Blogs - Mill Creek Net Zero Home

MCZNH Solar Awnings (summer and winter positions)

The Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) will have a ground-breaking solar awning installed on its south face (introduced in Solar Awning Part 1). Essentially, it’s a movable awning made out of photovoltaic (PV) modules. It will serve two functions: to shade the south windows in the summer and fall, and to tilt the modules so that they are always at an optimum angle to the sun. An analysis of the solar awning’s net energy benefit follows. Read the rest of this entry »

The Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) will collect solar energy using three techniques: passive solar design, photovoltaic (PV) modules, and solar hot water (SHW) collectors. The SHW collectors are the ones that heat water - they are the black ones at the top of the above picture.

According to a recent article in Home Power magazine (Oct/Nov 2008, p.40), SHW collector efficiency is 50%-70%. That’s pretty good when you consider that the best PV module is about 17% efficient. Read the rest of this entry »

MCNZH, Second Floor. As built on the left, and “flexing” on the right.

Durability is absolutely key to sustainability. Everything we buy, every precious drop of fossil fuel that we burn, should be put to best use by creating as much value from it for as long as possible.

I see no reason why the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) can’t stand for hundreds of years. To be as useful as possible during its long lifetime, we designed it to flex with the changing needs of its occupants. Read the rest of this entry »

Andrea from Edmonton-owned website/marketplace raisingspaces.com recently informed me that Edmonton has it’s very own local manufacturer of light pipes: Sunscope Natural Light Systems. We’ll be considering their product first for the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) because buying locally helps to create the vibrant local, green, living economy that we need.

A light pipe is a great way to get natural light to a room that has little or no windows in it. A light pipe, or sun tunnel or light tube, is essentially a pipe that sticks out of a building’s roof and reflects sunlight into an interior room. Here’s a good illustration: Read the rest of this entry »

James Howard Kunstler says that we need to start building spaces that are worth caring about and living in. When we put up cheap, ugly buildings, as we so often do in Edmonton, we make our communities and homes less worth respecting and cherishing. Reinforcing this idea is Susan Susanka, author of the much acclaimed book The Not So Big House, who says that “a house that favors quality of design over quantity of space satisfies people far more than…those characteristics in reverse.” Read the rest of this entry »

The MCNZH foundation. The rectangle that’s jutting out is the cold room, located under the front steps/landing.

A frequently asked question regarding the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) is: “Why didn’t you use Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) for the foundation walls?”. The short answer is: “using traditional concrete forms and innovative insulating techniques, we can achieve a much higher R-value for less money”.

ICFs are concrete forms made of styrofoam that you set up, pour concrete into, and leave in place to act as insulation. Here’s a picture of someone setting them up:

The advantages of ICFs include decent insulation value, ease of learning for the do-it-yourselfer, and ease of setup (foam is a lot lighter than plywood).

There is a myth that ICFs provide walls with an “equivalent energy loss performance” to an R 50 wall. The argument goes that the mass inside of the concrete walls acts as heat storage, thereby buffering heat as it goes in and out of the building. The counter-argument is quite complex, but suffice to say that I’ve heard very knowledgeable people say that ICFs performing like an R 50 wall is complete bunk. The argument makes sense, too. When it’s minus 20 outside, the relatively small amount of thermal energy stored in a concrete wall will have little effect. R value is R value. ICFs provide about an R 22 wall, with no thermal bridging. That’s pretty decent, but it’s not R50.

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MCNZH - The Look

November 4th, 2008 by Conrad in Blogs - Mill Creek Net Zero Home, Green Building Blogs, Green Homes, Uncategorized

MCNZH - from the street (the house faces north)

This is the current color scheme/look of the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH). The supports for the porch roof will be made of recycled gluelam beams. And of course, we’ll have bicycle parking out front. Eco-travellers are welcome here. Read the rest of this entry »

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Insulated Basement Slab

November 3rd, 2008 by Conrad in Blogs - Mill Creek Net Zero Home, Energy Conservation, Green Building Blogs

The best two things a home builder/renovator can do in the name of energy efficiency is to insulate and seal a house. It’s almost too bad, what with our culture’s obsession with everything high tech. When people ask me about the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH), they’re often expecting to hear about technology’s magic answers. When I start talking about insulation levels, eyes start to glaze over, but the truth is that 75% of the difference between this house and a conventional one is that it’s sealed as tight as a plastic bag and it’s super-insulated. Read the rest of this entry »

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MCNZH - Progress (part 2)

October 24th, 2008 by Conrad in Blogs - Mill Creek Net Zero Home, Green Building Blogs, Green Homes, Reclaimed + Recycled Materials

We have trusses, and we’ll have a roof by tomorrow. Nick and Adam of Green Door Builders are doing a great job of framing the house. Peter is always amazed at how little waste they create. They’re only throwing out little toothpicks of plywood. On top of that they are dipping into a pile of reusable lumber that I set aside for them: Read the rest of this entry »

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She’s a Big’n

October 18th, 2008 by andrea in Blogs - Mill Creek Net Zero Home, Green Building Blogs, Green Homes, Uncategorized

I remember viewing a home on the ecosolar home tour a few years back that had just been expanded to 3000 ft.² plus a full basement. I walked away from that home shaking my head - can we really call 1000 ft.² of living space per person green?

The Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) is now fully framed, and it’s looking pretty big on the streetscape. We built a pretty big house, and I wanted to document some of the considerations that went into the decisions we made.

The official square footage of the MCNZH is 2280 ft.² With a full basement, that’s 3267 ft.² of living space. For four people, that’s definitely more space than we need. I am not a believer in the “techno-fix”. Technology will not save us from having to make changes to our lifestyle. We will have to considerably scale it down to start fixing the problems that we’ve caused.

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