Winter Update

It's been a few months since my last post, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been working on my prototype home.  I've also been putting in a lot of extra hours working for Eco-Panels as we are looking forward to one our best Spring building seasons ever.  You will see in the new photos that I've filled in the additional parking area with gravel, finished the paver walkway from the driveway to the front porch and started my seeds for spring planting.

I was able to find a left over pallet of pavers for a very good price.  They matched the home perfectly and although it involved quite a bit of labor on my part, the total cost was less than pouring a concrete walkway while giving the home some extra character.  It will take a few months for the paver sand to slowly pack in and after the paver coating wears off I will seal the pavers later this spring.

The gravel for the extra parking area ended up being much more affordable than pouring a concrete parking pad.  The decorative gravel that I really wanted to use would have been a bad choice as it does not compact well and the surface would have been too squishy/non-supportive to park vehicles on.  Using both the gravel and pavers also reduced my home's carbon footprint as they are not only permeable surfaces, but have a lower energy footprint in the manufacturing process.

I am somewhat of a beginner when it comes to organic gardening and starting plants from seeds.  If I can learn to be both proficient and efficient with starting seeds and transplanting the plants into the garden, I can save somewhere close to 10x the cost compared to buying already grown plants at the nursery or garden centers.  My main organic raised bed garden is now filled with soil and I will be sending a soil sample to the NC Coop Extension for analysis.  I used a combination of dirt from my lot, compost soil and Alpaca manure to fill the space.  The Alpaca manure was purchased from a local Alpaca farmer and is supposed to be a very good fertilizer.  Although Alpaca manure is lower in organic content, it is a rich soil conditioner and is able to break down easily.  I'll wait to see what my soil analysis report says before conditioning the soil any further.

As for my energy bills, they continue to be very low.  Like most of the country, our winter here in Asheville has been mild.  As I've mentioned in other posts, this prototype home's only heat sources are an air to air heat pump and some passive solar gain.  The milder winter has reduced the need for the heat pump to use resistance heating, which is very inefficient.  I've also tried to find other ways to reduce my energy demand and one of the simple ideas was to unplug my electrical strip that my computer, printer and router are plugged into every night.

My last 3 months utility bills are as follows:  $36.23, $41.36 and $47.81.  Over the 17 months of living in this prototype home, my average energy bill is now $44.40.  The Energy Star modeling software estimated that my average monthly utility bill would be $94.42 and a comparably sized non Energy Star Certified home would be $175.00 per month.  Obviously $44.40 is quite a bit lower than the projected amount and significantly lower than a non certified home.  The reduction in energy usage to date is now 74.63%.  Considering the high quality of materials used, the low cost per square foot to build this home and the very low energy costs, this prototype home has exceeded my expectations.  The opportunity to go net-zero energy is the next step and I am very close to being able to make this happen.  My next post will focus on adding the photovoltaic solar panel system and all the financial and technical details that are involved with making that decision.  With Spring a few weeks away, I will also continue to post about my organic gardening projects.