Some iconic shows like "Eureka", and movies like "Smart House", have touched upon the idea of a futuristic house that can interact with its occupants. Though we may not be there yet, we seemed to have developed a house that can literally meet its own energy requirements, and then some. Imagine a house that can not only meet its own power requirements, but actually create a surplus of energy, effectively turning it into a small power plant. Well, you don't have to imagine it anymore.
Thanks to the innovative thinking of Neumann Developments, we have reached a new era for mankind. They have not only designed a house that meets its own power requirements, they built it. They have even supplied it with enough solar power generating technology that it can actually provide electricity for the utility companies to use. Now that they have done all the work in creating the blueprints and turned it into a real life example of what is possible, we may no longer have an excuse for our massive fossil fuel consumption. This house requires absolutely no fossil fuel to operate.
Energy Producing Home
Neumann Developments, the creators of this new energy efficient home, stated the following as their overall goal of the project:
The house that they have constructed is located in Wisconsin and was just recently sold for $350,000. This price may seem a little steep in today's bad housing market, but just wait until you read what this house is capable of.
"Constructing an economically viable mainstream home that will produce more energy than it consumes - allowing for a dramatic reduction in greenhouse emissions and dependency on foreign oil. Proceeds from the sale of this home will be donated to Educational Enterprises, a non-profit inner-city network of schools whose mission is to inspire, support, and equip the next generation to become serving leaders."
From the front view of the house you would never be able to tell that it could very well represent the future of our energy consumption and the end of our dependency on foreign oil. Once you take a stroll into the backyard it all becomes clear. With two different cutting edge solar power arrays just sitting ideally by, collecting energy from the sun.
One is the 2.96kW Wattsun tracking solar array, which is actually capable of following the sun as it moves. It does this through a motion sensor mounted on the top. This allows for maximum exposure and solar energy capture. This array is capable of producing as much as 4,600kWh a year.
The other solar array in the yard is a dual panel array specifically designed/set-up for the heating of the houses water supply. This array is capable of supplying the house with 75% of its hot water needs. The other 25% is provided by an electric water heater located in the houses basement, which is powered by another solar array. Once the solar powered hot water tank is depleted, the electric one kicks right in.
In addition to those two solar arrays, there is another that is located on the roof of the house. This one is a massive 11.44kW Photovoltaic solar array that is able to produce up to 14,700kWh annually.
All of the energy that is captured by these solar arrays is in the form of direct current (DC) energy and needs to be converted into alternating current (AC) energy to be compatible with the houses energy intake components. This is done by the houses built in inverters.
The key to this whole system is more than just a bunch of solar panels. It is a unique and delicate system that incorporates the use of solar power in conjunction with other elements like geothermal heating and cooling. The house has a geothermal system that runs from about 8ft under the foundation of the house right into the basement. This system is what provides the house with energy efficient heating and cooling through the warm and cold seasons. It provides this by an underground loop field that carries a glycol solution to and from the houses heat pump.
At about 8ft below the surface of the Earth it is a pretty constant temperature of 54 degrees. In the summer months this system utilizes this natural coolness and brings it up into the house through the leap field replacing the warm air with the coldness from the ground. In the winter months it does the opposite. It takes the coldness out of the air in the house and throws it back down into the Earth via the loop field.
Another key element in this houses energy efficiency is how well it is sealed and insulation. It was so well constructed that they needed to add a heat exchanging ventilation system. This system provides clean fresh air without having to open windows or leave doors open, which effectively keeps all the warm and cold air where it is supposed to be.
All of this green technology including: the solar power arrays, the geothermal energy system and all the extra insulation costs about $150,000 to be installed. The good news is, with all the federal and state incentive programs, the net cost to the average taxpayer could be as low as half that amount, $74,130. Even the installation of one of these elements could prove to save you a large amount of money on your next electric bill.
Though the amount can vary, depending on the amount of energy usage being consumed by the house, on average the house is capable of producing double the energy requirements that is needed to fully operate and maintain a suitable living environment. There is normally so much energy left over that the house literally becomes a money machine.
The amount of energy that the house uses will of course fluctuate depending on what appliances are being used and what time of the year it is, but it is safe to estimate that at any given time, providing good sun exposure, the house can produces around 5,275W of energy and only uses about 1,000W of it. Even if the house was running at the double minimum operating power requirements, it would still be producing an extra 3275W of energy at any given time.
The houses electric bill for the month of July, 2009 was negative $408.16. This resulted in the utility company buying the unused energy from the house by cutting a check to the owner for $408.16, which basically turned the house into a mini solar power plant. The total amount of energy that the utility company was able to add to their power grid from this one house for the one month of July was 3543kW.
This house produces so much extra energy that the owner could actually charge an electric car on a regular basis and still have enough extra energy to be eligible for a check from the utility company.
Considering that the cost of cooling and heating could skyrocket at anytime, and is likely to, implementing some of these energy efficient elements into your own house could drastically pay off in the near future. With all the federal and state incentive programs that are available, in the long run, it really would be worth the costs to make your house greener. Who knows, one day the electric company may be paying you for energy.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charles_Robinson_IV
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-New-Smart-House-Has-Arrived&id=4587728
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