The Net-Zero Energy Now House is Really Boring.
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 09.11.08
I mean, really. Except for the metal roof, the Now House looks just like every other sixty year old postwar veteran's house on the street in suburban Toronto. Everybody knows that a zero-energy house has to look all heliotropy and be covered in green gizmos.
And everybody knows that these old 2x4 houses are not worth renovating. They're sieves, they're heat sinks. As Ruben said in an earlier post: Most old buildings merely slow the wind down. They are abysmally hard to heat, as any reading of period novels will tell you. Even though there are millions of them across North America, everybody knows they are just knockdowns. Net zero energy? Impossible.
And the size? 1350 Square feet! nobody has lived in that since 1960. This has to be replaced or boxtopped (second floor added on) or it is uninhabitable. Everyone knows that a North American house has to be 2500 square feet. I mean, really.
Not.
Not if you are Lorraine Gauthier of Work Worth Doing(on the left with scissors) and you are one of twelve winning teams in Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) EQuilibrium Sustainable Housing Demonstration Initiative, and the only winner that was a renovation.
Not if you are architect David Fujiwara, who tells us that anyone can do most of this in their house, that it can be done incrementally in stages:
1) Insulate it like mad- basement, walls, roof, everything.
2) Seal it tight as a drum.
3) Install new windows (the old ones were not exactly historic)
4) Don't build any more than you need- when you build to this standard it gets expensive. Just by doing all of this you will have gone a long way to cutting your energy costs to the bone; if you want to start adding equipment to go zero energy, it gets really expensive as it gets bigger.
Besides, when they built the house back in the '40s, nobody used the basements for anything but a furnace and laundry. Once it is insulated this well, it becomes warm, habitable space, increasing the usable area dramatically.
Anyone can get to this stage and save a lot of money, but this was a demonstration project with CMHC funding and is supposed to demonstrate how you go net zero energy, meaning that it gives back to the grid as much as it takes. So now the fun begins. Here's the goal:
* Reduce emissions by 5.4 tonnes
* Achieve an annual energy cost of near zero
* Reduce plug load by 59.8%
* Reduce heat loss to achieve EGH rating of 84
* Produce energy on site from renewable resources increasing EGH to 93.7
* Use minimal new resources and produce minimal waste
* Improve indoor air quality
* Be affordable
* Be repeatable
Here's the plan:
And here's the technology, lots of it. Here is a view of the mechanical room, with the solar hot water heat exchanger on the left, mixing and monitoring valves in the middle, and an instant-on hot water heater on the right to make up the slack.
It's all too much for me to cope with so I asked the mechanical contractor, Patrick Scantlebury of Copperhead Mechanical, to explain:
There is also a heat recovery pipe on the drain (seen also on TreeHugger here)
and on the rear, south-facing side of the house, all the green gizmos: solar hot water evacuated tube collectors on the left, photovoltaic panels on the right. Those 60 year old houses had little second floors and nice sloping roofs that lend themself perfectly to such an installation.
What can I say? It's boring. They had to wrap a monster orange ribbon around it just so people could find it for the opening.
But it may just be the best example yet of what we have to do to to get out of this climate and energy crisis. Let's get real about this; demonstration projects are great, new eco-towns are great, but in North America we have a third of a billion people living in existing houses on existing lots and unless we fix that, everything else is just window dressing.
The Now House has a lot of lessons:
-Stop demolishing everything. Any house can be rebuilt this way, there was nothing special here. Our housing stock, particularly all the small, two story stuff in the north, is waiting for this. Read more here about it:
Big Steps in Building: Ban Demolition
Razing Buffalo : Why is This Happening? : TreeHugger
Donovan Rypkema : LEED stands for "Lunatic Environmentalists ...
Take it in steps. You don't have to do everything at once. Seal, then insulate, then think about technology. See our "green your house for winter" series on Planet Green, and more on TreeHugger:
Victorian Houses Can Have A Green Makeover Too
Real-Life Green Kitchen Renovation
Green Chicago Renovation Has it All
And ultimately, this project proves that we don't need a Manhattan project, we don't need a moon shot, that we can take the 40% of our carbon footprint that comes from buildings right out of the equation just by fixing what we've got, the way Lorraine and David did. What is the solution to energy independence and climate change? The Republicans say "Drill, drill, drill!". Thomas Friedman says "Invent, invent, invent!" How about this demonstration of the simplest and best, that anyone in Alaska or Canada gets: "Insulate, Insulate, Insulate!"
Other Equilibrium houses in TreeHugger
Zero-Energy Condo Wins Equilibrium Competition
EQuilibrium Competition: Minto Manotick :
Equilibrium Competition: Montreal Zero
Why do North Americans need so much house when most of it isn't used? Is it because they want to look like they are "rich" when they are really drowning in debt? This materialistic society needs to think for itself and others and start being practical. 1350 sq feet is quite a blessing in other parts of the world.
Well-written article, Lloyd. I'll have to check it out next time I'm home in Toronto.
Agreed with Ken here. We live in 1300sqft (2 adults and one child) and it feels like a mansion compared to our old 2-bed apartment on a single floor.
As for the tech' part - I don't wanna be around when all that crap in the basement needs replacing/upgrading in 10 years. That is a whole lot of silicon to control something very very simple - i.e. flowing water. This could be done a lot more simply without the risk of it going wrong if the circuits get fried.
are you being sarcastic about the house size? what about your slightly more recent post about people living in 100-1000 square feet houses.
My family lives in a 1500 square foot home and we are quite comfortable!
This is the type of project that anyone can take on with a little know how, or help from a friend with a little know how. When I bought my house 5 years ago it was a 1300 sq ft ranch with no insulation at all. For less then $500 I blew a ton of insulation into the walls and attic. It was easy (but very dusty). At the time I wasn't even thinking about green, just my heating bill. It's already paid for itself. I was lucky that the previous owner had replaced most of the windows. I replaced the remaining two a few months ago with my dad's help. It's not hard.
we are a family of 5 in central Texas. We live in a small 3 bedroom house that has 950-1000 sq feet. We are about to move, the kids are older so we need a little more space and we want to buy instead of rent. the house size we're seeking? about 1200 sqft. just enough room that our 10 & 14 year old daughters aren't virtually stacked on top of each other in their small, by any standards, room and a kitchen with enough counter space to actually put cookies on a cookie sheet - currently, there isn't enough counter space to set bowl and pan next to each other. My point is that saying American's need these uselessly huge houses isn't totally accurate - which i think was part of the point. . . anyway, guess i just felt a little offended by ken's comment. . .
i love articles like this because when we own, i want to be as careful as possible. i want to make smart improvements that help to lower both the energy costs of our home as well as my family's footprint. i like learning about things i can do, so, thanks!
I believe this is the best TreeHugger post I have read yet. We need more articles with detailed information on practical, cost-effective solutions that can be impemented incrementably by almost everyone. Thanks!
Thank you.
I have installed Solar Thermal in my 1950's 900 sf brick bungalow with an air handler to existing duct work. We need to convert our existing building stock, not tear down and build new.
ha ha, at first I thought you had gone mad in your opener :)
Living in a smaller home is ideal. you are forced to keep the clutter down and it takes less time to clean. My house is 1500sft and i think that is too big. I miss renting a renovated 1 bed carriage house from my parents.... my husband and I could clean the whole place in 20 mintues!!! The best way to be green is to work with what you got instead of clearing land to build a new place. That is why I am focused on LEED for existing buildings instead of new construction. Canada is rad :)
Thank you for bringing this kind of enlightened and necessary project to your readers' attention. it's inspiring to see how easy it can be to for individuals to make a difference. Kudos to Lorraine Gauthier and the team at Work Worth Doing for their Now House initiative, and best wishes for its replication - first Toronto, then Canada, then...
Always knew David Fujiwara had it in him. Congratulations David. I'm lucky to have a 900 sq.ft. condo in downtown White Rock, BC. But I have always reused stuff. Seldom buy new. At 77+ and a single pensioner I simply have to watch my cost outlay. Way to go, Tree Huggers, I'm for it and them.
Ruth Carrier