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Zero energy ready homes are coming

energy.gov

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Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#341

Post by js8 »

Xeoncross wrote: post #287
dublinben wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think that project is relying on passive solar? In green building that concept has been largely superseded by newer standards like Passive House and Net Zero which generally rely more on air sealing and super-insulation with highly insulated windows.

There is going to be a lot of health fallout though as people start having oxygen depletion from tightly-sealed houses. It's important that even well sealed homes have both A/C fresh air sources as well as ERV/HRV systems that can recapture the heat/cold the house has while replacing the CO2 with outside air.

Maybe put in some plants?

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#342

Post by erikerikson »

bluGill wrote: post #288
dahfizz wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Power hungry industries will become seasonal or migratory too. Electricity will have to become orders of magnitude more expensive for this to be true. After you've bought the building, the smelter, and the guy to operate it, the cost of electricity to smelt aluminum is negligible. Its never going to make sense to leave all that idle if the cost of electricity bumps up a few cents.

I work for a.company that melts steel. Cost of electric is a very large issue. We pay workers extra to work overnight shifts when electric is cheaper and shut down during the day. We also shutdown for annual maintenance in December when Christmas lights raise electric costs.. not one that melts metal, but I know one plant runs 5 months and does maintenance the other 7. Note, the above is as of 10 years ago. Now wind…

We have Nucor in West Seattle and rumor has it running 24/7/365+ because the cost of shutdown/startup is too high. I've seen steel coming out is there everything I've driven by regardless of hour.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#343

Post by golemiprague »

johnweldon wrote: post #140
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…

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…

[dead]

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#344

Post by xthrown1 »

rootusrootus wrote: post #191
wyre wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you sure your suburb is not getting subsidies from the inner core?

Because the county and city government budgets are public. We get no direct money from the nearest urban core and the only method of transfer would be through the state. We get very little of our yearly revenue through the state general fund, and we pay enough income(and other) tax to completely offset it. We're self-sustaining primarily through property taxes and have been that way for more than a century.

Then I don't see why you're worrying for government subsidies to be removed from your neighborhoods. I'm sure that paying for the water, road and electricity infrastructure is accounted in your numbers and you won't need anyone else paying for them.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#345

Post by [deleted] »

js8 wrote: post #341
Xeoncross wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is going to be a lot of health fallout though as people start having oxygen depletion from tightly-sealed houses. It's important that even well sealed homes have both A/C fresh air sources as well as ERV/HRV systems that can recapture the heat/cold the house has while replacing the CO2 with outside air.

Maybe put in some plants?

[deleted]

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#346

Post by elbigbad »

stouset wrote: post #316
johnweldon wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any references for this statement. I'm not arguing there are no externalities (there are externalities in just about every choice we make). I just haven't been convinced that there are common egregious externalities at the level of dumping raw sewage into the creek.

How many sources would you like? Of course it’s not going to be on the same order as literally dumping raw sewage into the surrounding area. But there is an enormous body of research demonstrating the overall drain of resources from economically-productive urban areas out to costly suburban ones. Then there’s the carbon cost of enormous, congested highways and stroads where people idle in traffic for hours of their d…

I would, personally, love to read at least one source. Which you didn’t even provide for some reason. And I mean that, I would happily read any source you provide, with a preference for more academic sources.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#347

Post by westurner »

westurner wrote: post #307
DoreenMichele wrote: post #208

Contrary to what I am seeing in comments on HN, this is not just for single family detached housing. If you go to the ZERH website, under Program Requirements it says: Versions 1 and 2, Single Family, Multifamily, and Manufactured Homes https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/zero-energy-ready-home... Additionally, one of the photos in the featured article has the following caption: Lopez Community Land Trust built thi…

Passive solar building design : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_solar_building_design#... Low-energy house: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-energy_house List of low-energy building techniques: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_low-energy_building_te... /? Passive solar home (tbm=isch image search) https://www.google.com/search?q=passive+solar+home&tbm=isch /? Passive solar house: https://youtube.com/resul…

Walipini passive solar green houses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walipini

Earthship passive solar homes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthship

Underground living: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_living

Root cellar passive refrigeration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_cellar

Ground source heat pump (Geothermal heat pump) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_source_heat_pump

Solar-assisted heat pump: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar-assisted_heat_pump

(Geothermal Power = Geothermal Electricity) != (Geothermal Heating)

Geothermal power: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power

Geothermal Heating is so old, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heating

...

AC-to-DC (rectifier; GaNprime, GaN) and DC-to-AC (inverter) are inefficient conversions: it wastes electricity as heat.

Residential and Commercial AC electrical systems have a GFCI ground loop (for the ground pin on standard AC adapters)

  WAV: Watts = Amps * Volts

  # USB power specs (DC)
    7.5w = 1.5amp * 5volts  # USB
   15w   = 3a * 5v  # USB-C
  100w   = 5a * 20v # USB-C PD
  240w   = 5a * 48v # USB-C PD 3.1

  # 110v/120v AC: 15amp; Standard  Residential AC in North America: 
  1500w = 15a * 100v  # Microwave oven
  1650w = 15a * 110v
  1440w = 12a * 120v  # AC EV charger

  # 110/120 AC: 20amp 
  2400w = 20a * 120v  # Level 1 EV charger

  # 240v AC plug: Dryer, Oven, Stove, EV
   4800w = 20a * 240v
   7200w = 30a * 240v # Public charging station
   9600w = 40a * 240v # Level 2 EV charget
  14400w = 60a * 240v 

   120000w =  300a *  400v # Supercharger v2
   120kW   =  300a *  400v 
  1000000w = 1000a * 1000v # Megacharger
  1000kW   = 1000a * 1000v
  1MW      = 1000a * 1000v
USB > Power related standards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Power-related_standards

Charging station > Charging time > charger specs table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charging_station#Charging_time

(Trifuel) generators do not have catalytic converters.

Wood stoves must be sufficiently efficient; and can be made so with a catalytic combustor or a returning apparatus (and/or thermoelectrics to convert heat to electricity).

/? Catalytic combustor (wood stove) https://www.google.com/search?q=%22catalytic+combustor%22

Wood-burning stove > Safety and pollution considerations > US pollution control requirements: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood-burning_stove#US_pollutio...

Gravitational potential energy is less lossy than CAES Compressed Air Energy Storage is less lossy than thermal salt is less lossy than chemical batteries.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#348

Post by s1artibartfast »

mindslight wrote: post #32
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.

> Permitted grid connected solar costs 5x that and disconnecting from the grid is not permitted. Why not treat them as independent problems - an off-grid solar system for most of your electricity, while also maintaining a nominal (/backup) grid connection? If your home is already connected to the grid, then I would think the ongoing cost would be minimal and could be viewed as just another tax.

That's a fair question but it doesn't really save you any money, and just costs more for a breaker to switch back and forth. Everything still needs to be inspected and permitted to the same level of rigor because it is still technically wired to the grid and you just have more elements which could malfunction in a less standard configuration

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#349

Post by bandofthehawk »

twblalock wrote: post #329
stouset wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 arg…

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

I would guess that most suburbs are financially unsustainable in the long term because they pay less in taxes than it costs to maintain their infrastructure. Strong towns talks about this in great detail.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#350

Post by tekno45 »

notShabu wrote: post #67

A GPT blurb about what goes into a zero energy ready home: > There are several core technologies and products that go into creating a Zero Energy Ready Home. These include: Advanced insulation materials: These materials are used to reduce heat loss and gain through walls, roofs, and floors. Examples of advanced insulation materials include spray foam insulation, rigid foam insulation, and blown-in cellulose insulatio…

Why are people doing this? Its not an interesting or needed comment.
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