Winter Update

It's been a few months since my last post, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been working on my prototype home.  I've also been putting in a lot of extra hours working for Eco-Panels as we are looking forward to one our best Spring building seasons ever.  You will see in the new photos that I've filled in the additional parking area with gravel, finished the paver walkway from the driveway to the front porch and started my seeds for spring planting.

I was able to find a left over pallet of pavers for a very good price.  They matched the home perfectly and although it involved quite a bit of labor on my part, the total cost was less than pouring a concrete walkway while giving the home some extra character.  It will take a few months for the paver sand to slowly pack in and after the paver coating wears off I will seal the pavers later this spring.

The gravel for the extra parking area ended up being much more affordable than pouring a concrete parking pad.  The decorative gravel that I really wanted to use would have been a bad choice as it does not compact well and the surface would have been too squishy/non-supportive to park vehicles on.  Using both the gravel and pavers also reduced my home's carbon footprint as they are not only permeable surfaces, but have a lower energy footprint in the manufacturing process.

I am somewhat of a beginner when it comes to organic gardening and starting plants from seeds.  If I can learn to be both proficient and efficient with starting seeds and transplanting the plants into the garden, I can save somewhere close to 10x the cost compared to buying already grown plants at the nursery or garden centers.  My main organic raised bed garden is now filled with soil and I will be sending a soil sample to the NC Coop Extension for analysis.  I used a combination of dirt from my lot, compost soil and Alpaca manure to fill the space.  The Alpaca manure was purchased from a local Alpaca farmer and is supposed to be a very good fertilizer.  Although Alpaca manure is lower in organic content, it is a rich soil conditioner and is able to break down easily.  I'll wait to see what my soil analysis report says before conditioning the soil any further.

As for my energy bills, they continue to be very low.  Like most of the country, our winter here in Asheville has been mild.  As I've mentioned in other posts, this prototype home's only heat sources are an air to air heat pump and some passive solar gain.  The milder winter has reduced the need for the heat pump to use resistance heating, which is very inefficient.  I've also tried to find other ways to reduce my energy demand and one of the simple ideas was to unplug my electrical strip that my computer, printer and router are plugged into every night.

My last 3 months utility bills are as follows:  $36.23, $41.36 and $47.81.  Over the 17 months of living in this prototype home, my average energy bill is now $44.40.  The Energy Star modeling software estimated that my average monthly utility bill would be $94.42 and a comparably sized non Energy Star Certified home would be $175.00 per month.  Obviously $44.40 is quite a bit lower than the projected amount and significantly lower than a non certified home.  The reduction in energy usage to date is now 74.63%.  Considering the high quality of materials used, the low cost per square foot to build this home and the very low energy costs, this prototype home has exceeded my expectations.  The opportunity to go net-zero energy is the next step and I am very close to being able to make this happen.  My next post will focus on adding the photovoltaic solar panel system and all the financial and technical details that are involved with making that decision.  With Spring a few weeks away, I will also continue to post about my organic gardening projects.

Project Update

Since my last post, I have received two utility bills. One for $31.82 and the most recent bill was $33.10. Not much to report on, as this prototype home continues to perform extremely well.

The two pictures in this post are examples of my ever expanding organic produce gardens. I built the three sets of trellis using both purchased and scrap material. I currently have one planted with blackberries and one with raspberries. The 3rd trellis is for raspberries (that I dug up) that are being grown indoors during the winter. It sure is nice to have southern exposure and windows with cardinal 179 glass as the plants are thriving indoors while it gets colder outdoors. In the spring, I will most likely paint the trellis and then use cable or sting to connect the posts for the blackberry and raspberry canes to grow on and over. The other photo is the start of my raised bed organic garden next to the house. The concrete blocks were purchased from a contractor at a job site as they were leftovers. I was able to buy them at about a 1/3 of retail costs. After leveling out the ground for the perimeter, I set the blocks in place and then packed them with clay and it is working extremely well. I plan to put a decorative cap around the top of the perimeter once the rest of the soil is added. Beyond the garden is one of my compost bins and hopefully there will be some great and free compost available for planting the garden in the spring.

One last item I'd like to draw attention to is the SAVE Act: www.imt.org/save-act This proposed bipartisan legislation is an attempt to finally give underwriters and to some extent appraisers the ability to have a standard or guideline to properly value residential energy savings. Considering that, for almost all Americans, the 2nd largest cost of home ownership is their energy bill (more than taxes or insurance), it's about time the financial institutions take a closer look at energy costs. Let's hope that this is the 1st step to making sure that energy savings are calculated into the loan valuation process.

Payback Revisited

I recently received an e-mail from someone following my blog and he asked if I could revisit the issue of payback as it relates to this prototype and smart ("green") building in general. Payback is often a term relating to how many years it will take for a particular technology to pay back the extra investment that the owner makes. Many homeowners, whether building a new home or buying an existing home, don't pay enough attention to what the utility bills are going to be as this is directly related to the total cost of home ownership. A good example comes from a family member of mine and his partner. I was asked to look at a very old home, circa 1897, to give my opinion on their potential investment. Although I didn't like the floor plan, as it was very inefficient, that's not what they were asking my opinion about. Simply put, I told them that while their mortgage payments would be well within their means, my concern was that their energy bills were going to be extremely high, particularly in the winter months. Not only were they going to have very high energy bills, but specifically in the winter, they also would most likely still be cold and uncomfortable even when the heat was turned on. They purchased the home and in some of the winter months, their utility bill was more than 1/2 their mortgage payment...up to $450/month for a living floor square footage area of maybe 1200 sq ft. When I would visit their home in the coldest parts of winter, both of the home owners were usually wrapped in several layers of fleece, while their heat was being mostly lost to the outdoors. This, of course, also contributes to more air pollution and the wasting of natural resources because of the significant inefficiencies of this home. Needless to say, but their old historic home, was not nearly as charming as when they first made the purchase.

Now as it relates to green building. I've used my prototype as an example in the past, but I will, for convenience purposes, use a more generic example. Let's say that someones budget is $200,000 to build a new 2000 sq ft home, not including the land and permits. Using an interest rate of 4.25%, property tax at 1.25% and pmi at 0.5% (standard #'s), the mortgage payment would be $1,192.21. Let's also assume that the projected average monthly utility bill, including all fees and taxes, is $200. If this homeowner then decided to use some of the technologies that I've used in my prototype, like the Eco-Panels wall system, the casement windows (with special south facing glass), spray foam in certain areas, a high efficiency heat pump, an ERV and a hybrid heat pump hot water heater, how much would all of this add to the cost of constructing the home. For simplicity, I will round that cost # up to $10,000.00. Now this home will cost $210,000.00 to build and finance. The new mortgage payment will be $1251.82 or $59.61 extra a month. Although my prototype reduced energy usage in its 1st year by 73.2%, I will be a little more conservative and estimate that this example home will reduce energy usage by 65%. A reduction of 65%, reduces the average monthly utility bill to $70, a savings of $130 a month. So without these added energy saving systems, the total cost to finance this home and pay the utilities is $1,392.21 ($1,192.21 + $200). With the energy saving features added, the new cost for both the mortgage and utility payments is $1,321.82 ($1,251.82 + $70). With these simple changes, it now costs the homeowner $70.39 less per month the very 1st month of living in the home. The payback is immediate and not spread out over several years time. This example does not take into consideration that energy prices are expected to rise at least 30% over the next decade. Also, the homeowner now has a safer, stronger, healthier and more comfortable home to live in...they get a much better home for less money. This is why smart "green" building makes both dollars and sense.

I plan to start offering consulting services to people who are interested in building a new home. I am confident that my direct knowledge and experience can offer significant value while saving new homeowners time, money and headaches.

1 Year Assessment

I've been living in this prototype home now for 1 year and it's been a great experience! A year ago I knew that I had designed a home that should perform very well, was built with quality materials, and had achieved the Energy Star Tax Credit and Gold Level for NC Healthy Built Homes. But many questions still needed to be answered, like: how well would it really perform? how much would it ultimately cost? how successful would this blog be? and what changes would I make if I were to do it all over again? I now have those answers.

As for what changes I would make, I've broken it down into a few categories: aesthetics, functionality, performance and costs.

As for aesthetics, I would only change the front porch roof to a gable and extend it out to meet the sides of the house and change the front windows to match accordingly. This would increase the size of the front porch by 4 feet, but I could reduce trim materials and go to a stick framed roof instead of the shed trusses, keeping the costs about the same. This change would make it more challenging to flash properly, but overall, I feel it would add some additional curb appeal to this prototype. I could also tie in the gutters from the front porch to the two down spouts of the main roof and not only make the rain runoff more efficient to manage, but ultimately collect more rain water when I install my rain barrels.

As for functionality, the main change I would make is to move the hybrid hot water heater to the attic which would open up the laundry room and make the space more efficient. Moving the water heater to the attic could also boost performance of the water heater as the attic tends to be the warmest space in the home due to the stack effect. This would make it more difficult to access the water heater to change settings (like vacation mode or high demand for example), but I don't mind the extra 30 seconds to do this. I would also make minor changes like room and closet sizing, but most people would never notice, so I won't take the time to explain.

As for performance, the only change I would make (outside of the possible gains of moving the water heater to the attic) is to add a dehumidification system to the air handler. Adding this system would only save a small amount on the utility bills, but there are times when I am only interested in dehumidifying and not air conditioning. This would add to the cost of the prototype, but moisture control (which this home has many systems to control moisture) is a crucial area that I would not skimp on.

As for costs, this is the most challenging one to answer. Unfortunately, I did not have a builder that was paying attention to the costs or the budget as well as offering solutions to reduce expenditures while still maintaining performance and quality. For example, he ordered a $300 (2x2) insulated crawlspace door for a closed (not conditioned) crawl space. This is just one of many examples as it did not need to be an insulated door. I would also change the pocket doors (which are attractive) to standard doors, as pocket doors are very expensive. And lastly, but probably my biggest issue, was the amount of waste. Once again the builder just didn't give a damn and all I could do was express my frustrations and think about how to change this for future projects. It can be a delicate line to walk when your builder is not meeting your expectations and tells you one thing, but does another. Burning that bridge can sometimes result in more headaches than what it ends up being worth. I've learned a lot and I am still very blessed for what I have and where I am at today!

As for the success of this blog, to date this blog has been visited 4280 times. I truly hope that the information on this blog has been helpful to others and received positively, while also creating a dialogue that encourages better building practices.

As for the performance. My 12 month total for utility bills is $563.19 which averages out to $46.93 per month. The code (built) based model home that this prototype is compared too was expected to have a 12 month total of $2,100.00 or $175.00 per month. The total monetary savings = $1,536.81. With an average monthly savings of $128.07, the math works out to a 73.2% reduction in utility costs. With today's mortgage rates (based on excellent credit), an additional $128 a month that could go into your home would result in being able to borrow about $25,000.00 more. Now of course the appraisers and lending institutions won't properly value this (as I've talked about in a previous post) but hopefully we will see this change to a direct added valuation in the future.

Lastly are the costs of this prototype. I've estimated, without cost savings that I could extract if I were to build it again, that my cost per square foot = $95. My goal was to see if I could build a very high quality, socially responsible, healthy, safe, strong and Zero Energy home for under $100 per square foot. Well, I've done the math and with the available tax credits and utility rebates, installing a 4+kW PV system on this prototype would easily achieve Zero Energy status for under $100 per square foot.

Although I plan to continue updating this blog with posts, my posts will not be as frequent. My organic gardens are almost complete and I will take pictures and write about this in the future. I also plan to do a post on the future PV system that will be installed, but that most likely will not be until the beginning of next year...I've heard that the best time to have PV systems installed is right after the new year as the tax credits are less attractive as most homeowners have to wait until the following year to use the credits.

Best wishes and thanks for stopping by!

Craig Payne

Hot Summer

Boy has it been hot! Asheville, as well as many other places in the country, has experienced a much warmer than normal summer. This has led to an increase in the cooling demand and my prototype home is no exception, well except for the energy bills. I wrote in my last blog entry that my home was experiencing an issue with trapped humidity and that I was going to start running the A/C to remove this moisture. Running the A/C obviously helped to alleviate the situation, but because of the hot and humid weather over the last month, I just kept the A/C on indefinitely. My June utility bill, which did not involve running the A/C much was only $34.15, but since the A/C has been turned on for the entire last month, I was very curious how much this would increase my energy costs. Well, the most recent utility bill was $51.51 with the thermostat set at 74-75 degrees. I was hoping it would be lower, but this total utility bill is still 70.5% less than the code based model home.
I decided to ask my neighbor, whose home was built just 3 months prior to my prototype, what his energy bill was for the last month. His home is 300 square feet smaller and his bill was about $140 total. Although they have a nice home, it was only built to meet the minimum code requirements and is a good example for comparison sake. It is just another example of how a quality built home/shelter actually pays for itself immediately.
My organic gardens are still taking shape as I continue to develop and change the plans as I move forward.
I do have some really good news on the work front. Eco-Panels was selected to be used to build the Blue Ridge Parkway's new Communications Center in conjunction with the National Park Service. I will post some photos on this blog as the building is being erected.

9 Month Energy Evaluation

I recently received my 9th energy bill and the total was $31.31. My total energy costs for the previous 9 months is $435.62 and I am averaging 430 kw/month and $48.40 per month. In comparison, Energy Star's model code based home should be averaging about $175 per month or a total after 9 months of $1575.00. Simple subtraction means that I have already saved an estimated $1,139.38 or $126.60 per month. To date this prototype is using 73% less energy than the code based model home. Once again, I have no PV, Solar Thermal, Wind or Geothermal systems installed.

I did notice a problem though with my attempt to save energy this past month+. By opening the windows in the evening and overnight to let the home cool down and then closing the windows during the day, I was trapping quite a bit of moisture in the home. Even though the ERV can help to control the humidity level, it is never intended to be a dehumidification system. It became obvious the RH was too high in the house and that some of the materials were being affected--most notibly the floor boards. When I bought my HVAC system I decided against spending the $425+ to have a dehumidification system installed and I'm not sure whether I am regretting that decision. Now that I have turned on the AC full time, I will see how this affects my total energy usage and report back when I receive the next energy bill. The RH is now stable and the heat pump really doesn't even run that often. I am also running the dehumidifier in the crawl space more often to make sure the dew point is not reached in the crawl space.

Overall the home is performing very well and exceeding my expectations. I am starting to build my organic raised bed vegetable garden and I hope to have pictures by my next post.

June Update

I've received another utility bill and the total was $31.45--so far the lowest to date. We've had quite a heat wave here in the mountains with highs in the low 90's and upper 80's, but the home is performing exceptionally well. I've only had to turn on the A/C for about 2 hours on 2 seperate occassions (on the upper floor/zone) over the last week as the home stays very cool during the hottest parts of the day. Two days ago, the temperature reached 92, but my indoor temperature on the main floor only got to 75. This way only a 4 degree difference from the early morning to the early evening. I will calculate the total savings % for the 1st 9 months on my next post when I receive that utility bill.

The pictures on this post show the berry bushes to the right and what will be an additional parking area to the left of the driveway. The berry bushes are already producing quite a bit of fruit and it also will serve another purpose--as a natural fence/boundary marker for the lot next to me. The parking area will be all gravel as it is permeable and accepted by the HOA. I hope to have made some significant progress on the raised bed organic gardens by the end of June.