[Greenbuilding] energy efficient square house

[Frank Tettemer]

Haudi,

I'm pretty sure this is not the actual house you are looking for!
But it is a contender, and a near-fit, with a total of 1150 sq, ft, 
upstairs and down,
Skye Faris is the owner and has lived there for eight winters. She 
consumes about four to six 'fireplace cords' of wood each year, for all 
heating and domestic hot water.   (1 1/3 to 2 bush cords of wood.)

It's nearly-cubic shape, and steep northern roof line offer maximum 
interior cubic space, for a minimum of wall surface area.
Indoor temperature conditioning is well assisted by the PV's full 
shading of the South windows in summer,
and offering them up for full solar gain in Winter.

Sorry about the lack of SIP's, though. :-)    A bit more on-site 
hands-on in the construction labour department, too.
However, these built-in-place "structurally insulated panels", though,
have the added bonus of 1" thick interior plaster walls, adding to the 
thermal mass.

http://www.livingsol.com/index.php/portfolio/killaloe-passive-solar-straw-bale-home

Frank

Frank Tettemer
Living Sol ~ Building and Design
www.livingsol.com
613 756 3884



Hello,

I'm wondering if any of you recall seeing a website/blog with photos 
about the construction of a new energy efficient square house (square or 
nearly square floorplan).  I can't seem to find it right now...what I do 
remember about it doesn't seem enough to find it in the first couple 
pages of Google or Bing results.  I believe I saw it within the last 1 
year.

I think it had the following characteristics (more sure about the first 
items in the list, confidence decreases further down list):
1.) definitely had square or nearly floor plan, chosen because it 
maximizes interior space compared to exterior wall area, and because 
less complex designs also cost less.  A four corner design simplified 
construction and saved money for other features.  Less exterior wall 
area also means lower energy losses.
2.) 1.5 story with a simple roofline, with a plain gable roof with ~ 
10/12 slope.  I don't think it had dormers.
3.) SIPs or standard framing...in either case the design was intended to 
use full sheets/full pieces with minimum cutting needed.  Many 
dimensions in multiples of 2' or 4'.
4.) total square footage: ~1200-1600 (?), [e.g. say a 32x32 main floor 
(1024 sf) + 12x32 second floor (384 sf) under the gable]
5.) wooded lot
6.) radiant heating (?)

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