Winter Park’s First Net-Zero Energy Home Under Construction
There’s excitement building on Pine Avenue in Winter Park. Excitement, because the area’s first Net Zero Energy home is under construction. The Home, 4,565 square feet under air, but offering a staggering 8,000 square feet of overall living space, is designed to not only fit in beautifully to the Winter Park neighborhood, but also to offer its owner a customized living space, all while drawing zero net energy from the City’s grid. Read More
Getting to Net-Zero Energy
Originally Published in the Winter Park Home Magazine: Issue 4, 2011
I recently started construction on a new home behind the YMCA on Pine Avenue in Winter Park. My client desires a home that re-uses numerous building materials, minimizes the use of drywall and wood, maximizes water and energy efficiency, and results in net-zero energy consumption. Our primary goal is to focus on energy conservation and then offset the electric consumption through the use of photovoltaic (PV) panels. In this article, I will summarize some of the building techniques we implemented to get to net-zero energy.
Swimming Pools and Energy Efficient Pool Pumps
Originally Published in the Winter Park Home Magazine: Issue 3, 2011
Florida has a population of almost 19 million people and I’ve heard that there are over 1.2 million pools in the state. This means that there is a pool for every fifteen people! This statistic opened my eyes to an often overlooked energy consumer of the home that has a large impact on the utility bill. Average sized pools in our area typically cost between $50 and $110 per month in electricity to operate, but several highly efficient pool pumps are readily available that can cut electricity costs by 50%-90%. This translates into hundreds of dollars in savings each year.
Permeable and Pervious Paving
Originally Published in the Winter Park Home Magazine: Issue 2, 2011
Winter Park has very strict rules regulating the amount of your lot that can be impervious – or the area of surfaces that do not allow water to percolate through them. Your house, driveway, walkway, sidewalk, and patios are examples of typical impervious surfaces. Among others, these rules are in place to help reduce flooding and protect water quality in our lakes and aquifer. The more water that is allowed to percolate into your own yard/soils, the less there is to run off into the streets and ultimately into our local lakes. Learning about some available permeable products will help you comply with the City regulations when you want to enlarge your homes or extend your patio or driveway and also help improve our local environment.
Efficiency in the home: There’s an App for that!
Originally Published in the Winter Park Home Magazine: Issue 1, 2011
You might be overwhelmed with new Apps for your phone these days, but I bet you have found some that help you to run your business more smoothly or organize your life a little better There are now many applications that are related to control of features in your home that also offer opportunities for reducing your environmental footprint Some promote ways to save energy, while others help to improve performance and service of major appliances The new Apps are just scratching the surface of home automation potential and running our homes more efficiently – on their own
Ventilated vs. Unventilated Attic Spaces
Originally Published in the Winter Park Home Magazine: Issue 3, 2010
Which is more energy efficient and why?
Since the latter half of the 1900’s, it was standard practice to build a home with ventilated attic spaces. Unfortunately, in Winter Park’s hot and humid climate, this building technique doesn’t make sense. To understand why, we must understand the origins of the ventilated attic before exploring the technique that is more appropriate for our climate in Winter Park.
Renewable Energy
Originally Published in the Winter Park Home Magazine: Issue 2, 2010
My focus in green building has always been to look at the costs and benefits of different technologies to help make educated decisions in the building process. Sometimes, clients want to go above and beyond in their effort to minimize their energy consumption and overall environmental impact. Renewable energy provides an avenue for all clients to help achieve their sustainability goals. Some clients are driven to achieve a net-zero energy home – one that generates as much energy as it consumes, while others offset their electricity consumption by purchasing renewable energy credits. These two techniques vary significantly and offer every Winter Park resident the opportunity to invest in renewable energy a sustainable lifestyle.
