Zero Energy House Design Project #1
Engineering Design 100
Team 6
Section 16
Submitted to: Dr. Smita Bharti
October 16, 2014
Tack Design
Thomas Walker
[email protected]
Adam Albert
[email protected]
Cody Mitchell
[email protected]
Kyle Tarves
[email protected]
In this report we will talk about many aspects of zero energy homes. The project
required our team to design a zero energy home. We designed and built a model of our home
that underwent heating and cooling tests. The layout, modeling, passive/active solar features,
the energy usage, and the ideas behind zero energy will be discussed in our report.
Introduction:
Homes: A different source of living and shelter in this day and age. With homes that use
as much energy as they can, to energy effect houses, homes are vastly different than what they
used to be. So much so even, that houses are now using the same energy saving practices that
people had been devoting to everyday life. This process thus transforming everyday
conservation into the actual houses themselves conserving as well. These conservation homes
can be described as Zero Energy homes. These are homes that try and use as much energy as
they consume. The two forces would cancel each other out and thus you have zero energy.
Zero Energy Homes, (ZEHs), are green homes. They are built very airtight, highly insulated, and
utilize highly efficient appliances, heating and lighting. Once a ZEH home is designed as energy
efficient as possible, it uses solar photovoltaic (PV) collectors, or other renewables, to produce
sufficient electricity to meet the minimal remaining energy needs of the home. Over the past
couple of weeks, our Edesign 100 class has been studying and observing these homes, in
preparation for our project. In this project we had to build our own model of a ZEH home and
design it with all the unique features that we could. We had to save energy and design well. We
were set up with a variety of knowledge prior to the building. As a class, we visited an actual
student made ZEH outside the campus of Penn State. This gave our class and our group a great
insight into the way in which these homes worked. Utilizing everything from solar panels to slab
flooring, the ZEH home set us up for how we were going to build the home. As the process went
on, we built our miniature home using collective designs from our group. Working together and
creating a miniature home, our group (T.A.C.K. Design) put the house under heating and cooling
tests in class. All together the project really taught us to utilize home features to maximize
energy storage and conservation. Zero Energy Homes are a unique design in the market of
households today. After more research and experimentation is done, these homes might not be
far away from making a real impact on the global scale. Zero Energy Homes could really help
the world in terms of energy. This project helped to make that understood. How much are we
as people really using in terms of energy? This was called into question during looking at the
homes. All of these things combined lead this to be an informative project. ZEH’s might be the
choice for a healthier future.
Clearly Defined Problem
Our Group was tasked with using the design process to prepare a Zero Energy Home.
We were to build a miniature model of this home with sustaining energy features.
A ZEH is a building with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy
used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy
created on the site.
Outside Information:
Morning Star Solar Home
MorningStar Solar Home is a net-zero home: it produces as much (and even more) energy as it
consumes. It is currently used in sustainable housing education efforts through research and
outreach activities. The MorningStar Solar Home is about to be integrated in the Penn State
HyRES Lab and will serve as a residence for a graduate student to test the house systems in real
life conditions.
Zerohomes.org
O’Neil Zero Energy Prototype Homes
Montgomery County
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Location: Perkiomenville, PA
Owner/Developer: Jackie O’Neil
Building type: Single-family residential
New construction, 2 houses
Size: 2016 sq ft and 2216 sq ft
LEED for Homes Gold certified
Description:
Two energy efficient, passive/active solar single family residences, integrated climate responsive
design, energy modeling, daylighting, radon resistant construction, slab on grade, structural
insulated panels, fiber cement siding, 50 yr shingle roof, clad wood ENERGY STAR windows,
stained concrete floors, no-VOC finishes, site-harvested wood floors & millwork, salvaged
interior doors, geothermal heating system & radiant floor heat, tankless on-demand water
heating, energy recovery ventilation & humidity control, passive cooling & geothermal air
conditioning, 5.25 kW grid connected photovoltaic system, ENERGY STAR appliances &
lighting, high efficiency water saving plumbing fixtures, native landscaping, permeable
pavement, rainwater harvesting, non-toxic pest control
http://www.citilogs.com/pdfs/consillience_philadelphia_sustainability_awards.pdf
http://zero-energyplans.com
Concept Generation
Zero energy homes are created with two types of energy, active and passive. Welldesigned zero energy homes consist of both these elements. Examples of passive energy
include windows, overhangs, and thermal slabs and walls. These elements capture heat when
the sun is out and does not require moving parts. Active energy elements include solar water
heaters and solar panels. The sun is required for these elements as well but they do much more
work and cost a lot more. A balance between passive and active can create an outstanding zero
energy home.
Concept Selection
For project one, we had to create a zero energy home that was sustainable and saved
energy. We used both passive and active solar features. Our design was a two story house with
many windows and a huge two story window on the south side of the house. This helped
maximize the amount of heat and sun that could enter the house. Thermal slabs and thermal
walls were also used by the two story window. This absorbs a god amount of the sun during the
day and keeps the heat inside. The active feature we chose was solar panels. They are very
expensive but the low cost passive features make up for this flaw. We would put them on the
south side roof so that the sun hits them all day. This heat absorption along with the two story
window will capture great amounts of heat and make a well-designed zero energy home.
Design/Energy Analysis
i.
By plugging in base values and general appliances into the energy calculator, we found that our
house would need approximately 1247 kW a month, which equates to this number. With this
number and the number of hours of sunlight on average in State College (3.91), we were able
to find that the size necessary for our Solar PV system would be 8.39 kW to cover 60% of our
energy needs. This means that an area of 671.20 sqft would be necessary, 34-42 panels would
be required, and after the tax credit the total cost of the photovoltaic system would be
$28,777.70.
ii.
After looking at the chart of the solar panels, we decided that the BP313OJ solar panel would
best fit our needs. For $314.99 per 1.016 square meters, this panel is relatively cheap compared
to its competitors. It also boasts a low cost per watt, at $2.42, and has a fairly good power
rating at 130 W. Its efficiency rating is a 12.79528, which is comparable to its competitors. To
fill our solar needs, we converted our necessary area, 671.20 square feet, into 62.36 square
meters. Divided that number by 1.016, and we get approximately 61 solar panels, which would
cost us $19,214.39. We chose this solar panel because it was cost efficient while not giving up
power or efficiency ratings.
3D Model
1st Floor
2nd Floor
Scale
In our model we designed and made the floors in our house 8 X 10 inches and the height
of the walls were 6 inches. Both the first and second floors were 3 inches each and the angle of
the roof top was approximatively 45 degrees.
While designing the house we came up with numerous passive designs to incorporate in
our zero energy home. One of our main passive features are the large amount of windows on the
house to allow as much sunlight in as possible. The main window was a two story south facing
window to allow large amounts of sun in to both our first and second floors. Another passive
feature are the aluminum foil columns holding up the second floor to reflect sunlight throughout
the house. We also included black flooring and black under our roofing to absorb a greater
amount of energy. And finally the open loft on the second floor provides an open household for
heat energy and light to travel throughout the house.
Our three main materials that were used to maximize our gains was the foam board,
aluminum foil and some black cloth. The foam board acted as insulation for the household to
retain heat. The aluminum foil reflected light energy throughout the house to help for better
absorption. And last but not least the black cloth absorbed the light energy because the color
black is best for absorption.
Unfortunately our team didn’t use rubber in our house design and by leaving out the
rubber we lessened our maximum gains.
Conclusion
After finishing this project as a group we have learned what features and elements are
needed to make the best zero energy household. Our house in all had many passive features that
helped maximize our gains in heat energy. However, we left out a few designs that we should
have incorporated into the house. Some features like the numerous windows with a large south
facing one, black flooring, aluminum columns and an open loft proved to be helpful in the
experiment. On the other hand we could have improved the overall gains in many ways such as
taking away the east facing windows, adding more black cloth, and also adding black rubber as
thermal. Overall we have learned how to properly maximize our energy gains by using a variety
of passive solar features.