successfully efficient and budget conscious. www.Facebook.com/MountainHousePlans