THE HAYFIELD HOUSE

A Homeowner's Quest for Sustainable Building

Category: Costs

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Battery Back-up / Costs / Design / Lessons Learned

WHY I DIDN’T INSTALL BACK-UP BATTERIES IN MY NET-ZERO HOUSE

THE HAYFIELD HOUSE was completed in 2019, but I didn’t install back-up batteries then. At that time, my solar company advised me to wait a few years before deciding on whether I wanted to install back-up batteries. Their reasoning was that the upcoming 2nd generation storage batteries would be much better (and maybe cheaper) than the existing batteries. I took their advice and waited. Here is what happened and why I still don’t have batteries. In 2019, I thought I was being quite smart as I planned ahead for my future batteries. I had left space along my garage wall (near my inverters and electric meter) for my future batteries. In addition, my 400-amp electric service contained two 200-amp panels, one of which could serve...

Costs / Design / Financial / Lessons Learned

HOW MUCH EXTRA DOES IT COST TO BUILD A ZERO NET-ENERGY HOME?

HOW MUCH EXTRA DOES IT COST TO BUILD A ZERO NET-ENERGY HOME COMPARED TO A CODE COMPLIANT HOME?  This is a much-debated question, with typical answers suggesting the incremental building costs to be within the range of 6% to 20%, see table below. My guess is that many authors consider the 20% number an outlier, but I’m not convinced of that based on my experience building a custom ZNE house. So as not to keep you in suspense, it cost me at least $112,000 extra to build THE HAYFIELD HOUSE to be zero net-energy versus merely code compliant. This equates to about 14% extra. This figure represents the initial incremental gross upfront building costs prior to any tax incentives, rebates, or avoided energy costs. Note: my...