Efficient Homes?

[Jim Oaks]

This may sound like a broad question, but does anything know anything about highly efficient homes or sights about them?

I was wondering about homes that use solar power or use a lot of windows to allow sunlight in to warm it in the winter.

I don't know why, but I thought it would be cool to own a home that took advantages of natural resources (no, not gas) such as sunlight and geo thermal.

My last house had geothermal heating.

 

[skippy]

jim,i believe you are refering to a "green home" as is the terminology now.check out thedailygreen.com for some ideas.

 

[Simple_serf]

Check out Homepower Magazine. They have alot in there from time to time on things like geothermal, passive solar, masonry heat, etc.

Our house isn't terribly efficent, but we are currently heating primarily with local wood, and the solar panels give me enough juice for the computer and for some lights (althoughI have to watch the batteries pretty close in winter).

My Boss on the farm has a lean to type greenhouse, and even when the temps outside have been 20 degrees (F) or lower, it is still at least 80 in there when the sun is shining. The only time he has to heat it is at night.

Can't tell you much about geothermal, as it isn't a viable option around here, (WNY)due to different rock formations, gas pockets and oil pockets, or so I've been told.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I found this house:

http://www.solarhouse.com/

Pretty cool stuff, although a bit bigger than what I want.

 

[97BlackBetty]

It aint that big. Anywho, I like the ideas of a "green home" however the costs of building or remodeling seems to out weigh a lot of the benefits. Granted there are a lot of building materials that dont cost as much and make significant increases in home energy usage.

 

[LearjetMinako]

I would love solar power, when I get my own house. I've thought about solar panels, by the time I've added everything up, it would cost around 5k or more.

Solarhome.org is one.

 

[mjonesjr]

one good thing about solar power is, if you don't use all the power your panels create and more than your batteries can hold, most power companies will pay you the homeowner for it to be fed back into their power grid......

 

[Ozwynn]

one good thing about solar power is, if you don't use all the power your panels create and more than your batteries can hold, most power companies will pay you the homeowner for it to be fed back into their power grid......

for me that would defeat the purpose of having a green home ....... my goal is to get completely off the grid........ I want to be utility independent.

 

[tpking]

ive always wanted to build a house underground .. there is a house around here built like that and it stay right at 71 degrees year round in it from what i hear

 

[Jim Oaks]

for me that would defeat the purpose of having a green home ....... my goal is to get completely off the grid........ I want to be utility independent.

Ya, that would be pretty cool.

I might settle for having a electric line coming in to the house but only using it more as a back-up.

 

[mjonesjr]

for me that would defeat the purpose of having a green home ....... my goal is to get completely off the grid........ I want to be utility independent.

You will need it as a backup......

 

[Bow_Extreme]

I use to work as a builder until the housing market went to crap in michigan. I could probably give you more info than you would ever want to know about energy effiecent homes. I've done a lot of research in hopes of building a new home of my own someday. It's way to much to go into detail on here. If you have specific questions please get ahold of me.

 

[Simple_serf]

You will need it as a backup......

Genset backup...Propane works well...Fuel doesn't go bad. Woodgas can work, but it needs some tinkering to make it work well and to get long engine life.

Even though most utility companies like you to think you can tie in...there are lots of legal things that they do to screw you over. I speak from experieince here. In our case (a close relative), the power company kept failing the sytem on electrical inspection. When a friend of a friend who knows a guy who worked for the power comany inspected it, it passed first shot, there were no problems. Then they (the power comany) would randomly disconnect and lock the system out. The system was permanently shut down in 1989 after producing about $2400 of electicity. The cost to install was $22,000 in 1984 dollars. It was shut down due to parts unavailibility.

After this experieince, I firmly believe in off grid, small scale production of power.

To me, part of being (or, rather, at this point, partially ) off grid is to live without every luxury, as well as to screw the system. I use my Aladdin mantle lamps when the batteries are low.

Living a simper life is one of my main goals.

You will not be able to install a large system for under $5000, without lots of state rebates, most of which aren't covered for off grid use. The panels are only part of the game. You need wiring, controls, disconnects, and an inverter. Best thing to do is conserve, conserve, conserve, and learn to live with a small to medium system. To give some idea, My small system has a current cost of about $1000 and I currently need a larger charge controller and a new set of batteries. (so, probably another 1500, if I get a larger charge controller and current type batteries, or about 2500 if I upgrade to a better battery system (Trojan L-16's)...Which would mean rebuilding the whole system..Or I could just install a couple of used Forklift batteries )

Jim, what exactly are you looking for...heat, electricity, all of the above?

 

[chittybangbang]

for me that would defeat the purpose of having a green home ....... my goal is to get completely off the grid........ I want to be utility independent.

Its called being Amish.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Jim, what exactly are you looking for...heat, electricity, all of the above?

Not really sure.

My last house had geothermal heat.

Right now I'm renting. Eventually Vanessa and I would like to buy our first house. We both want a (1) floor home with a basement and open floor plan. My last house with the geothermal seemed like it was pretty reasonable to heat/cool.

Right now we have propane and it's expensive. We want a house that's all electric. But what if the electric goes out? Living in the country, that even causes us to not have water.

It would be great to have a house and not have to worry about heating fuels or high electric bills.

Irregardless of what we ended up with, I'd definitely like to have a generator backup.