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Table of Contents
Key features of the house
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Passive solar
design. Minimal heating and cooling needed.
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Primary winter heating is via the sun through the south
windows. (Summer sunlight, which is at a higher angle, is
blocked by the eve.)
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Summer temperature control is from the high
thermal mass
of the building, which causes it to approach the average
of the night-time and day-time temperature.
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Supplemental cooling is available by using the crawl
space to further cool nighttime air that enters through
vents and then into the basement and above.
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Photovoltaics on the roof of the house, roof of the barn, and 2
solar trees to generate
approximately 25KW of electricity (24,560 peak watts). Enough
for all our household needs and for charging
our three electric vehicles, and
still be a net supplier of power to the grid. The south
facing roof is large and steeply inclined to enhance PV
efficiency. The solar trees consists of two dual trackers which
track and follow the sun in to directions.
Supplemental heat for the house from in-slab radiant heating
powered by an electric heat-pump (using electric power from
the photovoltaics). This heat-pump is a York E4TS060 Stealth.
Domestic hot water for the house from a second
electric heat-pump (using electric power from
the photovoltaics). This heat-pump is a
Watter$aver
Straw bale construction. Walls consist of stacked straw
bales, covered by wire mesh, and plastered inside and out.
The walls are approximately two feet thick. They provide
excellent insulation (except for the windows). The straw and
plaster adds to the thermal mass of the building, which
holds heat in the winter, and keeps the building cool in the
summer.
Two living roofs over the
one story family room and master room wings. Living roofs are
insulating, pleasant to look at, and superior for rain water
runoff, and the plants grown on the roof convert CO2 into O2.
A basement under half of the house, and a crawl space under
the rest that can provide cool air to the first floor in the
summer, as well as providing a wine cellar and computer room.
A two-story library for our books.
Four bedrooms and a dog room.
Energy Data
- The solar PV system generates over 40MWh per year. Taking
out usage for the property and our 3 electric vehicles, we
have a surplus of 14 MWh/yr.
- The pre-solar Energy Usage Intensity (kBtu/sf*yr) is
6.8 EUI (or 7.8 EUI if I host EV parties). To reference this
number, the average today is around 38 kBtu/sf*yr.
- Poster made for the 2030 Challenge Conference
House Tours
If you visited us, thank you for considering green building. I
have tried to remember most of the information requests and
created links to them in links, references,
etc. below.
Articles About our Home
Architect, Contractor
Architect
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Dan Smith & Associates
1107 Virginia Street
Berkeley, CA 94702
Tel: (510)526-1935
Fax: (510)526-1961
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General Contractor
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Vickerman Construction
Tel: (650)722-0485
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Deconstruction
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Whole House Building & Salvage
1955 Pulgas Road
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
Tel: (650)328-8731
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Photovoltaics, Radiant heating
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Sun Light and Power
1035 Folger Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94710
Tel: (510)845-2997
Fax: (510)845-1133
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Living Roofs
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Randy Reeser
Master Craft Waterproofing & Sealants
2168 Grape Leaf Lane
Livermore, CA 94550
Tel: (408)640-5829
Fax: (925)960-0008
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Construction, etc. Photos
2002.04.02
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One of our Battery Electric Vehicles
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2004.04.16
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Deconstruction of old house
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2004.04.24
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Slab foundation of old house
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2004.07.08
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Basement slab rebar with radiant heat tubes being laid
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2004.08.17
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Rebar in basement walls
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2004.09.19
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Basement and crawl space before backfill
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2004.11.12
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Framing progress with recycled lumber roof joists in foreground
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2004.11.30
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Reused lumber roof joists being framed
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2005.01.12
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Family room living roof framing
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2005.01.27
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Framing of Master bedroom straw bale walls
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2005.02.16
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Electrical and structured wiring in Living room South wall
prior to straw bales
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2005.02.16
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Adding gravel to Master bedroom North bale wall
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2005.02.23
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Part of the straw bale delivery
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2005.02.23
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Family room SE corner before bales
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2005.02.24
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Installing a first row of bales
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2005.03.03
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Installing the Barn PV
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2005.03.07
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Exterior straw bale wall before wire mesh
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2005.03.08
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Straw bales in Study corner before wire mesh
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2005.03.23
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Master bedroom straw bale wall before plaster
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2005.04.01
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Lath and paper over non-bale wall before plaster
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2005.04.06
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Exterior bale wall prior to plaster
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2005.04.14
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Cotton Batt insulation in Basement bonus room ceiling
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2005.04.17
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Cellulose insulation in family room ceiling
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2005.05.15
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Radiant heat tubes on first floor before slab poured
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2005.05.20
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First floor slab poured
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2005.07.30
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Base and scratch coats of plaster
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2005.08.11
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Bonding a Uni-Solar laminate to a roof panel
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2005.08.12
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First few standing seam metal roof panels in place
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2005.08.24
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South roof and PV more than half set
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2005.09.02
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Radiant tubes in warm board on second floor
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2005.10.13
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First floor limestone tiling started
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2005.11.11
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Crawl space air-source heat pump for radiant floor heating
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2005.11.18
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Hardwood flooring being installed on second floor
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2006.02.02
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With interior plaster and trim it starts to look OK
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2006.07.22
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Beginning to look like a house
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2006.08.09
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PV installed on flat portion of roof
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Links, references, etc.
- My Architecture and Building bookmarks
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Photovoltaic suppliers (solar cells, PV)
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Photovoltaic installers
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Living roofs
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Magazines
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Books
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Electric Vehicles
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Pure Electrics
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Plug-In Hybrids
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Miscellaneous
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