[Greenbuilding] EnerGuide 96 home in Bathurst NB

[John Straube]

I could not find the square footage anywhere, although it is a family of 6 living there.
12 kW is pretty large! Together with the solar hotwater, they are generating over 19000 kWh/yr (and consuming as much if they achieve NetZero).
Adding insulation to the walls of both the basement and walls likely would have been really worth it financially, but it is hard to understand the economic choices people make. Granite countertops dont make anymore sense than PV, and some people are fixated on the PV.
The PH standard can be played just the same way.  There is a PH on Martha's Vineyard which uses about the same energy as the Moncton house: the house is well over 4000 square feet (as the PH standard is energy use per floor area, larger floor area gives you a larger budget).  At a cost of at least $200/sf to build in that area, the premium of going from a 3000 sq ft house to a 4000 square foot house cost $200,000, well more than the extra PV on the Moncton house. And yet someone thought that was worth it.  There are PH in Berkeley, where, if you build to slightly better than the Manitoba Code, you can meet the energy target of the PH.  
Getting more affordable and resource efficient houses that use less energy really is the goal, just not for some people.

On 2011-02-13, at 8:35 PM, Gordon Howell -- Howell Mayhew Engineering wrote:

> 
> Interesting Energuide 96 Home in Bathurst New Brunswick  <http://ecoplushome.com>  The house has a ground source heat pump, 12 kW PV system, and a solar thermal system.  The house is a manufactured unit that was built in about 4 or 5 modules and trucked to the site.  The walls in the house are only R25; thus the large amount of PV plus the ground source heat pump.  Bathurst has about 5000 annual heating Kelvin-degree days.  The company has a corporate tie with Bosch; thus some Bosch appliances are used.  The company plans to build additional units in Moncton and Halifax.
> 
> This sounds like a very clear example of what the PH people are concerned about -- a house with nominal energy efficiency plus lots of heating toys.
> 
> It will be great seeing how well the house works and how much it cost and adding it to a list of PassivHaus, NZE and near NZE houses across the country showing performance and costs.  A 12 kW PV system would likely cost $70k to start...
> 
> It would be interesting to work with a local builder there to build highly-efficient NZE and PH houses as a competitive comparison.
> 
> +Gordon Howell
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Gordon Howell, P.Eng.
> Grid-Connected Solar PV Electric Systems
> Howell-Mayhew Engineering, Inc.
> Edmonton
> Phone : +1 780 484 0476
> E-mail: ghowell at hme.ca
> Web   : www.hme.ca
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> 
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Dr John Straube, P.Eng.
Associate Professor
University of Waterloo
Dept of Civil Eng. & School of Architecture
www.buildingscience.com