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Zero energy ready homes are coming

energy.gov

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Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#331

Post by giantg2 »

bluGill wrote: post #303
ortusdux wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heat exchangers are a big one, but they are not yet that common in the US. They are used to pre-heat the makeup air. I'm looking into one atm as part of a HVAC upgrade as currently running a bath fan with all the windows closed will draw air down the chimney.

Heat exchangers have been code for more than 20 years. Maybe not common, but only because there are a lot of old houses. Or maybe where you live didn't adopt the new code?

I have a house that's less than 20 and it doesn't have a heat exchanger. I haven't heard of the new construction around here having any. Perhaps it's only in certain states?

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#332

Post by Whatarethese »

paiute wrote: post #47

Those dehumidifiers make these places uninhabitable for me. Constant low humidity is really unhealthy. Without them these ultra insulated homes have major vapor and mold issues. Being highly insulated is good but at a point it's just silly. I'd rather see efforts to insulate old trailers, manufactured homes, etc. Rich people experimenting with zero energy homes don't need a credit.

Thats what HRVs are for. You can have a tight envelope with decent humidity with no mold.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#333

Post by ars »

TheCoelacanth wrote: post #199
prottog wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> without subsidies from the inner core Like how the residents of New York City are able to get the food and water it needs all produced within the five boroughs? Or is that a different kind of "subsidy" from the hinterlands.

Food is produced by rural areas, not by suburbs. Suburbs produce nothing that cities can't produce.

Suburbs produce places for rural residents to get services.

Or were you planning on creating isolated servants in rural area who only work all day and never go anywhere?

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#334

Post by ars »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #99
xyst wrote: post #64

I just see this as another subsidy for single family housing developments. The home may be "zero energy ready" or whatever greenwashing term they want to use. But the fact is they are spending that energy in driving from the sticks (in some cases >20 miles away) and back, driving from their home to the grocery store and back, driving to areas of interest (ie, parks, restaurants, doctors appointments). All of this is…

> This is all very expensive to build and maintain, and the cities and municipalities are left to foot the bill. Look, I hate Single Family Housing as much as anyone - but roads are BY FAR the most expensive part of infrastructure you mentioned - and those are financed by gasoline taxes. If the people in the sticks are buying a lot of gas, they're paying a lot more taxes for the roads, too. It'd be nice if property t…

> Look, I hate Single Family Housing as much as anyone

Why would you hate the only kind of housing worth living in?

I would end up in a mental institution if forced to live in a multi family home.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#337

Post by kitsunesoba »

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote: post #282
bluGill wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't use their yard. They don't have more than a few flowers in the garden. 20 minutes with a push mower is enjoyable exercise but they wouldn't want it to take longer.

The yard isn't necessarily there to be used in the way you mean. Often the yard is a buffer between you and your neighbor. Your noisy neighbor who smokes, swears, and plays the most disagreeable music at the highest volume late into the night. Any distance is helpful. My big problem with cities is the people.

I don't mind city life for the most part, except for the whole thing with most apartment complexes being built of cardboard, which means that every single thing your upstairs neighbor and many of the things your adjacent neighbors are doing can be heard loud and clear, and this problem plagues even newer construction. And then you have people on the street yelling, vehicles modified to be as loud as possible driving by, etc.

If these buildings were properly soundproofed, in many ways I'd prefer living in the city, but as things stand the only people who get to enjoy that in cities are those at the tops of skyscrapers renting penthouse suites, all of whom reside in a plane of existence entirely separate from my own.

The number one thing I've enjoyed about suburb life, particularly as a remote worker, is how much more dramatically quiet it is, primarily thanks to not sharing a wall with anybody.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#338

Post by grecy »

aclatuts wrote: post #61
s1artibartfast wrote: post #13

This is a pet issue of mine, having lived in two off grid homes going back to the 80's. The barriers are not materials, technology, or labor, but purely regulatory. I could take my current home off permanently grid with solar today for less than 10k but to do so would be illegal. Permitted grid connected solar costs 5x that and disconnecting from the grid is not permitted.

Disconnecting from the grid is overly romanticized. What you get from paying the utilities is a team of people who will fix equipment issues due to failure or the environment. If your home battery system has issues, scheduling someone could take a day or more. Off grid electrical services isn't popular enough to be on call 24/7. And getting parts may get take even more time. Equipment failure could take your electric…

> What you get from paying the utilities is a team of people who will fix equipment issues due to failure or the environment

Friends have lived off-grid in the Yukon in a very nice house for 20 years.

It's hard to get house insurance when you're not on the grid, and whenever they get asked about it, they ask the insurance person on the phone "When was the last time you had a power outage?" (inevitably the answer is sometime in the last month or three - the power grid in the Yukon is a fickle thing).

In 20 years, they've never had a single second of power outage in their very nice off grid house.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#339

Post by vineyardmike »

rr888 wrote: post #222
pchristensen wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is questioning that people want to live in suburbs. People object to the government power preventing any additional development in these low density areas. These areas are desirable, but economically uncompetitive.

> economically uncompetitive How can you say that? Usually nice suburbs pay huge amount in taxes that subsidize urban cores.

> that subsidize urban cores

Subsidized by urban cores.

Who do you think is paying for those $50M highway exits and overpasses so everyone can quickly get to their strip malls? Its not the local residents.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#340

Post by vineyardmike »

jjav wrote: post #250
lotsofpulp wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have to cross a 40ft+ road with vehicles traveling at 50mph (i.e. 40mph speed limit), I consider that not walkable. And 5 lane 40mph arterial roads (two each way and 1 turn lane), seems to be a standard feature of all suburbs all around the country, on which most grocery stores and shopping are located.

> If you have to cross a 40ft+ road with vehicles traveling at 50mph (i.e. 40mph speed limit), I consider that not walkable. Ok, but that's a quite radical limitation to the definition of walkable. What is the reason to put up self-imposed limitations like that? I mean, by that definition even most of Manhattan wouldn't be called walkable even thought it's the most walkable city in the US! In my very suburban neighbo…

> even most of Manhattan wouldn't be called walkable even thought it's the most walkable city in the US!

You missed the high speed requirement. A low-speed road is radically safer than a high speed road for a pedestrian.

> once it's my turn I cross the road with cars traveling at 0mph since they all have a red light

You hope. Cars in the 'burbs are notorious for not actually stopping and for hitting pedestrians.

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