Water Saving Features

This prototype home includes many water saving features. All the toilets are dual flush, which means there are two settings to chose from when flushing. One setting is for solids = 1.6 gal and one setting is for liquids = 1.1 gal. Most new toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush. On the lower setting I am obviously saving 1/2 gallon per flush. I also bought the elongated toilets which are much more comfortable. Every faucet in this house, including the kitchen faucet, bath vanity faucets and shower faucets, is rated at 1.5 gallons per minute of flow. These fixtures have special low flow aerators that reduce the amount of water coming out of each fixture. The average faucet on the market has a rating of 2.5 gallons per minute of water flow. For every minute that water is being used at these faucets, I am saving 1 gallon of water compared to most new faucets. With the proper water pressure setting, nobody, including myself, has noticed any difference. These low flow faucets also save energy when using hot water as less hot water is actually used. When shopping for a new washing machine, I knew that I wanted to buy a front loading style. Front loading washing machines use up to 70% less water than a top loader, while also reducing energy costs. The way they reduce energy costs is by using less heated water (I usually wash all of my clothes on cold anyways) and because the drum can spin at a much higher RPM, there is much less energy used to dry the clothes in your dryer. Although I have yet to buy these, I also plan to install rain barrels at the end of each gutter's down spout. The rain barrels I have picked out are made of 100% recycled plastic and have two valves--the main valve at the bottom and an overflow valve closer to the top. These rain barrels will be used to water the fruit and vegetable gardens with drip hose attachments extended to each garden or fruit tree. I estimate that over a one year period I alone will save over 3000 gallons of water living in this prototype. It's amazing how easy all of these water saving features are to buy and install, while not reducing comfort in any way. If every person in this country could save just 500 gallons of water per year (which is really easy) that would equal 156 billions gallons collectively.

Driveway completed

The driveway was installed and just in time for the last winter storm. The driveway was covered in blankets for 10 days to help it stay warm and dry while the concrete curred. I didn't drive on it for 2 weeks and outside of some remaining water stains it appears to be in good shape. I decided to add two features to the standard concrete driveway that most people in this area use. For an additional $100 I had the mix changed to 4000 psi from 3000 psi. Obviously this gives the concrete more strength and I felt is was worth the additional costs. I also asked for a concrete mixture with recycled fly ash content. This was provided at no additional costs from Carolina Ready Mix as a green option for us environmentally conscious people. I was told the mix was up to 30% recycled fly ash content. Fly ash is a waste byproduct of concrete plants that normally would just go into our landfills. I will be touring the concrete facility this coming July. I am told that it is a L.E.E.D certified facility--Wow--concrete plants are well known for being some of the worst polluters around.

Because I live in a gated community, there were restrictions on the type of driveway I could have. My preference was to use gravel and then pavers for the parking area. This was not approved. I then started pricing permeable pavers for the entire driveway. The only way to make the paver option affordable on my tight budget was to install the pavers myself. Considering I don't have any experience in this area and it's the middle of winter I thought it best to leave the paver option to my walkways and extra parking spot off to the side of the main driveway. By the way, asphalt was not an option. It would have only saved me a few hundred dollars and the longevity of asphalt is a serious weakness, not to mention less environmentally friendly.

3rd Utility Bill

Happy Belated New Year to Everyone! My 3rd utility bill arrived today (via e-mail as I try to have all my mail sent electronically) and I was very curious as to what the total amount would be. It's been very cold here in Asheville over the entire last month and not much free heat from the sun as it's also been very cloudy. The Asheville area has been 10-15 degrees colder than normal, with a few good snow storms mixed in. Even an affordable high efficiency heat pump system (the only heating system for the house), like the one used in this prototype, typically starts to struggle on heat pump mode below 35-40 degrees. With the outside temperature below 35 degrees for the vast majority of the past month, the heat pump has shifted to Aux or Em heat, which is basically strip heating. This is when the heat pump is least efficient and strip heating in general is a very inefficient way to produce energy. I am happy to report that the total utility bill was only $73.01.

I was starting to get a little spoiled by having total energy bills that were less than $50 a month. I then decided to look up my utility bill for the 475 sq ft apartment I was renting at this time last year. That apartment was also all electric and using a heat pump, but didn't have laundry. I also spent time fixing the weatherstripping, inspecting the insulation in the attic and air sealing wherever I could in that apartment. The total bill for that apartment last year in January was $95.36. This prototype home is almost 4x the size of that apartment and my utility bill is $23 less. I know several people living in smaller homes than this prototype who paid $200-300+ over the last month--OUCH! Combining my 1st 3 months of utility bills while living in this prototype home, and according to the Energy Star software, I have saved an average of 68% compared to a newly constructed code based model home. Considering how affordable it was to build this prototype, it feels great to know that I am doing something that is not only smart for my wallet but is also smart for my community--68% reduction in total energy use is wonderful!

My old camera died last month, so I have a new one coming this week. I will take pictures and write a post about the newly installed driveway. I will also take some interior pictures and write a post about the water saving features of this prototype home.

2nd Utility Bill

I recently received my 2nd utility bill and the total was $49.78, just slightly higher than the 1st bill. As I've mentioned in the past, this prototype home (built with Eco-Panels) is run solely on electricity so the $49.78 figure is the cost for everything. It's been very cold here in Asheville and the home is still performing exceptionally well. The ERV is now set to run on 40 minute intervals and the dehumidifier in the crawl space is currently off. This home has dual zones--one for the upper level and one for the main level. Because of the stack effect I mostly (about 75% of the time) us the lower zone during the winter as it heats the whole house. My programmable thermostat is set at 66 degrees. In the summer, I will do just the opposite when the A/C is running.
I've been researching pellet stoves as I designed the house to incorporate one of these in the future. Between the costs of the stove, installation, electrical usage and pellets, it will still be much more affordable to run the heat pump even when it is using auxillary heat. I'm convinced, based on the 1st two months of living in this home, that even a small pellet stove could heat the entire home and reduce further dependency on fossil fuels (coal locally). It will also help resale value and create a certain ambiance for the living area. I will revisit this most likely in the spring hoping there are some good sales. My next post will focus on the water saving features of this prototype.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

Siding and Trim

The siding used on this prototype home is pre-painted NichiHa fiber cement lap siding. The shakes are a pre-stained Western Red Ceder, the tongue and groove pine is Blue Stain Pine and the trim is Miratec. All of these exterior finish products were purchased through an Asheville company--Carolina Colortones. Carolina Colortones offers the best selection of siding options in the Asheville area and specializes in pre-painted and pre-stained exterior finish products. My experience working with Carolina Colortones was excellent. I chose the NichiHa product for several reasons. NichiHa products contain over 50% fly ash, a recycled content material generated from coal burning power plants. Not only does this material not end up in a landfill, but in my research it ends up creating a more stable fiber cement product than other companies incorporating more wood fiber content. NichiHa also recycles 95% of the water used at its manufacturing facility and treats the remaining 5% that is discharged. Overall, I was very impressed with NichiHa's strong environmental conviction. The siding was pre-painted with 2 coats of a low VOC paint and it comes with a 25 year warranty. This not only saved money, but also the time and headaches associated with painting the material on site. The shakes were also pre-stained with 2 coats of a low VOC stain. Having the shakes pre-stained was very important to me as all 6 sides would be fully covered. Many builders only paint or stain the exterior side or face of the shakes which usually results in a lower quality product that is more susceptible to the elements over the years. I also chose a darker stain for the shakes as this will reduce UV damage and require less restaining in the future. The tongue and groove pine used on the soffits and the ceiling of the front porch is called Blue Stain. The blue stain results from a fungus that is released from the mouths of beetles that infest the pine trees out west ultimately killing the tree in the process. I used this blue stain pine for both environmental and aesthetic reasons. The dead standing trees can be used for certain applications and the stained byproduct matched my overall color scheme.
In my spare time I have also been working on a smaller prototype cottage design that starts with a basic 28x36 footprint. This cottage plan will have 5 different floor plans or layouts ranging in size from 1008 sq ft to about 1500 sq ft depending on the specific needs of the client. For these cottage plans, I would use Eco-Panels walls with the integrated LP Smartside siding option and Carolina Colortones to finish out the gables and trim details. Having the siding already integrated as part of the structural and insulated wall system significantly reduces costs, delays, waste and headaches. Finished as a board and batten style, these cottage plans will also be very high performance, while potentially being even more affordable than this larger prototype.

1st Energy Bill

Today, I received my 1st utility bill and my Energy Star documents for this prototype home. My HERS score for this prototype is 54. The HERS index is based on using a code based home for energy modeling purposes that starts at a score of 100. In order to achieve the Energy Star Certification, a newly built home needs to score an 85 or lower (better), which means that the new home, with a score of 85, is supposed to be 15% more energy efficient than the code based model home at 100. So in these basic terms, since my score is a 54, the math says that my prototype should be at least 46% more energy efficient. Because this index is making some very general assumptions, the HERS score/index is and should only be used as a basic comparison. The reason I say this is because of what my 1st utility bill actually is. As I've mentioned in previous posts, both the Energy Star rater and myself expect this home to exceed 60% in energy savings compared to an average non-certified code based home. Based on the REM software that Energy Star uses to calculate the HERS score/index, this prototype (all electric) is expected to use (based on current local kw/hr rates) $1133.00 per year in total utility costs. Divide this # by 12 months and I should average about $94 per month on my utiltiy bill. Although I recognize that a single monthly bill is not a really accurate comparison, it's a good place to start. My utility bill for the 1st month is $49.89. We can then assume that if the software was completely accurate and the 1st bill was for $94, then the code based model homes utility bill would be about $175. With a real utility bill of $49.89 and using the assumptions of the Energy Star software's code based model, this means that this prototype's 1st utility bill is 71% less than what a code based model home's utility bill might be for the 1st month. This is a very positive sign that this prototype is going to perform exceptionally well considering what the total cost was to build this home. I will be turning the ERV down to the low setting as it is recommended to run the ERV on high for at least the 1st month. I will also be turning the dehumidifier off intermittingly in the crawl space and monitor the moisture levels now that the crawlspace humidity level is stable. Changing the ERV to low and reducing the amount of time the dehumidifier is running should both reduce the electrical load. It will be interesting to see how this affects the next utility bill.

Energy Design

This prototype home was designed to be as energy efficient as possible without the initial addition of alternative/renewable energy systems. Many of the very educated and experienced green building professionals that I talked to prior to construction of this home were sceptical that this home could achieve such high performance without the addition of systems like geothermal, solar thermal, and or passive solar design with thermal mass. Although I am a proponent of all these technologies, many consumers, GC's, subcontractors, real estate agents, appraisers, and lending professionals either don't understand them, can't accurately value them, can't afford them, or maybe just don't care. In a much earlier post, I wrote that the most important aspects of affordable high performance homes are proper planning, understanding orientation to the sun, shade and wind, a well insulated building envelope, a well sealed building envelope, a properly sized and installed HVAC system and a whole house mechanical ventilation system (ERV for this climate zone). This prototype is estimated to reduce energy costs by at least 60% and the fact that I am a very energy conscious individual, it should exceed 60%. A 60% + reduction in energy costs, combined with a very healthy and strong home at less than $105 per square foot is definitely within reach of so many more people in our communities.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, this prototype was originally designed to be built on a fully insulated slab on grade for thermal mass purposes and reduction in costs. The concrete can absorb the winter sun and then release it back into the conditioned space when the temperature starts to fall. This can be a very simple, cost effective energy saving solution when available. I decided to build on a crawl space as the lot was more suited for this and as the picture shows, I used an R 4.5 Demilac spray foam in between the floor joists and also on the bands. The picture also shows a dehumidifier that has a drain hose to the outside. This keeps the ambient humidity at a constant level reducing the concerns of mold and mildew problems. Please remember to use a quality vapor retarder (not vapor barrier) on the floor as this can make a significant difference in controling the humidity level. I also spent extra time sealing the crawl space in order to have more control over the humidity level and air infiltration. Also pictured is the new GE GeoSpring Hybrid Hot Water Heat Pump. Compared to traditional hot water tanks with a energy factor as high as .95, this GE hot water heater has an energy factor of 2.35--almost 2.5x more efficient. For me this was a much more cost effective alternative to solar thermal hot water systems. The main drawback of this system is that it can make some noise, very similar to an outdoor compressor unit of a traditional heat pump system. With the door shut and some weather-stripping it is much less noticable. More posts to follow.