Throw Out The Solar Panel, Open The Window

I recently attended the Building Enclosure Council’s meeting on ‘Lessons Learned: A Net Zero Habitat For Humanity Home.’

This was a public meeting where they reviewed the data analysis gathered from the Net Zero Habitat home which was organized through Habitat for Humanity and designed/engineered through the Building Enclosure Council.

Many steps were taken to create an energy efficient home with hopes for the home to produce more energy than it was using; a few of the implemented designs were:

• SIPS Panels for the walls and roof       
• solar panels
• 80 gal solar hot water heater
• geothermal system

Those who are not familiar with SIPs panels; think about a styrofoam cooler….essentially, this is what a SIPs home is; a continuous foam based insulation system which totally envelopes the perimeter of your home creating a highly insulated footprint.

Once the home was complete and data was collected, the finding were less than impressive and very discouraging to all involved.  They found that the energy being consumed was not only NOT net zero but in fact the residents were consuming much more energy than they anticipated. In fact, the neighboring stick framed home was pretty comparable  if not better, in some analysis.

The modest home of 1,300 sf came at a very high price tag once you total up the high tech building elements such as the SIPS panels, the geothermal, solar panels, etc.  The price tag came in at $135,248…but remember, this is a Habitat home. This means all labor was volunteer.  So, in knowing what we know about contractors/builders, if this same model was applied to your normal home build, the price tag would have come in somewhere around $290,000. That means $233/square foot…OUCH!!!

Another obstacle is that in building with the SIPS panels, you are eliminating the ability for the home owner to take the framing of the home  into their own hands. SIPS are a highly specialized building material with very low tolerance to imperfections.  In this particular project, a crane had to be brought in to lift and set the large SIPS panels in to place.

So what happened??? Why, when all of this money was spent on high-tech systems and materials were the energy results so poor???

The #1 ‘Lessons Learned’ as quoted by the Building Enclosure Council was:

1. Get Commitment to Energy Conscientiousness From End User/ Develop an Energy Management Plan and Educate the End User

In multiple visits to the home, the Building Enclosure Council found that the End User was practicing ‘energy-wasteful living;’ things such as

• shades drawn and all lights on during the middle of the day
• heat set to 82 degrees in winter months meanwhile homeowner is wearing tanktop and shorts inside
• AC set to 68 in summer
• multiple TV’s, lights, and other electronics turned on in every room of the house, even when not in use
• clothes being washed (in hot water) & dried every day of the week
• (not the home owner’s fault) the solar hot water heater was commissioned/calibrated incorrectly

So although extensive measures were taken to ensure an energy efficient home, it’s all irrelevant as long as the end user is consuming large amounts of energy on a daily basis.  

I’m not blaming the Building Enclosure Council, Habitat for Humanity, SIPs manufactures, or the end user for any of the above; in fact, I think it’s a great step towards sustainability in the housing industry and certainly a way to bring awareness and start to uncover the layers….explore…find solutions.  Do I think that this particular model serves as a good prototype for future Habitat homes, or homes in general? Probably not…simply because I don’t think that $233/sf is accessible to most Americans looking to build a simple 1300sf home on a budget.  I also don’t see the construction of SIPs panels and the cranes required to be very accessible to most ‘hammer & nail’ toting American with good friends and neighbors who are willing to help them build a home. I also think that the discussion of Passive Solar design is a worthy one when investigating how to design a truly energy-efficient home.

My point in all of this is just to bring it back to that simple #1 Learned Lesson.  We can spend hundreds of thousands