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Create Green Home
Roadmap to healthy,
comfortable and environmentally responsible homes |
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New Passive
House Certified in Maine!
More...
Solar System
gives German family plenty of Free
Hot Water!
More...
Italian family enjoys benefits of Solar Hot Water
More...
Passive House Project
in Canada:
More...
Habitat Metro
Denver Home
- affordable energy
efficient home achieves 59% energy savings!
2009 Solar Decathlon in Washington, DC, has a
Winner!
More...
Team Germany
(Technische Universität Darmstadt) |
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One of the
most important elements of any next
generation home would be
renewable energy systems. If I were to build
a house, I would really like to
incorporate renewable energy systems into my
home
so I can make myself less dependent on the
utilities. The goal would be to decouple myself from the
volatile energy markets that are based mainly on the fossil fuels.
What if I can generate enough energy for my
own use and even make some extra to sell to
the utilities?
Amazingly it is entirely possible today.
To achieve that
lofty goal of energy independence, or at least get close to it,
I think we need to explore the concept of Zero Energy House
(ZEH). Zero Energy Houses produce as much energy as they
consume.
Zero
Energy House
As its name says, Zero Energy House is a
combination of few common sense approaches and energy efficient
design methodologies that result in a house that consumes as much
(or less) energy as it produces.
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Basic
Elements of ZEH Design
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©
Markus Gann |
Dreamstime.com
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In a nutshell, Zero Energy House is a
house that incorporates all
Passive Solar design elements,
including passive solar heat gain, thermal mass and natural
illumination. What makes the Zero Energy
House (ZEH) a step beyond the Passive House are the
renewable energy systems
that generate enough or more energy than the house consumes.
In
addition to that, ZEH often incorporates water conservation
and recycling systems that minimize the household water
consumption.
Quite a few institutions
provide leadership
and define standards of making ZEHs. One of those institutions is
Passivhaus Institute of Germany. I also explored
German residential building market and found a wealth of "Key
in Hand" house builders that offer ZEH in their portfolio (e.g.
Weberhaus, German Company - UK site),
Schwoerer
Haus (German Company - English Site),
Fischerhaus,
Hebelhaus,
Platz,
Gussekhaus
Zero Energy Concept...). |
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What
is U-Value?
Measure of
material's heat-conducting properties: Heat
conduction rate per unit surface area per unit
temperature difference between its two sides.
How
do I convert U-Value from SI units to
English units?
Divide the SI number by 5.678. For example, If U=1.4
W/m²K
in SI units, then 1.4/5.678 = 0.246 Btu/hr-sf-°F in
English units.
Conversely to convert from English to SI, multiply
by 5.678: 0.246*5.678 = 1.4 W/m²K.
What is R-Value?
R
= 1/U-Value
A measure of the
capacity of a material, such as insulation, to
impede heat flow, with increasing values indicating
a greater capacity |
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Renewable Energy Systems
(Solar, Wind, Hydro) |
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There are many different
RE systems available today that you can incorporate in your home.
Solar Hot
Water systems
(SHW) -
for heating of domestic hot water
Solar Photovoltaic Panels
(PV) -
for
converting visible light rays into
electricity
Residential Wind Turbines and Micro-Hydro are
also technologies that can
be purchased and installed today by an ever growing number
of local installers and system integrators.
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