zHome at sunset

I just missed the money shot by a couple minutes, but here is zHome in the last few seconds of sun in 2010.  Best to everyone in the coming year – we can do it!

Here is some video of our roofs – the PV’s will cover them!

Roofs go up – photovoltaic panels go here. from zHome on Vimeo.

One of our homes will be used as a Stewardship Center for educating the public and professionals about sustainable building.  Here is some video of Nick Nied discussing the Stewardship Center shell and the high performance heating system running into it.

Stewardship Center construction update from zHome on Vimeo.

Nick Nied, Ichijo USA, talks about panel installation on zHome from zHome on Vimeo.

This is some video I neglected to add in November – Nick talking about panel installation.

Here is a photo of our purple rainwater pipe.  We are collecting our roof runoff into 1,700 gallon cisterns in each unit.  In addition to the normal blue and red pex tubing for cold and hot water, we have purple pipe which denotes it is non-potable water.  We are plumbing this into the homes, where it will be used for clothes washing and toilet flushing.  Why waste perfectly good water?

Our classes are going great – make sure to come on out and check it out.  We had a great group, about 35 people last Thursday.

Installation of our windows started last week.  Our window selection was quite deliberate.  A couple of considerations intersect – energy efficiency and materials. 

Through our extensive energy modeling effort, we determined that going to triple paned windows was not cost effective, even relative to the power production price based on photovoltaic panels ($8/watt at the time our modeling was done).  Given how minimal our heating loads will be because of our very efficient shell and ground source heating system, the incremental benefit of going to triple paned, better insulated windows was not worth it.  This honestly surprised us, because going into design we had expected we would use triple paned windows.  These Pella Impervia windows are about U=.30, about typical of new construction these days.

Another consideration was the window framing material.  zHome has a no vinyl in the homes specification, for toxicity reasons.  The toxicity of vinyl is something that is debated, and we felt that good alternatives were available so we simply established a specification which prohibited it in the homes.  I think this is a good summary about the pro’s and con’s of vinyl from a green building standpoint.  The truth is that there are cost-effective, quality alternatives currently in the market for most home building products built out of vinyl (storm sewer excepted; I will discuss this later).  Our feeling was that given the debate we would simply take a prudent path. 

Our windows have fiberglass frames.  While more expensive than vinyl, the costs are coming down.  There are a couple of key benefits to the fiberglass windows.  They are quite durable, and as someone who has spent weekends of my last couple of summers slowly restoring my windows, this counts for a lot.  Also, fiberglass is easily repairable, with typical repair kits used for boat repair.  Overall I think we made a good choice.  The Pella windows feel quality and came at a reasonable price.

Gary Wood, Issaquah energy auditor, explains elements of a blower door test

I am very proud to say we have had great response to our fall energy campaign.  We partnered with Puget Sound Energy, their HomePrint program, and six auditors to provide audits at no cost to local residents.  We have signed up 130 residents – not bad considering our initial program was for 50. 

Thanks to PSE for their support of our local outreach effort!  You are a GREAT partner!