I have an energy efficient designed house, why? because I built it. What makes a house energy efficient? There is no right or wrong answers but you need to look at house and surroundings and take everything into account. It's not like a recipe but kind of like a chef creating a good dish. To make the first statement true you need to analyze why my house is different or characteristics that is different from homes built today in this region.
Design: The house is a story and one half however it looks like a traditional two story. It is pretty much a big box with minimal offsets and heated projections. It has a two story great room with a gallery and bedrooms opening off of on second floor. It also has a finished basement that is mostly underground with one south facing exposed wall with windows (three stories with basement).
House placement: The house is placed with front facing due east with two stories exposed. It is all brick and has garage on north west corner connected. Windows facing south collect morning sun in winter and windows facing south and west capture midday and evening sun. Three stories face due south.
Windows: I have efficient Pella designer series windows throughout. I have double hung units for look and design however fixed units for gallery area in upper great room.
Insulation: The house was built with dense packed cellulose in wall cavities. It is blown in and packed as for called dense packed. This help stop air infiltration and less expensive as foam applications. House has both 2x4 and 2x6 exterior wall studs. The third floor ceiling has been sprayed with foam and has another 15" of cellulose blow in insulation.
HVAC Systems: Two HVACs systems for size of house. With finished basement 4,800 square feet conditioned. Both systems duel fuel units and 13 SEER heat pumps. Thermostats change air throughout day and regulate humidity levels.
What's so different: As an occupant and builder this is what I recognize as far as performance. I will use fall and winter as best example. The basement is well insulated and three sides in earth. The forth side facing south has two twin window units and double door, the wall is 2x6 dense packed cellulose insulation. Carpet is black on concrete floor. It acts as a storage of heat or cool with little exposure. In winter light floods through windows starting in morning and heats up floor and basement. The HVAC system distributes throughout first floor keeping living zone comfortable. When I and my wife wake up we turn a couple lights on which also generate heat and is contained in the space. There is a large volume of air that is shared between upper two living spaces in the two story great room/ gallery. As we approach noon light floods through upper most south facing room providing some heat to third floor. Light also starts pouring through the great room windows and heats the air, hardwood floors and walls it touches. This air/energy is shared by both levels and both systems distribute to other rooms to store and dissipate slowly keeping house comfortable.
Example: Today November 17th 2010. Temperature dropped from 70 November 13th to 35 November 14th morn. It has not been above 50 for three days. Granted the house does have mass and heat stored. Day three at 10:00 pm house temp is at 70. There has been no heating system on, only heat is occupant, lights and appliances. Day four at 8:00 am house is 67.8. There was no sun on day three and cold, breezy and rainy all day. Outside temperature is 44. House heats up from 8:00 to 10:00 to 68.5, no sun and cloudy. The day mostly cloudy but becomes partly sunny afternoon. I leave house (turn lights off) at 10:00 and return at 4:00 pm. At 4:00 pm house is 70, no heating system, no lights and temp outside 50.
The House is an energy star home and meets criteria when constructed. The foam was just added recently with notice of great affects. There are many factors for the performance of the home starting with the basic good construction and construction practices. Since I am in the industry "a builder" I see what the industry standard is for normal construction. From my perspective it is surprisingly low and the average consumer does not understand the product he or she is purchasing be it remodel or new construction until it is to late. I commonly run into people who make the comment I wish I had you (RPO Construction Inc.) build or remodel my house. I would not have the problems I am currently having and would have been a better experience. I commonly consult potential customers who have purchased or remodeled and have found numerous unacceptable practices and code violation issues. One of the most common is poor insulation. I feel it is my responsibility to inform and help these people any way possible. I believe it is a home owners responsibility to have a vested interest in their home and its performance. This will become more true as rising energy costs will make maintaining their home more expensive.
