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Zero energy ready homes are coming

energy.gov

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Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#401

Post by lmm »

johnweldon wrote: post #144
Fauntleroy wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can find a way to convince Americans they don't all need a yard that can easily fit 6 (japanese) houses, we'll be well on our way.

Why do we need to convince someone they don't "need" anything? Each person has the best information about their own situation to decide what they need (or even want - you don't have to _need_ something to have to justify _wanting_ it)

If it's a want rather than a need then you can pay your fair share of what it costs.

I've got no objection to people who want to live a particular lifestyle doing so. But they should pay the costs that it inflicts on the rest of us.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#402

Post by lmm »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #366
djrobstep wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I hate driving in Denver. The traffic sucks. > Why is walkable so desired? When it's cold (like today) I don't want to leave my car. I'd drive through any day, I'd drive just to avoid walking half a mile. This is an amazing example of the terrible disease that is Car Brain. Instead of having a walkable city where you can walk to the shops/gym/restaurants, take convenient public transport to the theatre, and take th…

All the ‘walkable’ cities still seem to be congested with cars.

However much or little road space you build in cities, it will always be congested with cars (unless you charge or ban them). So the trick is to waste as little space as possible on that.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#403

Post by misja111 »

Am I the only one who was still wondering what a 'zero energy ready home' is after reading the entire article? So I followed a link, that led me to this definition:

> A DOE Zero Energy Ready Home is a high-performance home that is so energy efficient that a renewable energy system could offset most or all the home's annual energy use

And now I still don't know. What is a 'high-performance home'? And what exactly is the criterium to decide if 'a renewable energy system could offset most or all the home's annual energy use'?

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#404

Post by vkou »

nunodonato wrote: post #399
chongli wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd have to put so many plants in your house that the interior would look like one of those rainforest exhibits at the natural history museum. A couple of houseplants on the windowsill won't even move the needle on CO2 levels in a house occupied by a family.

source?

Don't need a source, it's simple math.

For a plant to absorb 1KG of CO2, it needs to increase in weight by at least ~1Kg.

An average human exhales ~1KG of CO2 a day.

Unless your house plants are gaining half a ton of mass a year, they aren't meaningfully offsetting your CO2 exhilation.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#405

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

nunodonato wrote: post #399
chongli wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd have to put so many plants in your house that the interior would look like one of those rainforest exhibits at the natural history museum. A couple of houseplants on the windowsill won't even move the needle on CO2 levels in a house occupied by a family.

source?

Why ask something that's trivial to google yourself? There are numerous good ones, it's a well-known and noncontroversial topic.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#406

Post by alkonaut »

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.

Great insulation and hermetically sealed homes increases the needs for good ventilation. You can't just build a super insulated home without great ventilation. And obviously for energy efficiency you need heat exchangers between in/out air (Alternatively as a slightly cheaper and easier to retrofit option, a heat recovery in your heating system such as an exhaust air heat pump). Maintaining good humidity in any weather also isn't very difficult.

I agree subsidizing new homes doesn't seem necessary. This is simple to enforce in building codes. Defined efficiency limits for construction and building components (e.g. requiring triple glazing and 12in insulation in all walls) would be trivial to mandate and it's as reasonable in Florida as it is in Maine.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#407

Post by vetinari »

brabel wrote: post #377
rypskar wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solar is more effective in low temperatures than in high temperatures. Also northwest US is max around 49 degrees north, which is around Paris in Europe and it is normal to have solar much farther north in Europe

Solar panels are extremely popular in Stockholm, 59 degrees North and less than 1,000 km from the Artic Circle. During winter, they produce very little electricity, admitedly... but they work well in all the other seasons so they still significantly reduce electricity consumption.

Europe is warmer than North America due to the Gulf Stream, so during winter at the same latitude, it takes less energy to heat the house.

Anyway, at such lat, it is not possible to survive winter with only solar; you need additional energy source.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#408

Post by vasco »

mrjh wrote: post #382
vasco wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I followed you up to the end when you say cities didn't always have more services than small towns and that life in a city wasn't that bad if you were poor. If I think of industrial era first bigger cities, this doesn't seem true? It was way bigger gap between rich and poor quality of life and I'm pretty sure cities always had more services, that's what makes them cities.

“when you say cities didn't always have more services than small towns and that life in a city wasn't that bad if you were poor” Pretty sure they said the exact opposite of that. “small towns suck because they lack services and big cities suck if you aren't one of the wealthy”

You misread, they were talking about a trend down, which implies it was better before.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#409

Post by pbhjpbhj »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #381
vasco wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I followed you up to the end when you say cities didn't always have more services than small towns and that life in a city wasn't that bad if you were poor. If I think of industrial era first bigger cities, this doesn't seem true? It was way bigger gap between rich and poor quality of life and I'm pretty sure cities always had more services, that's what makes them cities.

I can see why you read it that way, but that's not the point I was trying to make. These days, a lot of small towns don't even have a full-service grocery store and many people who want to live in a small town have to commute a long ways to get basic essential food they need. Historically, they may also not have had a full-service grocery store, but a lot more people lived and/or worked on farms and a lot more food w…

It doesn't negate your point, but here in the UK, in a village of Even in rural areas you can get supermarket home delivery, it costs a few quid for the delivery but is considerably cheaper than car ownership.

Pretty much everyone has cars though.

Re: Zero energy ready homes are coming

#410

Post by pbhjpbhj »

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…

s/sticks/Styx

Fwiw, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx

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