For more than a century, mankind has been populating the Earth and using Earth's natural resources at a rate that is not sustainable. Over the last thirty years or so, we have developed reasonable means and methods to reduce our impact on the Earth, and allow the human habitation of our Earth to continue indefinitely.
Recently, large increases in the price of oil, and general awareness of issues such as Climate Change have given impetus for people to voluntarily take the steps needed to live in a more sustainable way. Some of the needed changes are being legislated by Governments, such as requiring higher fuel economy from our motor vehicles, or replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent or LED bulbs. Other needed changes are not quite so simple, however.
The homes we live in are typically built individually, out of thousands of different parts and assemblies. While most parts are only initially designed to work within their own assembly, each must come together to become a functioning part of the whole. The home construction industry has become very good at assembling homes out of all these parts, using dozens of specialized workers to assemble each home. Despite occasional news to the contrary, the homes built today are of higher quality, and are built faster, and at lower cost relative to other assembled products available in the marketplace, when the cost of raw land and government regulation are removed from the equation. What the home building industry needs now is to begin looking at all these parts and assemblies from a larger perspective.
That is where Green Building comes into play. To build Green, one must take what is called the Whole House Approach; each system or assembly is recognized as being dependent upon each other system and assembly to achieve a more energy efficient, comfortable, and healthy home, while leaving a smaller footprint on the surrounding environment.
To build new homes that use less energy and resources during their lifespan than older homes is an admirable goal. However, as long as our population as a species continues to grow, we will continue to use up more and more resources, with less and less space from which to draw those resources. This is where the true Zero-Energy home comes in; The true Zero-Energy home is designed to put as much energy back into the environment as is used to construct, maintain, and live in the home. Until recently, such homes were far from what the average homebuyer wanted to live in. They often were of strange design, oddly shaped, and requiring special knowledge or skills to operate them.
Today's Zero-Energy homes look just like every other home on the block. They are assembled of products readily available in the marketplace, by many of the same suppliers and sub-contractors used for other mainstream homes. There are two major differences:
- The design of the home is critical. The shell must be extremely well insulated, and extremely tightly constructed. The home must be designed to use as little energy as possible to reduce the requirement to create energy. Passive solar energy, and natural ventilation must be used as much as the location would allow. Finally, the home must be extremely durable, to limit the long-term maintenance requirements.
- Energy production systems must be used in, on or around the home. Photovoltaic solar panels are now a cost-effective means of producing electricity. Solar hot water heaters are also effective and reasonably priced. And residential windmills are excellent sources of reliable power, when there is a suitable place to put one.
Eventually, much of our commercially available energy may come from sustainable sources. This would allow us to consider not using energy-generating devices on our homes. Until then, however, we continue to have an enormous requirement for energy, in nearly every facet of our lives. At the very least, we must build every home to use the smallest amount of energy it reasonably can, while supporting the kind of lifestyle to which we have become accustomed.
The United States Internal Revenue Service, under Section 1332, Credit for Construction of New Energy Efficient Homes of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, has defined an Energy Efficient home as a home that uses only one half of the energy of a code-built home. The builder of these homes is currently offered a Tax Credit of $2,000.00 per home. Homes built to the plans available from Zero-EnergyPlans.com all qualify as Energy Efficient homes under this definition, even without any of the power generating equipment installed.
Depending on your location, affordable energy-generation equipment is available that can render any of these plans completely free of energy bills, for the lifespan of the home. This is what makes a True Zero-Energy home. These homes are usually "on the grid", allowing the local Power Company to act as a storage vehicle for excess power generated, and providing more power when it cannot be produced by the home. "Off the grid" options are also available, though they usually cost a bit more, due to the cost of purchasing and maintaining a large battery bank.
When the cost of energy-generation is considered as just another cost of the home, the return on investment is very good. As everyone else's energy bill continues to rise, the owner of the True Zero-Energy home will continue to enjoy the benefits of producing his own energy. These homes will continue to provide clean energy, without polluting the environment or contributing to climate change. That is a very good investment indeed!
