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Posted by Barry on Tuesday, 29 July 2008, at 8:51 a.m.

Had a chance to visit Brian (Foam-Man's) site in Utah. It is my second visit now and was both encouraged and saddened.

While he is currently being forced to sell the building in an unfinished state (cabinetry, etc), the major functional components to provide complete HVAC independence as well as meet the 'off-the-grid' power requirements have been achieved. I am encouraged because what I saw was a working example that low energy is achievable without compromises in building form, use, or (based on my limited knowledge of the financial detail) cost.

At the same time, I am saddened that so much of the low energy/green building focus is on single system solutions that at best only lower energy use (still a good thing however) but require major investment with minimal (long-term) payback. I suspect that 2 things drive this.

First, the uncertainty and unwillingness to totally let go of the traditional building/energy technologies; i.e. because much of this is still 'experimental', there is a tendency to try and build these into projects as backups or additions to traditional approaches.

Second, due mostly to the public knowledge of this information and use of existing technology in most of the systems, there is not enough opportunity for product development to allow manufacturers to build/patent/market 'one-size-fits-all' solutions; so they continue to build and push traditional systems that provide them with greater profit margins.

At least with new construction, Brian's place is actually an extreme example of this reaching a zero energy target with little no/compromises. What I am realizing is that it is more then simply a task to pick the correctly sized GSHP (or inclusion of any single system), it requires complete design analysis.

This of course was a new construction project, and retrofitting all the principles used with an existing home or building will have limits that are imposed by elements of the building itself. Likewise, different areas of the country will have different environmental factors that define objectives and necessitate different solution options. However, I am hopeful that more people(myself included) are encouraged to make the effort to 'experiment' and share their experiences so that we all can benefit.

-b

btw - I encouraged Brian to document his efforts and the principles behind them. I suspect that if someone can find the right mix of data and specifications backed by tangible examples (that don't sacrifice current style preferences) to publish a low-energy construction 'bible', that there will be an increase of its use.

My best to Brian - I continue to watch for your postings and comments (and definitely your book)!!!!

Responses

• Re: ZEH - [Designer Showcase] - Robert Gammon -- 29 July 2008, at 11:28 a.m.

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