Ultra-efficient homes combine state-of-the-art construction, appliances, and lighting with commercially available renewable energy systems, such as solar water heating and solar electricity. By taking advantage of local climate and site conditions, designers can often incorporate passive energy strategies. Building and designing affordable zero energy homes involves 12 integrated steps that utilize commonly available building materials and equipment, along with easy-to-learn tax incentives.
A well-thought-out design can maximize natural light and heat, reducing the need for artificial lighting and heating. An interactive 3D house links energy-saving tips to various locations in a simulated home, allowing homeowners to locate tips and ideas to save energy throughout the home. New home tech makes it possible to trim usage.
Efficient Earth-Sheltered Homes can be built underground or bermed, making them comfortable, durable, and energy-efficient. A properly designed landscape with trees and shrubs providing shade and windbreaks can make a home significantly more energy-efficient and lessen air pollution. For “the most efficient” wall construction, a staggered 2×6 wall is likely to be used.
The geodesic dome home is one of the first energy-efficient house designs. Any house plans can be built to different levels of energy efficiency, but the Passive House standard is the best value for money. To improve energy efficiency, owners should consider factors such as sufficient insulation, airtight windows, trees and shrubs, a new furnace, an advanced water heating system, energy-efficient lighting, and grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) panels.
📹 Exploring Passive House Design – 90% Energy Savings!
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Which is the most energy efficient option used at homes?
LED bulbs provide bright, energy-efficient lighting in rooms, generating minimal heat energy, and thus are safe to touch.
What is the most energy efficient orientation for a house?
To optimize your home’s energy profile, consider the location and orientation of your home. A longitudinally oriented home should have a length of east-west orientation and a smaller width of north-south orientation. This will maximize solar gains from the south during colder months and minimize heat losses due to wind on the eastern and western sides.
The Earth’s axis causes the Sun’s position in the sky to change with the seasons, affecting heating and cooling. Houses oriented towards the sun can save between 10-40 on home heating.
On the other hand, a longitudinally oriented home should have a length of east-west orientation and a smaller width of north-south orientation. This will maximize solar gains from the south during colder months and minimize heat losses due to wind on the eastern and western sides.
What is low energy architecture?
Low-energy houses are energy-efficient buildings that provide high living standards and comfort with low energy consumption and carbon emissions. They often have active and passive solar components, reducing energy consumption and minimally impacting the resident’s lifestyle. Companies and non-profit organizations worldwide issue certifications to ensure the energy performance of buildings and their processes and materials. Buildings alone account for 38 of all human greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) as of 2008, with 20 attributed to residential buildings and 18 to commercial buildings.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies buildings as the sector with the most cost-effective opportunities for GHG reductions. Research on low-energy buildings began in the 1970s in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Canada, and the United States, but the implementation of standardized low-energy building concepts has developed differently in each country.
How to make a zero energy house?
Net zero is the goal of a home that can generate as much energy as it uses. This can be achieved through renewable energy sources such as solar panels, efficient water management, air sealing, smart devices, continuous insulation, ENERGY STAR appliances, high-performance windows and doors, and efficient lighting. With new heating technology and lower-cost renewable energy systems, any home can achieve net zero. The next steps to achieve net zero are natural and can be achieved by continuously moving along the path.
Each project presents an opportunity for improvement in home energy performance, so it’s essential to develop a plan that considers the most effective combination of home improvements within your budget.
What is the least expensive home design to build?
The list of the least expensive types of homes for building a new home includes ranch-style, colonial, tiny, kit, off-grid, prefabricated, shipping container homes, and barndominiums. Finding the right home can be challenging, especially for those who have experienced renting. Many potential home buyers face this dilemma, frustrated by the limited selections on the market or struggle to stay within their price range. If you’re looking to save money, consider building your perfect home from scratch and exploring various options to find the perfect fit for your lifestyle.
What is the cheapest shape of house to build?
A basic floor plan, such as a square or rectangular one, is typically the most cost-effective method for constructing a home. This is because it streamlines the construction process and is generally less expensive than building a larger, single-story home.
What is the most efficient shape of a house?
The most efficient house shape is a rectangular floor plate, but a slightly rectangular shape is also feasible. A larger, square, single-story house is not efficient as it increases the concrete foundation and exterior wall linear footage. To be efficient, a house must be two stories. Design efficiency is maximized by centrally located stairs, such as a u-shaped stair, which is 10- to 12-feet long and similar width to most bedrooms, kitchens, and dining rooms.
Similarly sized rooms can be arranged together for greater efficiency. The u-shape also allows for an attic level without unnecessary roof-framing complexities and cost. A roof constructed with prefabricated roof attic trusses provides interior space without dormers or other secondary roof elements. The example assumes an attic truss with a 12/12 pitch that generates enough code-compliant headroom at the stair landing and attic level.
What is the most energy efficient house design?
One-Floor Living is a method of maintaining a consistent temperature across floors, reducing energy consumption and heat pump wear. This can be achieved through air-tight windows and doors, new cool roof technology, and strategically planted trees. Lower ceilings can also be beneficial, as they provide more ground for heating systems to cover. Cool roofs and insulation can help reduce this impact. For homes larger than 2, 000 square feet or with high ceilings, energy-saving upgrades can be made to doors, windows, and insulation.
DIY repairs can also be done using weather stripping or window tint film to block the sun’s heat. Overall, these strategies can help reduce energy consumption and improve comfort in homes with different floor types and heights.
How can we design the home so it uses the least energy?
To enhance your home’s energy efficiency, consider insulation, high-performance windows, efficient heating and cooling systems, energy-efficient lighting, smart home technology, sustainable materials, and passive solar design. This design offers benefits like lower energy bills, reduced environmental impact, improved indoor air quality, increased comfort, and enhanced resale value, contributing to a sustainable future.
What house shape is the most economical to build?
To save money on a home, consider building a simple box with a square or rectangular floor plan. Building upward instead of outward can add square footage and be cheaper. Consider landscaping, decks, paint jobs, and decor to enhance the exterior. If a simple build meets your needs, consider it. Lastly, choose a design with a simple roof, as simpler designs are generally cheaper. A plain, gently sloping roof is always cheaper than multilevel roofs, as they are easier to maintain and maintain.
📹 How to Build a House That Uses 90% Less Energy!
Matt walks us through Passive House, which is a high-performance building standard developed to reduce building-related …
Thanks for bringing Passive House mainstream Matt. We have been building Green homes forever and we are just new to PH over the last 5 years. We will never go back because the benefits are so amazing. I am just finishing rebuilding a 100 year old cottage near the beach to be my own little PH and the quiet and sense of refuge I have when I am in the house is just amazing. Plus, we put in great air cleaning systems so when the skies turn orange again, my family and I will be safe from breathing the outside air. Your articles are great and I am glad you are educating people on all of these great topics. We have our own YouTube website to try and educated people on better building but your reach is far larger. Keep it up.
I have a very old pre first world war army barracks that I live in. It is wooden, old and very leaky. My kids cannot afford a house here in the UK so we are hoping to build on the current site. Fortunately I have nearly 2 acres of land that I can build on but even so it’s going to be pricey. These articles have been invaluable. Thank you Matt. Makes me realise what I can send on into the future.
After perusal this article, I looked around a bit on the subject, and I feel like there’s a bit missing. Our home was built in the late 70s (so before the movement really got started), but it has a couple of features that make a big difference. First, the house has huge eaves (several feet in width on the south facing side.) This is a passive cooling strategy which means that during the summer, the house is mostly in its own shade — the result is much lower air conditioner use (even when the temperature goes over 100F.) The second feature is roof geometry. An asymmetrical roof can make for better solar efficiency as one gets farther north or south. A nice thing about both of these options is they can be less expensive than some of the others.
We visited a couple in Colorado, staying there with the Boondockers Welcome app. They built a passive house. It was so cool to see what was described here in “real life”. If I get to build a 3rd home, net zero will be a focus. Now heating is not the issue, but cooling is in TX. Well except for last February… enjoying your articles. Thank you for sharing.
My 107 year old house was an energy hog with only R15 insulation in the attic, heated with natural gas and 2 air conditioners using huge amounts of electricity in the summer. Over the last 10 years, I installed R60 insulation in the attic. I dug out the basement crawl space for R25 batts and foam board insulation under the whole house. I hired a foam injection crew for R20 insulation in the perimeter brick walls. I disconnected the natural gas line. I had 10 335 watt SunPower panels installed on my garage. I refurbished all the original double hung windows and use them every night to cool the house in the spring, summer and fall. I built and installed a 160 F solar air heater for winter heating. I also installed an electric floor heating slab under my desk. My house is now far more comfortable, warm and net zero energy.
Which brick is cost effective – Inter lock bricks or Porotherm bricks or AAC blocks? Which of these will reduce the heat and also which of these are earthquake resistant as many places in the world are experiencing earthquake ? Can you please do a article explaining the differences between three of these bricks and reasons for you to suggest which one is the best? Also can we do gypsum plastering on these three bricks in order to avoid the usage of cement completely, its cost and heat absorption of cement? Hope to get a reply from you.
I know I’m late to the party but I built a home 6 years ago to passive to passive house standards. I can tell you they work. I built at 8,000 elevation in the mountain of Colorado. It is all electric. It requires no cooling in summer and minimal heating in winter. I recently added a 6,800 watt solar system and that gets me to net zero. My wife and I did most of the labor and we built it for $75/sq-ft.
Hi! I love your articles! When it comes to houses, I studied them for a long time and I came to the conclusion that if I ever get the chance to build my own, I will make it a strawbale house with a metallic structure, and of course if I can afford it, it will also have elements like collecting rain water, solar and wind power as well as much passive heating and cooling as possible!
Yes, as an ex-carpenter I would love to design a more affordable, 3 story, tiny passive home here in the UK. As we have a fairly mild climate I think it would work well. I have lots of element ideas on how this would work, but just can’t get my head around CAD as my old brain just doesn’t work well enough!
I am Canadian, living in Europe in a 3 year old passive house. Not only does it save on energy cost, but it is more comfortable because even when temperatures outside fluctuate, there is almost no difference inside. We don’t have air conditioning, but by closing the exterior south facing blinds and keeping the windows closed during the day, we don’t need it. It’s hard to understand why Canada and Northern USA is not following suit.
My problem with most PassivHaus descriptions is that they focus on air sealing, then proceed to puncture the air/vapor barrier on the exterior with thousands of (expensive) screws to attach (expensive and flammable) foam exterior insulation on walls and roof. It seems like you should build a livable box, seal it as proven by a blower door test, then build a second independent box outside that one to contain your (inexpensive) insulation and support your siding. I have yet to see a PassivHaus do that. Even those using Larsen trusses insist on attaching those trusses with thousands of fasteners puncturing the vapor barrier.
Trees beside houses sound cool but in reality can cause problems especially if you collect rainwater from the roof. Encourages birds that poop on the house and gutter again not great if you collect water. Yes I know filtration etc and tress limbs can break on the house. For me a better way is a 3/4 wrap-round decking with roof overhang
The EnerPhit certification would be worthy of a separate article. There are a lot of existing houses which are not efficient, and it would be interesting to compare the cost/benefit there. It’s not energy efficient to tear down a house to build a new, more energy efficient house, given the energy required to provide replacement structure components. Even better than a whole house certification would be a plan for achieving certification over time. For example, replacing windows would only be done when they start getting condensation between the panes, as the energy savings of new windows will never be cost effective compared to the installation cost.
I’ve always wanted to build a passive house. It’s a little crazy that most of the world still relies on active heating and cooling through either wood/coal burning in the house or more recently via electrical means. While we can’t speed up the growth of deciduous trees to assist in temperature regulation of new properties we should still be ensuring all new properties are the most energy efficient builds we can achieve. We also need to make sure it’s one of the the cheapest ways to build the house so more people will adopt it. It’s not super difficult to implement insulation in all new builds, crazy to me that it’s only been mandatory in my country for 20 years. Even more insane that people have not been attempting to make full air seals, optimise orientations on their property or make solar panels and water collection mandatory. Obviously there are weird laws around the world regarding water collection but humans shouldn’t be wasting energy on transporting water when you could be collecting and filtering it onsite. I’m looking forward to the inevitable upgrades in quality of more technical materials that is always happening and seeing how the building industry evolves over the next 30 years.
oh boy… We been doing this in my country for years now. And our neighboring country is even having the codes brought up so their houses would produce more energy from all the various heating sources, than it uses. Solar panels, ground heat etc. So yes. Nice to see focus on getting in to the new millennium. 🙂
or earth bag dome. If I had the funds, I”d build 4 6 or 8 bed. bale plus put up several steal, sheds ALL basketball courts sizes tennis court and half court 2 badminton, one side SSW 50 or more% pannels/ those lights will be turned out when not in use.. or a 50-60,000 sq.ft. home made from several domes.
The toughest part is : people don’t believe you can live very comfortably without a furnace and AC. The monthly cost of running the house is next to nothing. I have a passive house because I didn’t want to pump money into it every month. The conventional builders want to keep the cost per square footage “Low” that you have a “high” monthly cost for a lifetime.
Passive homes need to be over-built to function best. When a home can keep toasty warm without extra heat for the coldest week of the winter, you’ll be good to go for the rest of the winter and when the house can stay a bit too cool than your ideal temperature during the highest summer heat, you’re good to go. That’s idea. We can be spoiled. An alternative is keep certain rooms the ideal temperature and tolerate when it’s not at ideal 20c degrees.
Commend you for trying to energy efficient, but there is a limit to overall cost vs. savings. If one cannot afford the mortgage payment (especially in rising interest rates, which were around 13% in the mid-1980’s) one cannot buy the home. Not sure saving $800/year over 30 years ($24K) is really worth all the extra expense up front especially if one has the feeling of living in a cave. One way to reduce energy losses through windows is to eliminate all windows and replace them with big screen monitors with a camera on the outside of the house or pipe in whatever seen you desire for the outdoors. Of course, building codes probably won’t allow that because one has to be able to crawl out a window in case there is a fire (Maybe there could be an escape door behind the TV screen?? One of the most inexpensive ways is to use common sense regarding quality of windows, thickness of insulation, and air infiltration. I’m not certain we are yet aware of the issues that might come about because of lower air exchanges per hour. It will interesting to see a long term study of your home over the years of ownership. Please keep us updated and be fair regarding savings versus all the additional carbon released into the air by all of the additional materials being processed for “zero energy” homes.