At the June 24th SICBA General Membership Dinner, two of the plans on the Zero-EnergyPlans website were awarded Project of the Year honors. The R-1 plan was given the Project of the Year for Residential projects between 2,000 and 2,999 s/f in recognition of it's oustanding energy performance and timeless design. The Comm-1 plan won Project of the Year for Commercial projects for its outstanding use of space, energy efficient design, and how well it fit into the neighborhood architecturally. These two outstanding plans now join our D-1, B-1, and SD-1 plans as Project of the Year Award Winners!
Three new plans have been added to our Web Site on 8/18/08. These include a cute-as-a-button cabin with a generous master bedroom loft, a very economical two-bedroom western style rancher, and a large, view oriented luxury two bedroom, with lots of room for company. These three new plans have already been built and proven, watch for these plans to show up on our site. Most of our plans can be reversed to fit your lot, including these three new offerings. We also have Artic Versions of several of our plans, popular in Alaska and Canada, even in the upper mid-west. They cost very little more to build, and can pay off the additional construction cost very quickly!
Our Chief Designer, Ted L. Clifton recently returned from the NAHB National Green Building Conference in New Orleans, LA. Wow, is Zero-Energy ever hot! Everyone wants to get there, only a few of us have! Advancing the popluarity of Zero-Energy homes is our mission. The bouncing green Zero-EnergyPlans.com balls were a great hit, there are a few left, if you didn't get one. Just a flashy gimmik, we know, but they sure are fun to play with! Scare the heck out of most cats & dogs, too! Call & ask, we'll send one along with your plan set!
Many of our customers from hot climate and mountainous areas have asked about using Crawl Space Foundations with our plans. This will work fine with most of our plans, but you should almost always use a Closed Crawl Space, not a traditional Vented Crawl Space. By using the ZEP Closed Crawl Space Calculator you will be able to calculate the amount of insulation needed to result in a dry, clean crawl space, saving you energy and money. The second section of the calculator helps you estimate the additional cost of creating the Closed Crawl Space, and allows you to estimate the Payback Period! This interesting tool is not designed to calculate the exact dollar amount you will save, as that will change radically from location to location, depending on your specific weather conditions. Relative humidity is a very complex issue, so at best the ZEP Closed Crawl Space Calculator will help you get close to the design values you will need. What we do know for sure is that it has worked for us in Western Washington for almost fifteen years!
On April 3, 2008, Ted L. Clifton was named as a Trustee to the NAHB Commercial Builders Council. This appointment was in honor of his commitment to teaching green building practices for both residential and commercial construction. Ted is looking forward to serving his fellow builders in this capacity. The Commercial Builders Council offers a number of educational seminars at the International Builders Show, as well as at other National Association of Home Builder functions throughout the year. Ted was a co-presenter of a seminar on Green Building for Commercial Buildings at the 2008 International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida in February, hosted by the Commercial Builders Council of the National Association of Home Builders.
On May 15th of 2008, the PV panels were installed on the roof of the Zero-Energy Plans Garage-2, supplying electrical power to the S-1 home. We will be monitoring the electrical production throughout the next year, our models show that the electricity produced should more than offset the electricity used by this home, making it a true Zero-Energy home. Even without the PV panels installed, the S-1 home only used about $79 worth of electricity in it's first full winter month of operation. Note that this is an all-electric house, so this includes heat, hot water, appliance loads, and lighting loads. Very cool! The March and April bills were only $56 and $47. Our current computer model shows that this house will return a several hundred dollar check to the owners each year from the Power Company!
This just in! The S-1 Home just received a HERS Index Rating of 32! This is the lowest rating we have ever even heard of for a full-sized family home! The lower the rating, the more efficient the home. We have also received a five-star Built GreenŽ certification, the first home certified to the five-star level in our area.
Bellingham, WA custom home builder TC Legend Homes is now offering their customers the full line of Zero-EnergyPlans.com home plans. They feel that this is the most comprehensive way to assure that they are offering their customers the latest and best in energy efficient homes. For more information on TC Legend Homes, go to www.tclegendhomes.com 
