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Zero energy ready homes are coming

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Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#321

Post by danans »

bluGill wrote: post #281
danans wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their infrastructure lifetime numbers may be overly pessimistic, but nothing in your statement rebukes Strong Towns' thesis that the maintenance costs of infrastructure for sprawl were not realistically projected or accounted for.

Suburbs have existed for more than 100 years, and the inner ones have been boxed in that long. They have a proven history of fixing and replacing things.

Older inner denser suburbs, especially those served by mass transit, aren't the issue. It's exurban sprawl.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#322

Post by [deleted] »

twblalock wrote: post #314
kitsunesoba wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no expert in this field, but I think that changing zoning in current suburbs to mixed use would go a long way towards fixing them. The central wards of Tokyo are surrounded by such mixed use residential areas and it works extremely well, with most necessities being within walking distance or at worst biking distance. It wouldn't fix the suburbs' lack of density, but it'd still be a marked improvement. It'd theore…

People keep bringing up Tokyo but it's not really relevant. Yes, Tokyo has mixed zoning. But it was developed the way it is because the people who live there want it to be that way. It's also only livable because the people there have a culture that makes it possible to live in high density without high levels of crime, noise, and filth. Americans in the same situation would not have built something like Tokyo. If yo…

[deleted]

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#323

Post by DoreenMichele »

boulos wrote: post #311
DoreenMichele wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are correct that they are viewed as different systems and tend to rely on different strategies: https://ecokit.us/passive-solar-design-vs-passive-house/#:~:... . To me, it's almost a matter of semantics. In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called…

> My understanding is passive house comes from a German project. It shouldn't surprise anyone that strategies which work well in Germany differ from strategies that work in warmer climates. It actually started in North America around the time of the oil embargo as a mechanism to reduce energy costs. (See the history section of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house ). Once that shock passed, people went back t…

Your own source indicates it was being called passive solar energy design in the 1970s and indicates Passivhaus Institut was founded in Germany in 1996.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passivhaus-Institut

As someone who has followed such things for decades, it is my personal recollection that this German project is the root source of the expression Passive House. Most passivhaus buildings are in Germany and Austria and everything your source says suggests to me that passivhaus falls firmly under the umbrella term passive solar design.

So I stand by what I said unless someone can find a better source that somehow actually rebuts my understanding that passivhaus is a German project that popularized the term passive house and construction techniques associated with it, but it is simply a subset of the general concept of passive solar energy design.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#324

Post by closeparen »

snow_mac wrote: post #235
johnweldon wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally speaking, people will always choose to spend money living as close to their ideal as they can, with the resources they are able to give toward it. The fact that so many people choose to live in suburbs, or the "sticks", suggests that there is something desirable to _them_ about living there. I.e. the same spending power required to live in a house in the suburbs, or rurally, could usually be used to live in…

Why the hell would I live in an American city? I live in Colorado. Denver is our 'city', there is no parking, no room for my 2 dogs and my kid would not have a giant backyard to play in. Instead, I have a 3400 sq ft house on 10,000 sq ft of land with giant trees everywhere. I'm within 2 miles of lightrail, that I will never use. I work from home, I have a home office with a indoor, led powered garden with fresh fruit…

Cities are terrible to get around in by car, that’s for sure. But why you feel you need to, and why there aren’t better options, ultimately trace back to the city’s concessions to suburban auto-centric attitudes. In cities whose populations actually embrace their being cities (vs. centers of suburban agglomerations), you find destinations close enough to walk, safe and plowed bike paths, fast and frequent buses, and extensive train networks.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#325

Post by stouset »

twblalock wrote: post #314
kitsunesoba wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no expert in this field, but I think that changing zoning in current suburbs to mixed use would go a long way towards fixing them. The central wards of Tokyo are surrounded by such mixed use residential areas and it works extremely well, with most necessities being within walking distance or at worst biking distance. It wouldn't fix the suburbs' lack of density, but it'd still be a marked improvement. It'd theore…

People keep bringing up Tokyo but it's not really relevant. Yes, Tokyo has mixed zoning. But it was developed the way it is because the people who live there want it to be that way. It's also only livable because the people there have a culture that makes it possible to live in high density without high levels of crime, noise, and filth. Americans in the same situation would not have built something like Tokyo. If yo…

> Most Americans want to live in detached homes that they own, and they prefer cars to public transit.

Most people just want what they're already accustomed to.

We quite literally have the power to influence that instead of just throwing our hands up and saying "well gosh Americans want terribly designed communities whose long-term costs are completely unsustainable, so I guess there's nothing we can do about it."

This isn't some immutable law of the damned universe.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#326

Post by stouset »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #125
xputer wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Many of your points are valid for many suburbs but also not for many others. Talking generally like this is weird, I've lived in about 6 different suburbs my whole life and nothing you listed was true for any of them. I'm not a fan of suburbs but I'm tired of people holding up the worst possible examples and saying "SEE, SUBURBS SUCK!"

People are holding up the typical American example.

Of course there are exceptions. They are not common, and they are not the norm. The examples given are endemic.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#327

Post by closeparen »

johnweldon wrote: post #232
pxeboot wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The fact that so many people choose to live in suburbs, or the "sticks", suggests that there is something desirable to _them_ about living there. Many people I know would rather live in the city, but the upfront cost of a house in the suburbs are much lower.

Agreed. Although I think it has to do with more than location. For a childless couple, the cost of a 3 bedroom house in the suburbs might be the same as for a one room apartment in the city. If they choose the suburbs, maybe they're choosing more than location, they're also choosing quality of life.

The point of producing dramatically more urban housing would be to stop having to ration our consumption of it so stringently.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#328

Post by zbrozek »

twblalock wrote: post #314
kitsunesoba wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no expert in this field, but I think that changing zoning in current suburbs to mixed use would go a long way towards fixing them. The central wards of Tokyo are surrounded by such mixed use residential areas and it works extremely well, with most necessities being within walking distance or at worst biking distance. It wouldn't fix the suburbs' lack of density, but it'd still be a marked improvement. It'd theore…

People keep bringing up Tokyo but it's not really relevant. Yes, Tokyo has mixed zoning. But it was developed the way it is because the people who live there want it to be that way. It's also only livable because the people there have a culture that makes it possible to live in high density without high levels of crime, noise, and filth. Americans in the same situation would not have built something like Tokyo. If yo…

And Houston has more diversity and better affordability than most other top tier American cities.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#329

Post by twblalock »

stouset wrote: post #325
twblalock wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People keep bringing up Tokyo but it's not really relevant. Yes, Tokyo has mixed zoning. But it was developed the way it is because the people who live there want it to be that way. It's also only livable because the people there have a culture that makes it possible to live in high density without high levels of crime, noise, and filth. Americans in the same situation would not have built something like Tokyo. If yo…

> Most Americans want to live in detached homes that they own, and they prefer cars to public transit. Most people just want what they're already accustomed to. We quite literally have the power to influence that instead of just throwing our hands up and saying "well gosh Americans want terribly designed communities whose long-term costs are completely unsustainable, so I guess there's nothing we can do about it." Th…

> We quite literally have the power to influence that instead of just throwing our hands up and saying "well gosh Americans want terribly designed communities whose long-term costs are completely unsustainable, so I guess there's nothing we can do about it."

That's quite a strawman there.

Suburbs are not inherently unsustainable or terribly designed. Some are, but some cities are too.

I'm seeing a ton of strawman arguments, totally inaccurate descriptions of suburbs, unsourced hyperbole about "subsidies" and "externalities", and conflation of "suburb" and "rural" in this thread which certainly does not apply to any suburbs I've ever lived in.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#330

Post by fbdab103 »

Syonyk wrote: post #70
eppp wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been toying with the idea of buying used panels in bulk and doing the same, but the payoff just isnt there at the current battery price. What kind of frame did you install to mount the panels? I have tons of room for ground mount and would love to do it diy as soon as the costs line up.

My system is grid tie, because the local plans review process and I didn't see eye-to-eye on batteries. I have a solar power trailer for backup power. https://www.sevarg.net/tag/solar2020/ documents the build. My frames are timber, though a neighbor built a very similar system with metal frames and 72 cell panels, and got his costs down quite a bit further - he's around $1/W installed, mine was somewhat higher at abo…

I am not a home owner or at all in the market for DIY solar, but your documentation is a real treat. A true labor of love.
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