Reviewing "Toward a Zero Energy Home"

A few months ago in late spring I read Toward a Zero Energy Home - A Complete Guide to Energy Self-Sufficiency at Home by David Johnston and Scott Gibson.  Or shall I say devoured it hungrily.  I read it on a cross-country flight in one sitting.

2010, The Taunton Press

The book begins by making a great case for the zero energy house by framing the view through the energy price bubble of 2008 and the need to shift behaviors moving forward.  Ironically in the spring of 2011 we were experiencing another price bubble seeded by political instability driven by the unprecedented democratic spring of Egypt, Syria, Libya and elsewhere.  Once again prices spiked ever higher over the course of late winter and spring.  Fairly quickly it seemed, world-wide strategic oil reserves were tapped to temper the price spikes and people's fears abated but high prices linger.  Today, the US Energy Information Agency says gas prices are up $0.91 from a year ago.

If you consult the EIA's interactive tables and build predictions out to 2035 you'll find an average yearly growth rate of 3.5% for residential fuel oil costs.  So in about ten years prices may rise 35% over today's already high rates.  With the unpredictability of the global geo-political climate and growing effects of global warming, growing population pressures and scarcity in fossil fuels, radically reducing energy consumption is urgent.  More predictable energy costs and growth in resource conservation is critical to creating a more sustainable future "softening the hard landing to come" as said by Bill McKibben in his recent book, Eaarth.

While residential delivered energy consumption has been going down historically in a gentle slope since 1990 the EIA forecasts four different scenarios showing reductions.  The reference light blue line models this continuing fall while the magenta (high tech usage) and green (best available technology) go even lower.

As energy costs continue to escalate residential users will naturally seek to conserve.  The space between the purple and green line is where Toward A Zero Energy Home plays an important role today in driving best practices  in zero energy home design into the marketplace towards consumer acceptance.

The book is organized into five chapters; The Building Envelope, Passive Solar Design, Renewable Energy, Heating-Cooling-Ventilation, Living a Zero Energy Life.  In each chapter they provide helpful overviews going over the basic components, design strategies and approaches with insightful case studies from around the country relating to the chapter focus.  The case studies provide wisdom from the field about how projects develop and mature between owners, architects, builders and energy consultants.

I recommend this book.  It tackles a very complex subject and breaks it down to basic elements where the complexity supports the big picture of why certain strategies are valuable varying by budget, climate, owner likes and dislikes, project delivery methods scalable for a variety of situations.  Whether seeking to do a custom design and build home, or hybridized process with some level of factory panelization and custom building, or finally, full out factory built and controlled modular home with quick onsite assembly the book has insights valuable for all.

The book also shows how fast moving high performance building science and knowledge truly is.  After this book came out, Alex Wilson's published a groundbreaking article in Environmental Building News on the Global Warming Potential of Foam Insulation.  Their research led to a wholesale re-evaluation of the viability of using closed expanding cell foam and related insulation materials in building envelopes because of the long-term costs of using fossil fuel as blowing agents.  Many of the case studies homes in the Toward a Zero Energy Home used closed cell insulation in some aspects of the building envelope.  The new research indicated the need to look more closely at using open cell insulation or other more benign alternatives such as cellulose insulation instead going forward.  Hindsight is 20/20 though and admittedly best practices will always be evolving to ever-higher standards.

Net Zero House Watercolor Sketch, Work on the boards

Watercolor rendering by Stephen M. Frey, AIA

Design Process

I've been working on a house for a friend over the last half year.  Here's a recent watercolor sketch snippet of it. This post focuses on the design process of the watercolor sketch. 

3d Rendering by Bensonwood Homes

3-D to Watercolor

The 3-D perspective massing was built from a basic model from Bensonwood Homes which is collaborating with the owner and I on the project. They built it from the 2-D drawings I had created in AutoCADLT.  I imported it into Sketchup where I used it as an underlay with shade and shadow.   I created a pencil sketch where I embellished the finished materials such as siding, windows, and heavy wood timber framing followed by landscaping around the building showing how it fits generally to the site.  The building is partially about how it is situated in a clearing on a gentle mountain ridge with great views to the West.

Part of the fun of this kind of presentation sketch is creating a sense of heart and soul for the project through the act of rapidly synthesizing by hand site plan information, building orientation, and traditional architectural drawing info.  This avoids excessive computer modeling time noodling around with plantings, topography, contours, and model lighting within the computer.  For me, it's also about bringing the design idea, in this case, a home, to life through the hybrid actions of 3d modeling, hand drawing, and watercolor painting.

After creating the watercolor, then comes scanning the image into Photoshop and adjust the scan to match the liveliness of the watercolor work on paper.  I do this by manipulating contrast and tonality.  You can also touch up the image with color fills which I didn't do to help with shade and shadow.  Once you've scanned the image into the proverbial "box" there's lots you still do.  ....Or not which is the case here.

I'll be creating additional watercolor rendering images in the coming weeks of this project and sharing some of the backstory here.  What do you think about this drawing though?  Any suggestions on areas to improve?  Other techniques I should try?  Tell me about your favorite architectural illustration and why it was successful...or not so favorite.  What do you think about this composition?  Does it convey the idea I was hoping for?  Don't be shy.  I want to continue to learn and cultivate these abilities and compositional strategies. 

Interested in learning more? 

You can find us at www.arocordisdesign.com, the website of our Montpelier, Vermont-based residential architecture firm practice. If you want to contact us there, click on this link. 

#netzero #homedesign #arocordisdesign #vermont #vermontarchitect #architecture

The Promise of Deep Energy Retrofits

As an architect and designer I'm very interested in cultivating my knowledge of choices or strategies I can call upon in projects of various scales and types.  As we are collectively aging in place so are our commercial buildings, our schools, homes and service buildings.  In 2011 we face yet another spiking and upward trending in energy costs which increasingly drive up the operational costs of our buildings.  We look at our building energy bills each month, how much we're spending at the gas pumps and utter gasps of disbelief.

As the cost of gas goes up so to does Milk and on and on.

Those of you who run aging office building, schools, apartment buildings, college campuses, technology parks and manufacturing facilities with high energy costs and a longer view likely wonder how you're going to afford next year's fuel costs. Do you pass on the higher operating costs to customers? Or absorb these costs and seek to balance it elsewhere?

Will you defer yet again routine maintenance, any kind of capital building projects, or cut salaries or defer raises to staff to loosen up funds to pay for future unpredictable energy costs?  Well, you've likely already have been doing that with diminishing returns each time.

Many of you may not have the choice to look for a new building site in your community and build a much better more predictably performing building to insulate your business from escalating energy costs over the long term.  So what really are your options when really you only have one, live with your existing building and make the best of it.  Can that be good enough?  Seems like a sinking ship doesn't it?  

How long can you pass on those costs in the form of higher rents to your tenants until they decide to leave?  Or conversely, how can you attract and retain them when they ask you what your energy bills are, their eyes glaze over and they leave quickly?  What if you could cut your energy use by at least 50% or beyond 75%?  How would this effect your business planning, pricing and overall success of your business?  Now you could actually focus on what you do best, run your business and operations focusing on your business and planning goals not finding ways month to month to stem unpredictably changing energy costs.

Over the last few years the concept of Deep Energy Retrofits (DER) have stirred up media attention and grabbed headlines.  While deep energy retrofits defy definition they represent a promising way of redeveloping existing building infrastructure we can all benefit from learning more about.  

While the experts have differing opinions on definitions, generally they involve the substantial re-use and renovation of an existing building shell with significant investments in high levels of insulation or super-insulation, very efficient heating and cooling systems, higher performing windows and energy efficient lighting with controls.   The energy savings can run from 50% to over 75% over typical bad or baseline comparative buildings, the so-called "base case" code compliant building.  

Deep energy retrofits do something really special and low-impact environmentally.  Instead of building a new building you reuse in place an existing structure substantially reducing the project's global warming potential and cost picture in general.  A large cost center for any construction project is its structure, frame,  prep and final site work and central energy plant.   By not building the hard stuff there is cost avoidance and impacts elsewhere.  Some easy to measure some not so easy.  

Yes it is more complex to renovate often times requiring working with tenants and building occupants who remain in place during construction but ultimately I think it requires less resources and  money and by not building new outside of city centers and neighborhoods it helps keep communities together.

You may have read about the US Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ) system and wonder how it relates to Deep Energy Retrofits.  Well it does and it doesn't.  In the case of existing buildings (EB) , it can be very helpful as a tool to help guide the process and get everyone on the team on board sharing common goals along with the accountability which comes with meeting its requirements on down from the owner, design team, contractor and sub-contractor.  Plus, many municipalities, state governments and the federal government require following it to at least some level of certification.  Whether or not you go through with the LEED system, its very helpful to use the LEED checklists in the design process to structure thinking about the integrated design strategies and best practices to follow in your your project.  

But there is a bigger conversation.

It's about the values of your project and how you ensure energy cost predictability for your operations and ultimately the sustainability of your business model or enterprise.  This is where the Deep Energy Retrofit concept comes in handy for your existing building stock.  By spending a bit more now and thinking of your construction costs today as investments in a better more stable tomorrow you can transform the conversation away from first costs trumping everything else, kicking the "ball" down the field for the next generation to deal with.

Imagine telling your board of directors you only have to fund raise today for the building and its systems when its operational costs are slated to be really low in the future.  Fundraising for ongoing operations might become a thing of the past and instead can be refocused on supporting your key organizational missions, salaries and other benefits.  Perhaps this is overly simplistic but I enjoy thinking about this aspect.  Who wants to raise money year after year to pay for escalating fuel costs and mistaken short-sightedness in not going ahead with a high performing building while saving money today?

In the coming weeks, I'll be writing about some exciting Deep Energy Retrofit projects and initiatives I've been learning about putting these concepts into action.  It's critical we expand our thinking and strategies to fight global warming increasingly lack of cohesion in our existing communities.  Building new isn't always the answer.  Renewing and rebuilding certainly can be a vital part of it though.

Interested in learning more? 

You can find us at www.arocordisdesign.com, the website of our Montpelier, Vermont-based residential architecture firm practice Arocordis Design. If you want to contact us there, click on this link. 

#netzero #homedesign #arocordisdesign #vermont #vermontarchitect #architecture #climateaction

Getting to Zero - White Paper on Zero Energy and Net-Zero Buildings and Homes

Happy Earth day! I hope you're finding interesting ways to celebrate it in your community.  Here's a way to celebrate online.  Check out this interesting white paper from Building Design and Construction.   For readers in the building industry, architects, homeowners, building committee members, facility planning professionals, construction professionals, building owners and engineering consultants it covers an important trend towards zero energy or low energy usage buildings helpful in fighting global warming and green house gas emissions.

Is Net-zero energy the next frontier in green building?  I'm not sure about that.  But the BD+C paper addresses this by sharing an overview of what does zero energy mean and how it can be applied to various situations.  There are numerous complex definitions which it takes into account and some very useful graphics which make it easier to understand.  It doesn't necessarily talk about the Passive House movement from Europe also penetrating the green building discussions but it's an important addition to the conversation of moving towards energy independence!

Bill Maclay, a leader and inspiration in net-zero design (and my former boss) was quoted in the white paper as well and their work with the Putney School has been mentioned on page 14 for the Putney Fieldhouse a fabulous example of a net-zero LEED platinum private school athletic building really changing the game on campus facilities.  I was part of the design team on that project and am really proud of being part of it.  If you're ever in southern Vermont and are curious about seeing the building contact the Putney School to arrange a tour.  It's a game changer, leaping out of the pages of the white paper into everyday experience showing the way towards a more energy-independent future along with the other case studies mentioned.

Take a look at the white paper and let me know what you think.  Do you have any examples where you live of similar zero-energy buildings you'd like to share with readers?  Any great experiences related to them to share with us on this special day?  This is important work to help out the generations who will follow us.  With net-zero energy buildings, we can make a difference for tomorrow and beyond! 

Next Steps

If you’re intrigued, let’s discuss adapting this white paper or aspects of it to create your dream home. Let’s design and build a place and space that reflects your style and values while honoring Vermont’s landscapes and sustainable living ethos. Contact us to begin this journey! 

You can find us at Arocordis Design, our residential architecture firm's website. Our home studio is located in Montpelier, Vermont. Happy to connect.  

Dream Pre Fab Home

Color Rendering  - South Elevationf

A new prefab home design

Over the last few months, I've been developing an idealized pre-fab-ready small home.  Architects and designers are always designing their ideal home, that rustic retreat we've always wanted.

Of course, this exercise was also an excuse to do a couple of other things. First, was to provide a southward tilting roof for possible solar electric PV's to contribute towards a low energy or net zero use footprint.  

Design Details

The home is sited due south to maximize solar orientation for passive solar heating within the home and solar energy generation. Second, to keep the

Passive Haus in Central Vermont

Today I saw a link to this video from the New York Times site showcasing an unusual super insulated and hyper efficient home requiring no heating systems in the lovely hills of central Vermont where I live. 

The Landau family engaged a local architectural, engineering and building team to design, produce and install their home on its site to a levels of extraordinary energy efficiency and air-tightness requiring no internal heating system at all.  The family was very interested in living in a home with zero energy use to not rely upon fossil fuels. 

Their home is modeled on the European Passiv Haus model now becoming more known in the US.  There is a US Passive Haus institute, an affiliate of the original in Germany. For more projects in the US, please click this link.

Bensonwood homes, one of the building team members produced and installed the exterior building envelope including frame, walls and roof systems.  They're just over the border in nearby New Hampshire.  They are on the forefront of integrating super-high performance building design into CAD CAM aided panelized production of building elements assembled together onto the site.  It's a novel approach to construction and design build which results into more control over the building process and higher quality control with apparently minor additional costs to the project.   

A take away for me is that it is possible to design and build these kinds of homes in the chilly world of the Northeastern US.  The capabilities exist practically in our back yard.

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The original link to me to this great video is courtesy of Greg Howes from the LinkedIn Group"Net Zero Building" of which I belong as well.  Greg is CEO of ideaBuilder.com. 

 

Net Zero Low-Income Modular Homes in Colorado

I wanted to spread word of a model net-zero affordable housing project located in Lafayette, Colorado, a city located in Boulder Country about 40 miles from Denver and 10 miles from Boulder.

(image courtesy of BCHA)

The Paradigm Pilot Project, a single family home and a duplex showcase a mix of super-insulated building envelopes, smart site orientation and use renewable energy sources, combined with passive solar design strategies. The building design use a fairly straightforward modernistic vocabulary of 13 rectilinear boxes easy to manufacture in a factory setting. What's hopeful is this is an experiment of sorts to be studied and leveraged into a much larger 153 Unit housing project in the planning stages in Lafayette. It uses geothermal

The project was designed by HB&A Architects,and built by All-American Homes for the Boulder County Housing Authority. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory / Department of Energy were also partners on the project.

You can find out more about the project on the Green Building Advisor and later covered at Jetson Green. You can see helpful information about it at the Housing Authority's Website.

Here's a link to a powerpoint about the project from the BCHA site. The site also shows the construction process with highlights being the installation of the modular factory built units and solar system installation. One interesting note is the project used both evacuated tube type solar hot water and solar electric panels as part of the system. The jury's out here on the efficacy the evacuated tubes but it's interesting this technology was used on the project.

All in all, this project is an inspiration to those of us in cold-climate regions and of use to others close to home here in Vermont. Perhaps some of the lessons learned from this project can be used here on our affordable housing projects. I know Efficiency Vermont is doing it's best to partner with other non-profit and for profit developers and housing authority's to continually upgrade our housing stock, whether new construction or renovation. It's Multi-family Housing Design Checklist is a very thourogh guide helping with efficiency measures and low-energy usage. They also provide financial incentives and technical assistance to clients and project teams to extend the value of the check-list.

Perhaps with the far-away inspiration of the Colorado example and the close to home specifics of the Efficiency Vermont's checklist this will help move us forward!

Getting to Zero: Aspiring to the Zero Energy Home

Going into the new year I'm naturally in a reflective mood. What can I do to impact the greater world as we head into the unknown promise and potential of a new year? Sharing ideas which matter is a place to start!

What if more Zero Energy Homes became more prevalent in the coming year? What's a Zero Energy Home you ask? It is a home which produces the same or more energy than it uses over the course of a year. The specific design and make up of the Zero Energy Home adapts to its regional and micro-climate, siting and the needs and budget of individual homeowners. There is no single solution but rather a common approach to design which starts with shifting behaviors and motivations of all those involved.

A Zero Energy Home is valuable for a number of reasons. It can be an extremely comfortable, healthy and pleasant place to live. It can be carbon-neutral and good for the environment. It also can deliver future energy cost predictability by committing to upfront investments in a super-insulated building envelope, high performance internal heating / cooling systems, renewable energy sources, energy star appliances, lighting and healthy interior materials/ furnishings. As we head into the new year we don't know what our energy costs will be going forward but know intuitively they will continue to escalate with fossil fuel scarcity and growing demand. (See IHS Data, DOE calculator). There will be no magic energy solution I believe. Just hard slogging...

Thus, Zero Energy Homes can form part of the solution going forward, reshaping how we think about our homes into long-term investments which steady-state our energy costs into the future. Their lighter footprint on the earth and in our communities can only be an asset to strengthening them.

How and where does one start?

Read as much as you can: Visit informative web-sites such as....

• Building Science Corporation and it's information on Low-Energy Buildings.
• The Dept. of Energy's Building America website and it's Building Technologies Program has superb and accessible Builder's Guides which are organized by regional climatic zones.
• National Home Builders Toolbase site and it's Seven Steps to a Zero Energy Home.
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory and it's insulation fact sheet. It's a little clunky but useful.

Hire and Organize a Great Integrated Design Team: Contact your local American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Homebuilder's Organizations and look for standout professionals who have experience designing and building low-energy use and/or zero energy homes. They can assist you in early stages of site selection, construction strategies and project delivery methods which best adapt to your needs, budget and schedule. Depending on your project's complexity and your goals your Architect may suggest hiring an Energy Consultant and other specialized sub-consultants/ team-mates to really look at your needs and help optimize building envelope, heating-cooling systems, lighting, building controls and interior design.

Be Prepared to Learn and Grow Over the Course of Your Project: It's a journey with lots of learning along the way and exposure to new ideas and concepts. With the right team, it will be an enjoyable and never dull experience!

Investing in the Future: Remember, you're doing something which will benefit generations to come by looking beyond the present!

Happy New Year!

DOE Solar Decathalon Winners_Let the Sun Shine on Innovation

When I was in graduate school in the the early 1990's sustainable design was just getting off of the ground in the way we know it now. (I know it's been around since Mesa Verde, but the current generation of thinking)

I wish programs such as the Solar Decathalon held each year in the fall in Washington D.C. were around then. It is sponsored by the US Dept of Energy and teams from universities and colleges from all across the world compete in it. It provides an oppourtunity for pursuing design innovation and experiential learning on a small solar home scale. What a fantastic all around oppourtunity!

The program has six-goals worth noting. The basic premise is to invigorate interest, research and developing marketable technologies able to be brought to the market-place. Another one is to help develop zero energy homes which is something many of us want to know more about.

The winners this year, especially the top three, offer a wide ranging view of how to solve the design challenge. Check out the winners! I wonder if teams from Norwich University or Yestermorrow Design Build School have ever entered? It seems like this program would be right up their respective areas of focus. I'll have to check with friends who teach there.

See photostreams of the homes on Flickr and Hi-res Gallery of Homes on the DOE site.

Enjoy seeing what the next generation of design leaders are up to!

An Earth Sheltered Net Zero House Sketch, an unbuilt project

An Earth-sheltered Modern Home Design

So often we’re inspired by nature and the earth. Here’s a watercolor, pen, and pencil sketch from years ago where firm principal Stephen M. Frey, AIA explored an earth-sheltered, nature-near home design on a south-facing hillside site with a lifted and separated curving green roof.

On an ideal site, the house would be a two to three-bedroom, two-bath residence with an open and interconnected kitchen, dining, and living space with three distinct zones with a great room feel. It would be a net zero home, a residence that produces the same or more energy than it consumes. We organized key bedrooms on the ends of the rectangular home volume with view windows to the outside.

A nearby garage and or barn space would supplement the home a short distance away. It could supply parking for vehicles, workshop and craft areas, accessory dwelling units, and long-term storage. To complete the integration with exterior design, a vegetable and flower garden would be nearby as well as other landscaping would be installed.  

Highlights of the Home Design and Space Layout:

The living areas front the building volume with easy exterior access to the continuous arbor-covered terrace and ample views of the surroundings. In a later design step, we will study the amount of glazing through energy modeling. Overglazing might cause overheating of the house and having to size up the air-conditioning system at a higher cost and energy use.

Biomorphic Structural System

The wooden glue-lam ribs of the home are akin to bones that spring from the earth! The residence transitions from the solidity and darkness found within the earth to the lightness of a forest canopy along the continuous south-facing porch and terrace area. An overhead wood timber frame arbor with solar control helps minimize summer glare while supplying a place for vines to grow. Timber frame posts and supplemental beams would abound in and out.

Solar Systems and Energy Independence

We imagine photovoltaic ground-mounted solar trackers in a nearby solar orchard a short walk away. They would tie into a nearby independent standalone timber frame structure that houses the whole house battery system and inverters. The building would bring power safely to the semi-underground home.

Daylighting, The Sun, and Nature Near

The south-facing window wall area and short ends would connect to near and far views of the site and beyond. We would tailor the home and site design to frame near and far views with window and door openings.

Dynamic top lighting from skylights and roof monitors activates interior spaces such as bathrooms, kitchens, and internal areas. Overhead, top daylighting from triple-insulated prismatic skylights lights these spaces during the day. At night, architectural LED lighting will highlight the underside of the curving structure. This will bring a day and night difference to the spaces within, activating them in unique ways at each time of day.

The Building Enclosure and Performance

The building enclosure would be super-insulated, suitable for the local climate and building traditions and regional preferences. It would follow at a minimum (R5/R15/R20/R45/R80) for windows, below slabs, walls in below-grade foundation conditions, walls above grade, and the ceiling as recommended by Joe Lstiburek, Ph.D., P. Eng. of Building Science Corporation. Windows of this home would have triple-insulated high-performance glazing with low-e argon-filled units with thermal spacers set within fiberglass and wood frames. Operable awning and casement windows would act in tandem with ceiling-mounted fans to circulate healthy fresh air in warmer times.

We envision the doors as made from fiberglass frames with thermally broken edges. The nature near Green Roof could be extensive or intensive depending on the client’s desires and structural capabilities, cost, care preferences for the plantings, etc. It would help with stormwater management capturing and filtering rainfall. Construction would follow aggressive air-sealing standards to further reduce energy loads by minimizing energy loss through cracks, corners, and joints.

The exterior rain screen siding could be cement-plank, cedar, or metal siding such as metal panels, corrugated metal, or 12-inch ribbed siding. Depending on the preferences of the client, we could mix and match artistically, connecting the home to the earth. Site-harvested flagstone, if available, could enclose lower portions of the exterior walls and site terracing.  

Interior Systems, Mood, and Character

A radiant polished concrete slab with decorative insets would supply heating. Air-air wall-mounted heat pumps would supply cooling and supplemental heating.

We would choose simple and restrained interior finishes, using local milled rough-sawn lumber or, if a client wants a more modern interior design, we will use finished hardwood standing and running trim with a contemporary design. Hand plastering or drywall would complement the interior. The doors and kitchen would have simply rubbed bronze hardware and pulls. Paints would be no or low-volatile organic compounds. (VOC).

Appliances would be high-performance Energy Star models to reduce energy use. We recommend all-electric, but it is important to have backup generators onsite in case of power failures and depletion of any home batteries. With Vermont’s increasingly warmer winters with wet snows damaging power lines, it pays to be prepared for anything and to keep climate resiliency in mind when planning and constructing this home.

Lighting

High-performance LED lighting would like the interior and exterior of this house and its site. We would specify a mix of dimmable low-voltage architectural lighting emphasizing the ceiling and exposed Glue-lam and timber-frame structure, as well as downlights, wall-washers decorative pendant fixtures, and sconces. A thoroughly thought-out lighting design like this would amplify the enjoyment of this home for years to come.

Local Materials

We envision focused areas that would have locally sourced stone areas using Vermont slate, granite, or marble. One could specify soapstone counters for the kitchen and bathroom vanity counters. Another area to plan is to use solar color shades and blinds from nearby manufacturers on the south and west-facing windows to control overheating and glare. We advocate the use of local milled lumber as well.

Next Steps

In our design for this unbuilt Vermont net-zero home, we seek to capture nature’s beauty with our sustainable and artful living mindset. From the curved green roof to renewable energy, and interior and exterior site connections, every detail supports living in harmony with the environment. 

If you’re intrigued, let’s discuss adapting this design or aspects of it to create your dream home. Let’s design and build a place and space that reflects your style and values while honoring Vermont’s landscapes and sustainable living ethos. Contact us to begin this journey! 

You can find us at Arocordis Design, our residential architecture firm's website. Our home studio is located in Montpelier, Vermont. Happy to connect.  

Microgrid Houses, energy independance and giving back to the grid

In this summer's July / August issue of Fast Company Anya Kamenetz wrote an article an Why the Microgrid Could Be the Answer to Our Energy Crisis .

It identifies how the microgrid which is small scale consumer, commercial developer and municipality driven is at odds with the large scale smart grid, renewable energy industrialization efforts of large regional or national energy players. What's fascinating and powerful is how both together large and small can help provide needed renewable energy sources to all scales of users. And, the economic oppourtunity for redefining our troubled economy through the conversion to greener energy sources can only or the other but both together which is powerful. It's not Smart Grid vs. Microgrid but both, 1 + 1 = 5 etc. With multiple ways to deliver renewable energy in a more complex interdependant system we are all better off.

As she says "The microgrid is all about consumer control -- aligning monetary incentives, with the help of information technology, to make renewables and efficiency pay off for the average homeowner, commercial developer, or even a town. The name of the game is to scale up renewables big enough, fast enough, to bring the cost down to parity with conventional resources. "

Here in Vermont, one of our local energy companies, Green Mountain Power they have a 10,000 panels in 1,000 days program in their Choose to go solar campaign. They are committed to transforming the energy landscape in Vermont business, homeowners and municipalities and exemplify microgrid efforts on a more local scale. I believe we're in the midst of a viral consumer driven renewable energy revolution. Smart companies which realize this are stepping in like Green Mountain Power to help make it easy for consumers to green up their energy usage and create more energy independance on a local scale. It's the Wiki distributed and nimble consumer driven approach to change rather than old style large scale 1,000 acre wind or solar farm.

One thing however, the Microgrid house from the article which I include here falls short as an example but is worth including to get the conversation going. I agree the house can be a small power plant generating electricity but what's missing in the example are additional flyouts identifying smart choices for low use water fixtures, recycled materials in construction and finishes. Having a garage in the front helps make the case for the electric plug-in visually but speaks to broken conventional development patterns and attitudes. This is an incomplete picture at best.

Anyway, that's all with this post. I think I'd better offer some ideas about the ideal microgrid house in future posts. But please read the linked articles and information. And, any feedback or comments are welcome.

Net Zero Buildings in a Net Zero Economy

Bill Maclay, our visionary leader of our design firm was recently published with a guest editorial in this month's issue of Distributed Energy - The Journal of Energy Efficiency & Reliability. It's an outcome of his and our thinking and practice examining the future of high performance building design and the importance of Net Zero Buildings being part of the solution going forward.

Read on --

Net Zero Buildings in a Net Zero Economy