On 12/2/12 2:11 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 02 Dec 2012 13:10:17 -0500, ESAD wrote:

On 12/2/12 12:59 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 1 Dec 2012 12:43:53 -0500, iBoaterer wrote:

http://tinyurl.com/crdb3z9

If you really think this will be a net zero home you are delusional.
That tiny solar array won't even run the A/C for a 4500 sq/ft house.

You can pay a lot of electric bills for the half million extra this
house costs over the garden variety megabuck Rutenburg house.


I like the fishpond in the courtyard.

Did you ever get put to National Geographic in Gathersburg/Germantown?

The pond there is part of their energy management system.
That is why it seldom if ever freezes. Usually there is steam coming
off of it. The building generates far more heat than it uses, just
from the electrical load and the latent heat of a couple thousand
employees.
None of this helps much in the summer tho. If they dumped the HVAC
heat in that pond, they would boil all the water out.
That is the problem with this Rutenburg house. The HVAC load, 24/7 is
going to be more than the small collector array in that picture will
handle, even with the LG mini split system. They will need to book a
lot of excess power in the day to make up for the night.

Usually the kind of people who buy a Rutenburg house will be running
the A/C with the sliders open anyway, maybe even burning that
"ethanol" fireplace. (like ethanol was in any way ecologically or
financially beneficial)



I like the possibilities of wind and photovoltaic where technology and
climate conditions warrant. The house under question looks to me as if
weekly visits from various technicians and repairmen will be necessary.

We went with 6" wall studs to accommodate extra insulation in the walls
and extra batts in the attic for a reasonable increase in construction
price. Every so often we are "invited" to get a proposal from a
contractor installing buried pipe heat pump heat exchangers, but the
cost is pretty high and I wonder about the service calls when leaks develop.

Our local energy co-op has all sorts of devices attached here to monitor
and control electric use, especially in the summer. So far I've not
noticed them having any impact on the comfort levels inside.