As green building and high efficiency homes become more available there are a few green builders in Vancouver Washington who are taking technology the the extreme. Troy Johns and his crew at Urban NW have taken residential building to a whole new level by building the first combined Net Zero and NGBS-Emerald certified home in the nation.
Some mistakenly believe that a Net Zero home uses no energy at all or is completely off the grid. As exciting as that would be, these homes are actually built to use up to 94% less energy than a conventional homes with the balance of its energy needs supplied by renewable technologies.
There are times when the homes will draw energy from the local utilities and at other times it generates more energy than it uses. During those periods it sell the energy back to the utility company and receives credits. At the end of a year it will produce as much or more energy than it used.
The trick to this is balancing the systems in the home to work in harmony with one another. The home is a carefully planned combination of energy saving technologies and energy generating devices. When the balance is just right you have a home that is more comfortable and healthier to live in, AND is much less expensive to maintain and operate.
As a test, Troy set up a spot in the home where he replaced the ultra high efficiency insulation with the standard insulation that current building code calls for. This image shows what it looks like when viewed with a thermal camera. That spot represents your hard earned dollars leaking out of the home! The temperature difference between the pink spot and the yellow wall is 13 degrees F. It is amazing how something as simple as insulation can be used to save home owners hundreds of dollars a year.
As Eco brokers and Earth Advantage certified Realtors, Janice and I have been amazed that the public hasn't been quicker to embrace these types of high performance homes. Builders like Troy have been forced to build these gorgeous homes as spec homes and then use them to demonstrate to buyers that this technology really does work.
If you would like to know more about green homes and green builders in Vancouver Washington, please give us a call. We work with the best builders in the county and would love to help you get the home of your dreams.
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