Affordable Net Zero Energy Efficient Home in Connecticut.

Affordable Net Zero Energy Efficient Home in Connecticut.

Image not paying any electric, oil or gas bills while living in your home. Well this Connecticut Net Zero Home has just done that and actually gets a check back from the electric company every year on top of it.

A Net Zero Home is a home that produces as much energy or sometimes more than it needs to operate. It achieves this by:

• Building a very insulated and air tight envelope which lowers the use of heating and cooling.
• Orientation of the home is very important to gain the benefit of passive solar in the winter and shading along with wind to cool in the summer.
• Installing better windows and doors.
• Producing its own energy by such technologies as solar and wind.
• Using Energy Star appliances and fixtures.
• Advance framing technique

You can incorporate these same techniques to build and energy efficient home that uses 50% to 90% less energy than an average new home as well.

In the Keithan Net Zero Energy Home in Killingworth, Ct. the addition construction cost to build this home was around 3 to 6% with a payback period in about 8 years. The home is actually a negative 7 Net Zero home which means at the end of the year it give back 7% of the total energy it consumes in a year, in this case electricity back to grid.

To help achieve all this, the mechanics of the home are made of:

• 65 Schuco solar photovoltaic panels
• 10 AET solar hot water panels for heating the domestic hot water and the radiant floors.
• Geothermal HVAC system is comprised of a 400-foot standing column well that is also the residences domestic water well which eliminated the cost of drilling.

For insulation of the envelope of the Keithan Connecticut Net Zero Home they installed:

• R-10 under the basement slab
• R-20 in the basement walls
• R-40 above grade walls
• R-60 in the roof.

Along with that they used Marvin triple pane U0.2 windows and R-7 doors with 7 to 10% glazing (windows) to maximize passive solar heating during the winter and with overhangs in the summer to shade the windows.

The home was designed with great air flow movement in each room and whole house with a central whole house fan to help with ventilation during spring and fall.

Home owner and engineer George Keithan, architect and builder Whitney Huber.

Important Links

1. For more information and pictures on the Keithan Net Zero Home in Connecticut click here.
2. If you are thinking of building a new energy efficient home in Connecticut you should take a look at Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) new home construction program.
3. If you an existing home in Connecticut then you should check out CL&P Home Energy Solutions program that gives you about $600 of services at a cost of $75 along with an analysis on how to energy improve your home.

David Popoff is a Connecticut license real estate agent in lower Fairfield County. He has lived and worked in the area for over 30 years and now reside in Darien since 2004.

• Green Affiliations.
• Realtor GREEN designation by the National Association of Realtors.
• David Popoff is an accredited LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP) Homes and USGBC member of the Connecticut chapter (CTGBC).  
• Associate member and an accredited Certified Green Professional (CGP) of National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the local chapter HBRA-Fairfield County, Ct.
• Member of the HBA CT Green Homes Council.
• Member of the Multiple Listing Service, MLS.
• Darien
•  Greenwich
•  Greater Fairfield County
• Member of the Connecticut Association of Realtors, CAR.
• Member of the National Association of Realtors, NAR.
• Contact David Popoff at William Pitt Sotheby’s for all your real estate needs in Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, Rowayton and the rest of lower Fairfield County.