Solar Decathlon 2005
It is my belief that a zero energy home is possible. The exact cost of this is yet to be determined, and is reliant on many factors. There are houses in existence today that have achieved zero energy. Currently, I am working on a project with MIT, whose goal is to achieve a zero energy home. http://web.mit.edu/solardecathlon/ This project is part of the Solar Decathlon Competition, to be held in Washington DC this fall 2007. 20 universities from around the world, build and display there project on the mall in DC for 3 weeks. ( open to the public)  All the systems of the building are monitored, then judged on there performance. The 2005 competition gave me insight into the components necessary accomplish a truly Zero Energy Home. The tools to achieve this are available today. many are listed on the technologies page. However technology alone cannot accomplish this. The use of passive solar, in the design is critical to accomplish this.  I am working on a research project, that utilizes a Trombe wall design. This  design was patented in 1881, was largely ignored until the 1960's.  When it was utilized by Felix Trombe whereby giving it it's name. A Trombe wall is basically a thermal mass wall (typically masonry) cover with glass. The thermal mass wall  acts as a storage mechanism.Which can provide 20% of a  buildings heat. The Project is designed to maximize the potential of the Trombe wall design, by utilizing different methods of heat transfer. One of the most exciting prospects is the utilization of phase change materials. Phase change materials increase the heat transfer across materials. While reducing the walls mass. It is my hypothesis that this will increase the percentage of heating a building to 60%.  Stay tuned, for this is a ongoing experiment. Further photos, and reports will be published as available.


Pictures to the right are from the 2005 Solar Decathlon competition.   
Solar Decathlon 2007
As construction manager/supervisor for the MIT Solar Decathlon team, I learned more about zero energy homes than in all of the previous years of research and education. There is no better way to learn than a hands on approach. It was great to see the students who designed different elements of the home put their work to practice. While not all went as planned, the project was a success. We finished on 13th place in the competition, but not because of energy. We scored poorly in things like marketing, Architecture, and communications, not exactly the things MIT is known for. We did produce all of the energy needed for the home, including charging an electric car. For the competition the homes are judged in 10 categories each associated with a point value. Comfort zone, were the home is monitored for temperature and humidity. Energy balance, meaning the home produced as much energy as it consumed. All of the things you would normally do in your home were performed over the course of the week, things like washing clothes, drying clothes, cooking meals, washing dishes, showering, Refrigerator, computer, television, all things you would normally do in your everyday life, were done for the competition. We also charged an electric car, off of the solar energy produced by the solar PV system.

This was my first zero-energy home, but definitely not my last. It is my hope that I will have the opportunity to continue building zero energy homes for my clients for years to come. 
Where do we go from here?

     For me the next obvious step, was to design a Zero-Energy home, which was affordable. Not an easy task!   However, I now know that I can build a 1200 sq/ft   3/bed room home, that supplies all of the energy needed for a cost of $200,000.
       
      To achieve this is no small feat, but rather a complex integration of , methods, materials and design. Many people ask the cost per sq/ft to build such  home? The answer is not a simple one, and is not really based on a sq/ft cost.
    
       The cost to build an energy efficient home, which is the first step to achieving zero energy, is around $125 sq/ft.
           
  However the systems needed to provide the electricity to your home is not totally dependant upon the size of the home itself. This system is more reliant on the number of occupants, appliances, HVAC, and lighting which are used to meet the homes needs. After the home is fully designed for the most efficient use of energy, the electrical demands of the entire home is calculated. It is only at this point in which the size of the PV system can be determined.
          
                    The home mentioned above would require a 6kW system to provide the needed electricity for the home, at a cost of around $36,000 without incentives or tax credits. The new federal tax credit for this system would be, $10,800. Bringing the cost down to a more reasonable estimate of $25,200. State tax credits also applied in many areas as well as grant funding from local utilities.

                 There are other factors which need to be considered as well. Such as,
Does your local power company offer net metering and at what rate?
Do they have grants available to install these systems on your roof? 
Some of these grants along with tax credits can reduce the cost for these systems by as much as 50%. This is the only real way in which this can be achieved affordably.    

         Without these tax incentives and grants the payback for these systems is about 25 years, which is the life expectancy of the system. However this is based on energy costs remaining constant. Which we all know is more than likely to rise as time goes by. Even without the incentives this makes good economical sense for those who can afford it. For more information about the benefits of zero-energy homes click here. Benefits of Green building
Solar decathlon 2009
Boston Architectural College/ Tufts University
Currently serving as advise to Team Boston
Live Curio house
My first Zero Energy Home
MIT solar decathlon project 2007
Old information from 2006