Positive Energy Homes

Positive energy homes enable people to live healthy and comfortable lives with energy left over to share. Creating a house you love that produces surplus energy is surprisingly easy with a thorough understanding of how buildings work and careful attention to detail in construction. The Passive House standard, with its well-proven track record, forms the basis for creating positive energy homes. This book explores the Passive House ‘fabric first’ approach, as well as the science and practicalities of effective ventilation strategies, smart options for heating and cooling, daylight harvesting, and efficient lighting and appliances. Positive Energy Homes provides home owners world-wide, architects and builders with an understanding of the principles and technical details of building these houses.

Positive energy homes enable people to live healthy and comfortable lives with energy left over to share. Creating a house you love that produces surplus energy is surprisingly easy with a thorough understanding of how buildings work and careful attention to detail in construction. The Passive House standard, with its well-proven track record, forms the basis for creating positive energy homes. This book explores the Passive House ‘fabric first’ approach, as well as the science and practicalities of effective ventilation strategies, smart options for heating and cooling, daylight harvesting, and efficient lighting and appliances. Positive Energy Homes provides home owners world-wide, architects and builders with an understanding of the principles and technical details of building these houses.

Trail Magic is the story of one family's success in building an affordable home that runs on sunshine. They succeeded by building a home that produces energy, food and well-being - within the cost of average construction. Written by Carl McDaniel, a biologist, who with his wife Mary, and with many colleagues, accomplished what any new home builder can do: build wisely, environmentally and economically, all the while maintaining sanity. This book raises the bar of what we can accomplish in new home building: a home for the present and sustainable future. Told with humor and frankness, Trail Magic shares the ups and downs, and ins and outs of the story of design, construction, and the first several years of living in a new home. It describes conversations with designers, builders, suppliers and the many individuals that are part of a significant accomplishment: a model environmental home that prospective home owner and builder can replicate.

This book investigates positive energy buildings (PEBs). It provides and describes them, explains why they are important in the fight against climate change and discusses how they might be implemented. This book begins by contextualizing PEBs, discussing concepts, definitions and how they may be included by planning authorities in development plans. It then thoroughly explains what PEBs are and their impact on a climate-neutral economy. The book discusses technological, economic, societal and regulatory challenges and opportunities in employing PEBs, before concluding with possible scenarios for implementing them. This book is of use to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers interested in local and decentralized energy, as well as plans to achieve carbon neutrality.

Energy Positive Neighborhoods and Smart Energy Districts: Methods, Tools, and Experiences from the Field is a comprehensive guide to this highly interdisciplinary topic. Monti et. al’s combined experience make them the most qualified team of editors to explore the processes and tools involved in creating Energy Positive Neighborhoods and Smart Energy Districts in an urban setting. Tools include: A complete simulation library to quickly support the implementation of a model of the scenario A set of possible approaches to neighborhood energy optimization An open, extensible information model for neighbourhood asset description The structure of this book offers different reading paths to appeal to the very varied audience it addresses. It describes the process of adaption and the challenges faced by the decision makers, and also how simulation, optimisation, ICT approaches and business models are combined in a holistic and pragmatic way. It also offers possible business models and a means to quantify them to complete the development process. This book is suitable for students on muti-disciplinary energy engineering courses, energy practitioners, ICT vendors aiming to develop new services to target the building industry, and decision makers aiming to structure an urban renovation program. Delivers a significant amount of exclusive knowledge on the topics of energy positive neighborhoods and smart energy districts Allows readers to grasp the complexity of this interdisciplinary topic by providing access to well-structured processes and tools Includes real life examples of the transformation of two demonstration sites that illustrate the concepts discussed to add context and value to their implementation

Featuring programs and resources for the U.S. and Canada “An authoritative and comprehensive overview of the benefits of energy-efficient homes.” –Kirkus Reviews Whether you are planning to build, buy, or retrofit a home, this illuminating book takes you on a virtual tour of the home of the future. Award-winning author and respected housing expert Anna DeSimone lights the way for enjoying a home that is healthier, more comfortable, saves money, and reduces your carbon footprint. A practical reference guide that can be used for years to come, this book uncovers every part and parcel of the sustainable home, with clear explanations, helpful infographics, and hundreds of follow-up resources. An eye-opening look at the health benefits of energy-efficient homes, trends in household energy use, and its effect on greenhouse gas emissions. Explains a home’s true cost of homeownership after factoring lowered utility costs, enhanced property value, mortgage discounts, and other financial incentives. The “whole-house efficiency blueprint,” chapter describes how things work, along with eco-friendly options for roofs, siding, insulation, doors, windows, lighting, appliances, water conservation, heating, cooling, ventilation, heat pumps, air- and heat-exchange systems, indoor air quality, and more. Renewable energy options covered include solar photovoltaic systems, wind energy, geothermal, hydro-electric power, and biomass. You’ll learn the infrastructure for grid-connected systems, billing credits, net metering, solar power purchase agreements, renewable energy certificates, and how positive energy can bring cash rewards. Learn about the popular “zero energy ready” program, a high-performance home that is pre-wired with a renewable energy component. National green-building certification programs covered, such as Net Zero, Passive Home, Zero Carbon, etc. for the U.S. and Canada. Everything you need to know about home energy scores and ratings. Explains evaluations for programs by the U.S. Department of Energy, RESNET HERS, and Canada EnerGuide. The home building opportunities will inspire you to roll up your sleeves and be the general contractor. Explains construction for modular, manufactured, log and timber, and prefab home kits, along with photos of model homes. Learn how smart home technology helps monitor the health and safety of your family and pets. Important guidance about environmental toxins, biological pollutants, and non-toxic solutions. Mortgage financing covers down payment assistance, nationwide energy-efficient mortgage programs, PACE financing, mortgage qualification guides, and how to roll the retrofit costs into the mortgage. Features programs for U.S. and Canada. Comprehensive directory of rebates and incentives for all U.S. states and Canada provinces. Find out about cash rebates and financial incentives from utility companies and local municipalities, along with key local government policies such as solar and wind access rights, and net metering laws.

Spiritualists cannot effectively refine their soul frequencies in an environment that does not match their soul vibration. The energy that is outside of us does affect our energy field and therefore our soul vibration. Being aware means that you understand this and take action to address it. In How to Create Positive Energy in Your Space, author Kasi Kaye Iliopoulos explains how you can assess your physical environment and its energetic imprint by looking at the location and structure and harmonising it by crystal gridding and Himalayan Salt placement to combat discord and electromagnetic smog. She also reveals the impact that previous residents, neighbours, and the past have on the present and describes ways to shift discordant energy by decluttering, cleansing, and interior design. Through the use of colour therapy, chakras, plants, flowers, aromas, sound, sacred geometry, and symbology, you can manifest light and positive energy in your home and space. These methods can help you continue on your path of restoring to your original soul template and living the life you came here to experience. This guide presents ways to evaluate the energetic imprint of the spaces around you and transform them into positive and helpful environments for you to inhabit.

The new threshold for green building is not just low energy, it's net-zero energy. In The New Net Zero, sustainable architect Bill Maclay charts the path for designers and builders interested in exploring green design's new-frontier net-zero-energy structures that produce as much energy as they consume and are carbon neutral. In a nation where traditional buildings use roughly 40 percent of the total fossil energy, the interest in net-zero building is growing enormously--among both designers interested in addressing climate change and consumers interested in energy efficiency and long-term savings. Maclay, an award-winning net-zero designer whose buildings have achieved high-performance goals at affordable costs, makes the case for a net-zero future; explains net-zero building metrics, integrated design practices, and renewable energy options; and shares his lessons learned on net-zero teambuilding. Designers and builders will find a wealth of state-of-the-art information on such considerations as air, water, and vapor barriers; embodied energy; residential and commercial net-zero standards; monitoring and commissioning; insulation options; costs; and more. The comprehensive overview is accompanied by several case studies, which include institutional buildings, commercial projects, and residences. Both new-building and renovation projects are covered in detail. The New Net Zero is geared toward professionals exploring net-zero design, but also suitable for nonprofessionals seeking ideas and strategies on net-zero options that are beautiful and renewably powered.