I am looking for examples of complete homes built with total energy efficent technology. Geothermal heat pumps, solar, wind, air quality, etc.
I would look at magazine articles,web sites, books? any suggestions
George
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Check out:
http://www.allwallsystem.com
Sorry...mispelled the website...
Edited 9/7/2005 2:10 pm ET by gotcha
you can get help with energy efficient homes and energy star homes or products from a home energy rater (natresnet.org) or you can go to the epa (energystar.gov) to find a professional to help you.
traini,
This isn't directly answering your source question but it should be thought of as you go forwards..
Traditional stick built housing as we do here in North America is a terribly inefficent way to build but if you go outside the norm you must realise the hurdle you'll need to overcome..
In a week I could get quotes from well over a hundred builders that I felt were well quailified to build me a stick built home.. As soon as you go outside that "norm" you'll have darn few choices left and most of them do it because they have much less competition.. (profits tend to be much higher)
I know a few ICF builders and while they loudly claim that the premium on an ICF home is only 2 or 3% what they don't tell you is that the actual cost to build an ICF house if they are experianced is about 12% less.
They feel that the market is small enough and the learning curve steep enough that there will be few new start up companies to give them price competition..
SIP homes around here are so rare that in 15 Years of daily contacting tens of thousands of builders I've only seen a total of three... (I sell construction equipment and call on between 35 to 50 contractors a week usualy at the job site! ) SIP homes should be around 15% cheaper to build than a stick built home but the premium is at least 15% higher or more!
Various websites place the alternative construction market between 1 & 2% of all new housing starts.. from my own experiance that's very high.
>>>>"SIP homes should be around 15% cheaper to build than a stick built home but the premium is at least 15% higher or more!"Frenchy, are you saying that the shell will be 15% less or the total cost of the home?
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Jon Blakemore,
Well since the interior and exterior walls and insulation are in one package ie the SIP. The savings would be in just the wall costs. Obviously interior finishing costs are the same and HVAC should be the same (except so few plumbers and heating contractors have hands on experiance with SIP's and are afraid of the new) wiring costs are the same (see above) The labor to assemble a SIP wall is a tiny fraction of the labor used in building a stick built wall. I watched one experianced crew of three build a 3600 sq.ft. house in three days.. the slowest part of the job was having the Telehandler run back and forth to the panel pile.
It did look wierd in that the roof was on and shingled before a single window was cut out. The entry door went up first and then panels started from there in either direction. Otherwise it would have been solid panels.
Amen!I've been working for a while now on a custom home using SIPs, and I've been fortunate enough to find a custom builder (in upper central Indiana) that has the experience and the right attitude about custom building and alternate technologies. But I know off the bat I am paying more to use SIPs.The dearth of information on energy efficient homes has made me decide to keeping a web journal as construction progresses to share with others my experience. We haven't broken ground yet...
tufenhundel,
I'm courious at your statement , you're paying more to use the SIP's I buy my SIP's here at $3.50 a sq ft. for a six inch thick panel (The ten inch panels were slightly more expensive at $3.78 sq.ft). That's from a panel company that uses borate in their panels to prevent insect damage.. It was dramatically cheaper when I started, four years ago My first panels cost $2.14 sq.ft. but OSB and foam has gone up significantly since then..
I priced stick building and my costs for the same thing with fiberglas insulation was well over $4.10 per sq.ft. plus the labor would have been dramatically higher. A good crew of three around here would probably spent at least two weeks framing up a house to weather tight plus several more days for the installation of the insulation.
To be fair houses here seem to compete with each other to see how complex they can get and aren't satisfied unless there are are at least two big bows and or curved walls and sixty gajilion bumpouts and bays..
frenchy:I am @ $4.30/sf for 4.5" polyurethane walls. EPS walls of similar performance would be higher still.I don't have a McMansion house, but it was custom designed. Everyone from the architect to the custom builders assured me the cost was going to be higher with the SIPs. One builder gave me a base bid for stick framing, then a $12K option to go with SIPs. I had to scale back from the ICF basement I wanted and go with a pour one instead.For someone to go outside the norm, the supply just isn't there, hence the higher cost...I suspect...
I just got a price today from 5 star buildings of some 8.50 a square foot of wall. All doors and windows cut and framed, and delivered to Vt. seem like a lot?
whoodle,
Hmm that is an installed price which reflects about $3.50 a sq.foot labor.. around here stick building is usually around $8.00 to$15.00 a sq. ft. so that actaully sounds very good! Make sure you are getting 6 inch walls, the tiny price premium between 6 inch and four inch is well worth it in the northern states or even in states where fuel costs are higher than average..
Frenchy,
That was not installed, but on the flatbed with installation items and wrap. How much can you get precut for?
whoodle,
I'd hate to get precut! What happens if you miscalculate something? A window that is too close to a wall so you can't properly trim it or a door in the wrong place or any mistake in the foundation or something?
When I was designing my home, in a place that I had lived for over 15 years at the time of design I missed out completely on a great view of the lake simply because I'd never had been in that particular spot to see the view.. As I built my frame I suddenly noticed it and realized that I absolutely had to have that view. I designed the dormer on the spot. The tower was also an afterthought as were the four roof dormers in the attic and a dozen other changes.. *
If you are building a house as a business then such things simply aren't taken advantage of and chances are nobody would be the wizer..
My point is that you can buy the cookie cutter home and there is nothing wrong with that or you can build your own home and take advantage of everything in a way that few people would ever realize is available.
To answer your question, I didn't ever ask what the costs of precut would have been,, it's no real gain in my mind..
* perhaps you aren't aware of how easy it is to cut a SIP to fit. You use regular saws etc.. cut both sides of the SIP and then use a sawzal to cut the foam between. A thin 4 inch panel you wouldn't even need the sawzall. It's butt simple to melt the edge of the panel for the 2x material and windows are really simple to cut into a panel after the panel is up.. (hint, a long drill bit identifies the corners)
The price I got was at the factory and I hauled the panels home myself so you'd need to figure shipping costs into those prices.. Try contacting the factory directly,, often they give a sizeable discount on a large order and then the installer makes an added profit on the panels as a commision..
Edited 9/8/2005 10:06 pm ET by frenchy
Frenchy,
I understand your point, and I have taken precautions. the design is mine, and it is an addition to a house I have lived in for13 years, and I built a barn shop in the manner you outlined. It just got bigger and bigger, and the view from the shop is temendous. I take the ladders and loader bucket to the elevations to preview the views. Also, time is of the essence. I don't want to screw around with the frame, I want to screw around with the trim inside! I only have time in the dead of winter.
Frenchy, I appreciate you sharing your experienesw/sips. Thanks!
Tufenhundel,
You are already paying much higher costs than I am. I have 6 inch (well, actaully 6 1/2 inch walls of EPS. AND I'M ALMOST A BUCK CHEAPER!
I poured my own walls of ICF's and saved over $8000 over the lowest bid.. I did it at a younger age of 53 plus I had a 20 year old with me who I told what to do and he did the major muscle work but it was all over in about 4 hours..
You are right in that the demand isn't there so the supply reflects higher per unit costs than competition would force it to if the demand were there.. frankly it's a matter of education.. educate more people of the real benefits and the demand goes up as demand goes up competition forces prices down..
You seem to be assuming that Geothermal heat pumps, solar, wind, air quality, etc are efficient. Maybe you could explain with different words just what it is you are looking for. Alternative energy sources perhaps?
Natural gas is one of the most efficient energy sources
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http://www.silverwood-inc.com/
Here's one:
http://www.ourcoolhouse.com/
We're in the process of building one right now. SIP's, Superior Walls Foundation, Geothermal heat pump, passive solar, fiberglass windows & doors, ERV.
Here's some websites I've bookmarked along the way:
http://www.architecturalhouseplans.com/
http://www.efficientwindows.org/
http://www.igshpa.okstate.edu/
Have any specific questions?
Jo
I thank all sugestions and interesting web sites. I look forward to some great reading.
George
The products that many have noted are fine but energy efficiency starts with design and orientation to sun and shade. You could build with 2x20 walls and put too many windows on the north wreaking havoc on your thermal envelope. There are simple ways to do passive solar.
http://www.shelladditions.com
You make a very good point.IMHO a lot of inefficiencies seen commonly in so many homes, many have become so routine most no longer even see them as such, have their origins in modern technologies.Many, including myself, commonly see technology as being a largely one way street to improvement and effectiveness if not necessarily happiness. What gets overlooked is that technology has allowed us to build in locations and ways we previously would have considered to be the blathering of a lunatic.I'm in Florida and frequently work on older houses. It is interesting to compare the older houses, prior to the 1940s to todays designs. Prior to WW2 very few homes had air conditioning. Rooms were built tall with windows that went almost all the way to the ceiling to let the hot air out through the lowered top sash of a double hung window. This caused a vacuum which drew in cool air in through the opened lower sash.The windows were under overhangs so the air was cooler. The house was up on piles for air flow underneath and to keep the critters, and sometimes the water, out. Long before there were continuous soffet and ridge vents there were ventilated eves and large functional cupolas. These are just examples of designs. What I'm getting at is not any particular designs, although some are clearly better than others. My point is that before we had technology to contradict nature we had to work with it. We were not advanced enough to ignore the power of the environment.When AC became available we start to see houses being built that are not designed for the Florida environment. Little or no overhangs. Huge windows and unshaded walls facing into the sun. Weak attic ventilation and windows that are useless for ventilation.The designs are not adapted to the environment and are only made workable by installing large AC units to get rid of the extra heat gain in a poor design. All powered by cheap electricity. We, as a nation, have fallen into the trap of using this 'brute force', 'increase the tonnage' approach. We have become arrogant. The subtleties of proper house orientation, and cooperation with the existing environment have been neglected and forgotten.Of course pride comes before a fall. And as energy prices come up to international levels we can start to see the nature of our fall. We live in houses which have to air conditioned to be lived in. A nagging and ever increasing cost. That is not to say I have anything against AC. It is a fine technology. But to design houses that absolutely must, even when the outside is relatively cool, use AC is folly. The wider issue includes designing houses that, as a function of good design, siting and cooperation with the surrounding environment, need less heat in the north , cool in the south and all houses need to be designed to take advantage natural light, ventilation, moisture control and try to keep it all low maintenance. Our ancestors of a hundred years ago were far more knowledgeable and sensitive to such issues not because, as the mythology goes, they were tougher or smarter. But rather because their technology level and the cost of their energy made them weaker. They couldn't effectively fight mothernature. They had to work with what they had and knew. They had to intelligently work with the site and the environment.While out ancestor had to be smart because they were weak we have become distracted, callus and arrogant because we are technologically and economically strong, muscle bound.