Project Description

This Net Zero Energy Home (ZEH) is the second BPC Green Builders home for this couple who are downsizing from a larger near Net Zero Energy home built for them by BPC Green Builders in 2014. 

This new home is the winner of the US Department of Energy Housing Innovation Award for a custom home. With the home’s solar panels, this home goes beyond Net Zero Energy and is, in fact, a Positive Energy Home as it produces more clean energy than it uses (including the energy they use to recharge the homeowner’s electric vehicle). The surplus energy is fed back into the electric grid. The home has three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms and is located on an in-town lot in Trumbull, Connecticut. It is close to parks with walking and biking trails, schools, and shopping nearby.

 

Type: New Construction, Custom Green Home

Special Features:

  • Open plan layout on the main floor with gourmet center island kitchen
  • Large windows at living rooms southern exposure capture solar gain
  • Vaulted red cedar plank ceiling, wood beams, and white oak flooring throughout 1st floor
  • Decorative concrete floors at walkout finished basement level
  • Custom heavy timber staircase with glass railings
  • Extensive landscaping using ledge stone recovered from ledge removal

Green Building Approaches:

  • 14 kW roof-mounted photovoltaic solar array that provides 100% of the homes power needs including daily charging for homeowner’s electric vehicle
  • Foundation slab insulated with 6” of EPS rigid foam board and 4” at edges
  • Foundation walls insulated with 2” of 2lb SPF (continuous) plus 3-1/2” dense-pack cellulose
  • Exterior walls are 2×8’s at 16” spacing, insulated with dense-pack cellulose and wrapped with 3” of continuous rigid mineral wool board
  • 14” roof rafters are filled with dense-pack cellulose and covered with 4-1/2” SIP (structural insulated panel) polyurethane closed-cell foam insulation panels helping create large roof overhangs
  • Acrylic sheathing tapes used at all sheathing intersections to achieve exceptional airtightness.
  • Orientation/design optimizes passive wintertime solar energy gains while limiting summertime gains
  • German triple-glazed aluminum-clad doors and tilt/turn windows with u-values of 0.16 (roughly R-6)
  • Ducted air-source heat pump system heats and cools the entire house
  • High-efficiency CO2 based split heat pump domestic hot water heater provides domestic hot water
  • European independent ducted ventilation system with energy recovery
  • 100% LED lighting throughout
  • Low-flow water fixtures throughout