Our home as it was purchased in 2005

Back in 2005 my wife and I purchased this ranch with a walk out basement.  It is/was your typical 1960′s stick built home.  Very low levels of insulation, single pane aluminum windows, with an unfinished basement and a huge backyard for the area, with lots of old growth trees.  The view out of the dinning room window was the selling point.  Some other nice amenities is that it is in a developed neighborhood with schools that are within walking distance, grocery within a mile.  The town also has a very active year round farmers market.  Plus the home was the mid point between both of our jobs at that time and is relatively close to a bus route.

The back of our home as it was purchased in 2005

However during the home inspection we found some troubling things.  There was little to no insulation in the attic, the basement walls were uninsulated.  And what makes that even worse is the fact that half of the house foundation is above ground.  Not to mention the aging heating and cooling equipment.  So we looked at this house as a blank slate, giving us the opportunity to not only renovate the home to fit our needs, but to do everything in an environmentally friendly way and to do it within our limited budget.

So this is where “Symbiotic Home” originally began.  A website to help educate others on what can be done to green their existing home.  Now with a good portion of the projects done, I will be developing this new series of posts that will backtrack and document each of the projects that we have tackled, and will even discuss future projects that we would like to accomplish.  Giving you a glimpse of what we have been doing, how we have been doing it, and why as we green this energy pig.

So follow my home renovations as I walk the walk and show that green/sustainable construction can happen on the typical working families budget and I look forward to the discussions that this may create.

-Josh

Now the energy inspectors job is similar to a  thermal bypass inspection that energy raters do for new home construction when the builder is seeking an energy star rating.  However the biggest difference is the inspector has the authority to make the contractor fix any mistakes.  Therefore, it would be great to see these inspectors start to pop up more throughout the country.

A New Enforcer in Buildings, the Energy Inspector

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: July 17, 2009

Residential Energy Codes

AUSTIN, Tex. — Peering behind a bathtub in a newly built house, an inspector, John Umphress, spotted a big gap in the wall insulation. “Somebody took a lunch break!” he complained to the builder, who sheepishly agreed to patch the hole.

With the fix, the house, already a model of energy efficiency, will use even less energy and save its residents money — for decades.

But that small catch would not have been made in many American towns. Mr. Umphress is a particular kind of inspector, an energy auditor, and Austin, with one of the toughest building codes in the country, requires an energy inspection before a building can be occupied.

Climate scientists and architects say that no single policy change could do more to save energy over the long run — and reduce the nation’s contribution to global warming — than building codes that make saving energy the law.

Since the energy crises of the 1970s, the United States has known it has an energy problem. Yet today, the energy requirements in building codes remain weak across half the country, and at least seven states have virtually no rules. That means that in many places, particularly the nation’s heartland, almost every new home, store and factory that goes up locks the country into unnecessary energy use for years to come.

The problem is not just construction defects like the one Mr. Umphress caught, though those are plentiful. In many places, builders are still using too little insulation. Citing cost, they have not adopted the most energy-saving water heaters, roofing materials or window panes.

Continue reading the article at The New York Times

Boston’s Greenest Houses

Posted by Adam Ragusea, Associate Producer, Monday, February 23rd, 2009

There’s particular interest in green housing in our city, but also particular challenges. Harsh New England winters drive up heating bills, and our beloved antique housing stock is hardly energy efficient. With federal stimulus dollars possibly going to retrofit all Massachusetts houses with “smart” energy meters, what are YOU doing to keep your home’s energy use in check?

Peter Thomson, environment editor for PRI’s The World, hosts our live web chat.

Listen to the entire show if the embedded link does not work at wbur.org – Radio Boston

The tax credit has been raised from 10% to 30%.

The tax credits that were for a specific dollar amount have been converted to 30% of the cost.

The maximum credit has been raised from $500 to $1500, although improvements such as geothermal heat pumps, solar water heaters, and solar panels are not subject to the $1,500 maximum.

Visit Energy Star’s website for further explanation of the new Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency.

The report, released this week by the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, found that a 50 percent energy improvement beyond federal standards is technically impossible. A 30 percent target is achievable, but only by adding a million-dollar solar system that could take up to 100 years to pay for itself.

Experts say it is one of the first efforts they have seen to question whether the green building’s economic foundation is as solid as advocates claim.

Read the entire article here.

However since it’s release two organizations have stood up against this claim and have argued that this study was generated to discredit organizations that have been pushing for more energy efficient commercial buildings while directly benefiting Real Estate Developers that turn over their building stock within a short amount of time once the project is complete, therefore never truly experiencing the payback for energy efficiency.

Architecture 2030 had this to say in their response to NAIOP:

It is clear from a simple analysis of the study that NAIOP commissioned a building energy efficiency analysis to support predetermined results. They contracted with ConSol, an energy-modeling firm, and asked them to analyze five (yes, only five) efficiency measures for an imaginary, square-shaped, four-story office building with completely sealed windows and an equal amount of un-shaded glass on all four sides of the building. In other words, analyze an energy Hog.

Read the full article here.

BetterBricks took a more personal approach their response:

Those who have been designing, building and promoting high performance buildings for a long time are finding the study very difficult to swallow. But let’s all use it as a learning opportunity. Energy efficiency advocates now can see where the commercial real estate mainstream is in their thinking and efficiency experts can take this opportunity to inform NAIOP and others that these buildings are being achieved today – and they are financially feasible.

Read the full article here.

As a professional in the building industry, I can also speak to experience and agree with John Jennings from BetterBricks, that meeting these energy efficiency targets are financially feasible and can be done with standard off the shelf products.  My latest commercial project that is currently under construction is designed to exceed today’s energy efficiency standard by 31%.  Even my latest residential project is designed to be 45% more energy efficient by today’s standards.  So I ask you to read the articles and determine who you think the credible source is.

-Josh

Now that the stimulus bill has passed and the word about tax credits and weatherizing incentives is out, you can bet that the tin men selling “insulating” siding and new “energy efficient” vinyl windows will be out in force to sell you stuff that “pays for itself in three years” and that “the government will pay most of the cost anyways”. Except these are two of the least cost-effective measures that you can take, and can significantly decrease the value of a house if they destroy its character and charm.

To view full article, click here.

In response to our post Crossway Zero Carbon Home Brings Back the Timbrel Vault, commenter rayn wrote: “I don’t see how this house could be anywhere near zero carbon even if all the bricks were sun baked. The windows had to be created in a furnace somewhere.”

He has a point. “Zero Carbon Home” is a term with specific meaning in the UK:

A zero carbon home is one that generates as much power as it uses over the course of a year and therefore has net zero carbon dioxide emissions.

To view full article, click here.

What is amazing about our rating is that we have more than doubled the size of the home, but we have reduced the projected energy bills by half in comparison to the existing cottage.  So the client is going to save approximately $1,000 a year in utility costs by renovating the little shack.  So I am now challenged to make some modifications that can bring our rating down to a 52 while cutting some cost.

-Josh

So after almost two weeks of working on developing a few design schemes for the client to review, I sit here and wait. Wondering what scheme are they going to choose, how they want to alter them, or blend schemes together, etc. Plus there are things about each scheme that can make the project very exciting, such as taking advantage of the views, daylighting and utilizing prevailing winds for natural ventilation.

I just can’t wait to start with the next step of the process and refine the design to allow the cottage to work the way they want the house to function both today and as the family grows and changes.

-Josh