Hi Folks,
First, I changed the wording on my house page at PESWiki under Renewable Energy to "In addition to solar and wind, we hope to do some beta testing of more exotic clean energy technologies."
Below are some updated floor plans and a sketch of the proposed home design. The primary objective in these plans was to come up with a smaller Phase I dwelling that could pass occupancy permitting and allow us to move in and be livable. Phase II could be done later. One major change from the first draft is that I turned the "half pipe" into an gradual arch shape to help resist the back-fill pressure. Tim Hall recommends that we go with the parabolic shape (called "caternary vault") using 20-inch earth bags. He's going to be building the world's first structure of this sort this coming Feb. in Hawaii -- a 30-foot-long one --so he will have that experience to draw upon when he comes to help us build our home.
I'm guessing that most of our budget and time will be gobbled up in Phase I, so Phase II may have to wait a while.
These plans are drawn to scale (2 mm = 1 foot in the original). We'll probably make the utility room smaller and use an external building wired in to the home. The utility room will also need to fit our main cistern, water heater, radiant flooring control. The batteries can be located in the external building.
Cheri generally doesn't like the bee-hive earthbag look, so we went with a more traditional shape for our kitchen and living area. However, she did like the architecture shown on the cover of Earthbag Building. Both of us like the coloration and the framing of the windows.
If it weren't for this find today (thanks to Renee), the Phase II master bedroom would be shaped the same as the kitchen/living room area. We would like to do this kind of thing with all external windows, and maybe even the doors and windows that will run through the solarium.Now that I've pared down the plans, I'd like to ask my question again of Tim and Owen: Do you think Phase I is doable in the 180-day time-frame given per the 1031 roll-over constraints (I'm not yet sure when that begins/began; signing was on Oct. 30).Our tentative work force presently consists of:
- Sterling: FT, owner- Tim Hall: FT, foreman/instructor
- Torg: FT, SHV member
- Aaron: FT, SHV member- people that will trade labor for dental work from John- volunteers/interns that Torg can drum up- a few other SHV members/associates here and there.
As for the electrical considerations:
- I plan to go with DC for most major appliances, but we will want to have GFC circuits in the kitchen for things like Vitamix, Food Processor, etc.
- We'll want to have 2-3 AC outlets in the living room
- I would like to have at least one AC outlet in each room for things like radios, etc. that require it.
- I'm not sure what code requires when DC is being used predominantly
- all lighting can be DC
Here are the updated plans and sketch. I think it looks like a hot dog, so I'm afraid we're going to have the not-so-sexy name of "Hot Dog House".
(Click on image for enlarged view.)
First, I changed the wording on my house page at PESWiki under Renewable Energy to "In addition to solar and wind, we hope to do some beta testing of more exotic clean energy technologies."
Below are some updated floor plans and a sketch of the proposed home design. The primary objective in these plans was to come up with a smaller Phase I dwelling that could pass occupancy permitting and allow us to move in and be livable. Phase II could be done later. One major change from the first draft is that I turned the "half pipe" into an gradual arch shape to help resist the back-fill pressure. Tim Hall recommends that we go with the parabolic shape (called "caternary vault") using 20-inch earth bags. He's going to be building the world's first structure of this sort this coming Feb. in Hawaii -- a 30-foot-long one --so he will have that experience to draw upon when he comes to help us build our home.
I'm guessing that most of our budget and time will be gobbled up in Phase I, so Phase II may have to wait a while.
These plans are drawn to scale (2 mm = 1 foot in the original). We'll probably make the utility room smaller and use an external building wired in to the home. The utility room will also need to fit our main cistern, water heater, radiant flooring control. The batteries can be located in the external building.
Cheri generally doesn't like the bee-hive earthbag look, so we went with a more traditional shape for our kitchen and living area. However, she did like the architecture shown on the cover of Earthbag Building. Both of us like the coloration and the framing of the windows.
If it weren't for this find today (thanks to Renee), the Phase II master bedroom would be shaped the same as the kitchen/living room area. We would like to do this kind of thing with all external windows, and maybe even the doors and windows that will run through the solarium.Now that I've pared down the plans, I'd like to ask my question again of Tim and Owen: Do you think Phase I is doable in the 180-day time-frame given per the 1031 roll-over constraints (I'm not yet sure when that begins/began; signing was on Oct. 30).Our tentative work force presently consists of:
- Sterling: FT, owner- Tim Hall: FT, foreman/instructor
- Torg: FT, SHV member
- Aaron: FT, SHV member- people that will trade labor for dental work from John- volunteers/interns that Torg can drum up- a few other SHV members/associates here and there.
As for the electrical considerations:
- I plan to go with DC for most major appliances, but we will want to have GFC circuits in the kitchen for things like Vitamix, Food Processor, etc.
- We'll want to have 2-3 AC outlets in the living room
- I would like to have at least one AC outlet in each room for things like radios, etc. that require it.
- I'm not sure what code requires when DC is being used predominantly
- all lighting can be DC
Here are the updated plans and sketch. I think it looks like a hot dog, so I'm afraid we're going to have the not-so-sexy name of "Hot Dog House".
(Click on image for enlarged view.)
4 comments:
Steven Dufresne writes:
"Your diagram seems to show the solar panels
on the roof just above the flat roof of the solarium. I don't know the climate of
the area but you may have to watch out for snow piling up on the roof of the
solarium and blocking the solar panels. If that's an issue then the bottoms of the
panels have to be higher up than the expected depth of snow pile-up. And that's
not just depth of "snow fall". You have to include what'll slide down off the panels
and the rest of the steep roof above it. If those are PV panels, blocking even a
small portion significantly decreases output."
Sterling, do to the inherent hot-dog design, your house will not be as efficient as you'd like it. Also the materials will cost considerably more than you calculate to build it. IMHO (my 2 cents) I would build a geodesic dome kit, put solar panels outside in an easily reachable position so snow can be dusted off them. This give a much more energy efficient dwelling and reduced materials cost. I am pining to build just such a house.
Vincent Howell wrote:
I personally like the idea of dual-axis solar tracking units instead of rooftop installation.
The power output is more consistent throughout a sunny day because the trackers will follow the sun. Trackers also use less land real estate because the panels are suspended well in the air; the pole uses virtually no space in your backyard. Its easier and safer to clean well, since you wont have to climb onto the roof, which is no doubt dangerous in snowy weather.
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