Make your House an Energy Sipper

With enough of the right technology any house can be close to zero net energy.  Here is the story of  "Marc Porat, an IT-turned-clean-tech entrepreneur, ... a showcase of the latest technologies that can be used to ratchet down the amount of energy that homes consume ... wanted to walk the talk with his own home, a historic 1936 home ...".

"A net zero energy house produces as much energy as it consumes over the course of a year. ... by putting in dense-pack cellulose wall insulation ... changing the heating and air conditioning system to an air-to-water heat pump, improving the ventilation and lighting systems and adding windows that insulate better, his team was able to reduce the amount of energy the home uses by 62%. Adding solar panels to the roof creates electricity to offset the energy consumed by the home. ... the house is completely powered by electricity.

" .. the $100,000 he spent ... is five or six times what people should be spending. ... Commercial and residential buildings together consume about 39% of the energy we use in the U.S., and the materials used in such buildings account for another 12% of total energy consumption, ... built environment is the key to whacking our energy consumption in half ...".

"... some 400 other home energy retrofitters in the U.S. focus on improving energy efficiency in residential dwellings .... "This is lower than the low-hanging fruit," says Sustainable Spaces co-founder Matt Golden. "The fruit is all over the floor. And the work is just beginning.""






Via: Forbes.com LINK