Hillside Residence
Net-Zero Ready House in Northern Vermont
General Process
This house was designed in conduction with Marc Rosenbaum's NESEA Masters course on Net Zero Homes. After visiting and documenting the site, the architect and owners developed a detailed list of wishes and needs. Design was an iterative process, with multiple drawings submitted to the owners for review. Based on the best scheme, one of the owners built a model for final review. The construction manager joined the team during the design process to provide estimates.
Design for Adaptability: The study/guest room on the first floor level is large enough serve as a full bedroom should someone find it difficult to negotiate stairs. There is an adjacent closet and bathroom that, with the closing of a sliding door, can become a bedroom suite.
Software Tools
Software Tools: PowerCadd was the drafting program. SketchUp was used to create preliminary renderings.
General modeling information: Energy use was modeled using the spreadsheets provided in Marc Rosenbaum's Zero Energy Homes Masters course.
Lessons Learned
Outcome of project goals: Simplifying the overall design of the house made it possible to meet the owners' budget goal. Based on comments from the owners and my own repeated visits to the house, orienting the house along the slope and toward the view (long axis northwest/southeast instead of
Discrepancies: So far, the project has fallen short of the net zero energy goal. One reason for this may be due to the first/second floor heat pump. The eMonitor showed that it was short-cycling (something not possible to determine from the utility invoices). A review of the literature yielded the recommendation that we install a remote thermostat; this was specified but not installed by the builder. During the installation we found that the line sets for both heat pumps had not been properly sealed where they penetrate the exterior wall. As a result, dead mice and wasp nests were found in the heat pump. We also discovered a refrigerant leak. And the unit had never been cleaned at the end of construction. Our hope is that this unit, a key element in the heating system, will perform significantly better this coming winter. Already, the owners have noticed an improvement.
We will continue to monitor and refine performance.
General Process
This house was designed in conduction with Marc Rosenbaum's NESEA Masters course on Net Zero Homes. After visiting and documenting the site, the architect and owners developed a detailed list of wishes and needs. Design was an iterative process, with multiple drawings submitted to the owners for review. Based on the best scheme, one of the owners built a model for final review. The construction manager joined the team during the design process to provide estimates.
The study/guest room on the first floor level is large enough serve as a full bedroom should someone find it difficult to negotiate stairs. There is an adjacent closet and bathroom that, with the closing of a sliding door, can become a bedroom suite.
Software Tools
PowerCadd was the drafting program. SketchUp was used to create preliminary renderings.
Energy use was modeled using the spreadsheets provided in Marc Rosenbaum's Zero Energy Homes Masters course.
Lessons Learned
Simplifying the overall design of the house made it possible to meet the owners' budget goal. Based on comments from the owners and my own repeated visits to the house, orienting the house along the slope and toward the view (long axis northwest/southeast instead of
So far, the project has fallen short of the net zero energy goal. One reason for this may be due to the first/second floor heat pump. The eMonitor showed that it was short-cycling (something not possible to determine from the utility invoices). A review of the literature yielded the recommendation that we install a remote thermostat; this was specified but not installed by the builder. During the installation we found that the line sets for both heat pumps had not been properly sealed where they penetrate the exterior wall. As a result, dead mice and wasp nests were found in the heat pump. We also discovered a refrigerant leak. And the unit had never been cleaned at the end of construction. Our hope is that this unit, a key element in the heating system, will perform significantly better this coming winter. Already, the owners have noticed an improvement.
We will continue to monitor and refine performance.