I appreciate the detailed explanation of how this might be accomplished. I'm also a bit relieved to know my 1200 square foot house MIGHT fit into the grand scheme of things. I'm always left wondering what people consider a reasonable sized home. Sort of like discussions about salary... usually vague terms. Here, biodiversivist clearly presents several examples of homes and demonstrates that reducing our footprint does not mean we have to move into tiny insulated huts and term the thermostat down to 50 F.

Federal or state subsidies for this sort of innovation -- though I think biodiversivist indicates it can all be done with existing technology -- would be a REAL economic stimulus package, support local economies, and great good jobs.

I recently learned we might be able to add a photovoltaic system to our existing house for about $10,000. I still have to look into whether it would be possible to use solar energy to heat the house... I doubt it... it is about  5 F right now. I hope biodiversivist futher develops the pre-fab optimize home, but would look forward to suggestions regarding how we might upgrade existing homes.

Regarding McMansions, I heard an economists saying that it will become very difficult to sell them when current owners retire. Young folks just don't have the income to buy such monstrosities and, having smaller families, really don't need them. Perhaps McMansions will eventually be divided into multi-family housing. Biodiversivist's house should retain its value, especially as energy prices rise, much longer than a McMansion.

Regarding "arms races", perhaps there is a way to employ social marketing to create a new "arms race" in which people compete for the right to brag about the lowest utility bill, maintenance costs for their home, or free time available to spend with their families.

Thanks.

...now all we need are BioD-type electric bikey things that fit a family of four, and a good computer model of the country with these houses, and I bet we could model a sustainable, close-to-zero-emission economy.

I think 1200 sq feet should be adequate for even a family of four (although my wife might disagree) -- I believe that was the average (or median?) size of a house in 1970 .

One question though: can you have a similar design for an apartment building?  My thought is that, since you have much less roof space per person, an apartment building is much more efficient for heating and cooling -- plus you could have some economies of scale in terms of storage.

PVC is a dangerous product and should be phased out of homes.  It is debatable whether or not it has its place in society at all.  It is dangerous to manufacture since it is known to cause angiosarcoma in PVC plant workers.  It is dangerous to have in a home since in the event of a housefire, it can combust and create the unfathomably deadly chemical dioxin.  PVC is extremely hard to recycle and does not break down.  It will fill landfills and burden any society with cancers and birth defects for thousands of years.

I am shocked that an alternative housing concept would employ this dangerous material.

Hey Quinn,

Slow down there, big fella!

In this article and subsequent comments, PVC is referring to photo-voltaic cells and not the poly(vinyl chloride) of which you are against.

Photo-voltaic cells convert sunlight into electrical current and are sometimes called solar cells or solar panels. I assume that the reason these posters decided to use the term PVC is to distinguish the solar cells used to make electricity from those used to heat water or air.

Hope this helps / makes some sense.

PVC changed to PV.

Great post.

grist.org

Tell it bio-d.  This is a great topic with a recession looming that will make land prices go down, but the income to pay the mortgage and the mortgage itself harder to come by.

Reduce home power needs to 200 watts, with geo heat exchange and heat pump, and solar heat and conservation.  Smaller home, more efficient appliances and devices will do that.

Maximize solar input with a large solar facing roof, incorporate a small wind system, and biogas digestor as backup.  Design it to average 400 watts, with excess solar and wind electricity going back into the grid.  That gives enough kwh to charge a plugin hybrid too.

By adjusting home size, earth sheltering, and roof size, this should be feasible just about anywhere.  

Prefab too, that reduces cost.  But an onsite custom built home using fiber cement with insulation built in might be cheap enough too.  This allows for extensive earth berming because of the cement walls.

A prefab modular fiber cement home, slid off a trailer into the carefully prepared excavation.  That has to be the best deal.

A far less expensive home means a much smaller amount of income goes to pay interest.  Adding on later, if necessary is preferable.  Buy another prefab section if/when more family members come along.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

Have you looked into geo heat exchange to replace that propane use John?  With your roof area, a heat pump could be powered by solar PV to do the job.

It would eliminate most of the rest of your energy consumption.  At 5000 per year savings the payback period would be acceptable.  Especially with oil set to go higher and higher.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

I have to agree with BioD on the 4,000 s.f. exurban white elephant. A few things right, and so much just way wrong. To paraphrase Mies: less is more green.

I'm a little dismayed too though by the diagram in the OP which appears to show the whole south elevation of the model homelet taken up by solar collectors with nary a sunny window to curl up in on a bright winter day. Small is good, no sunny window spots is baaad!

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

But there is a solution for the low R factor windows that plague nearly every passive solar home.  And add concentrating solar PV, and it will retrofit right onto John's home.

And it will insulate the windows when the sun is not shining.  With this you woulsd not need roof mounted PV either, although they would be great on this home.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog