Abstract

This paper discusses four approaches to achieve excellent energy performance and comfort in recently–built homes in the western US. A home in Northern California is a passive solar structure built in the shape of a red- tailed hawk. Its principal structural and insulating material is Rastra™, made from 85% recycled Styrofoam and cement. A home near Colorado Springs, Colorado is the winner of a “best in category” Energy Star award. It has a number of clever features that keep energy demand low. In spite of quite hot summer days in Colorado Springs, the home is passively cooled, daylit, and quite comfortable. A home in Tucson, Arizona represents a class of new homes which have quite low cooling bills in spite of a severe desert climate. The secret is heavy insulation and careful air sealing techniques combined with enclosing the HVAC system within the conditioned envelope. Finally, the Snug House is very inexpensive to build, yet performs quite well in summer and winter in a variety of climates because it is coupled to the earth using an insulation system that provides the structure with the virtues of a cave without the depravities of being underground. All of these homes would perform well in all but the coldest of European climates.

Paper

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Panels of

Panel 1. Energy efficiency – a strategic choice for Europe

Panel 2. Comfort and energy use in buildings

Panel 4. Building the bridge from lab to customer

Panel 3. Land use, transportation and mobility

Panel 6. Dynamics of consumption

Panel 5. Market-based instruments