What I Learned After 1 Year in My Net Zero House. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code UNDECIDED at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: http://incogni.com/undecided I built my forever home with the goal of reaching net zero energy status. I wanted my home designed so that I produce as much energy as I use over the course of a year. To get there, I incorporated a bunch into my plans, like solar panels, home batteries, a geothermal heat pump, airtight house construction, and much more. It’s been a full year since I moved in. There’ve been a lot of successes as I’ve worked toward my net zero energy goal, a lot of learning … and some hiccups and setbacks too. So, what should you look out for and what strategies should you try? And… was all of my effort really worth it in the end?
Watch The Genius of Hot Water Heat Pumps https://youtu.be/abGiNL9IT54?list=PLnTSM-ORSgi7HT9O73K9oYUe19eS-wjxX
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Is a Geothermal Heat Pump Worth It? My Net Zero Home https://youtu.be/onmLrUh2cHU?list=PLnTSM-ORSgi7FwYRnWkpCSkAeFOzrgh5h
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Chapters
00:00 – Intro
00:49 – Brief Recap
02:01 – The Challenges
04:32 – High Level Results
10:09 – Energy Use Breakdown
14:30 – What Would I Have Done Differently?
14:59 – What Would I Recommend?
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If you liked this, check out The Genius of Hot Water Heat Pumps https://youtu.be/abGiNL9IT54?list=PLnTSM-ORSgi7HT9O73K9oYUe19eS-wjxX
We have a standard home I retrofitted with caulking to mitigate air infiltration, thermal insulating blinds and I added R-70 insulation to reduce heat loss.
We have a 2 @ 4 X 10 black chrome panel SHW system, which provide about 80% of our hot water use.
We have a 7 kW (STC) yearly net metered PV system which generates a yearly average of around 16 kWh a day.
We have a 2013 Chevy Volt plug in hybrid we use for all our local driving (~50 mile range).
We have a 3 head Mitsubishi air source heat pump we use for all our HVAC needs.
We line dry our laundry.
We grow an orchard, big garden and use permaculture to grow our soil nutrients, yielding about 80% of our food on our 1/3 acre of active ag.
Our average daily consumption is a miserly 14 kWh/day, so we are slightly over net zero energy.
This is not to say the house is environmental or "green" as all these high tech products are 100% dependent on the underlying hydrocarbon powered industrial mining and manufacturing foundation… plus inverters, batteries, charge controllers and solar modules fail, necessitating constant replacements.
Do you have a kwh / day metric, and what is your sq footage?
We have 1000 sq ft and use around 10kw /day for ALL our water and house and other energy needs.
(We have an experimental WikiHouse eco house with air source heat pump. Electric only – no gas or oil.)
Matt, such great information in this video. Thanks. A few questions. You talk about keeping the house temperature fairly constant with geothermal. How would geothermal efficiency be affected if I like to open the windows when possible for fresh air and just for feeling more connected to the outside? Also, I like it cooler at night to sleep. In the summer, I keep the temperature fairly constant and turn on fans to make the bedroom feel cooler. But in the winter, I lower the house temperature by about 8 degrees Fahrenheit to get a comfortable sleep temperature. Do you find that a constant house temperature is comfortable both during the day and at night? Looking forward to the next video.
At 16:14, you say that dryers that vent outside of your home are ejecting a lot of conditioned air from inside your home.
The issue with ventless dryers is that they are ejecting warm air inside your conditioned home, so your air conditioner is going to do more work as a result of running your dryer, regardless of where the air is being vented. I'd still recommend heat pump dryers simply because of the fact that they need a fraction of the energy usage for drying the same load of laundry, but the heat they produce doesn't magically disappear.
I’m kind of confused what makes this uniquely “net zero” since tons of homes in say, Massachusetts have you send in your utility bill then install enough panels to cover 110% of your energy usage to make you net zero already without needing to make all these other expensive changes, and they install it within a week for completely free.
3:48 would help if these had same scales
I have a net zero home that is Leed Platinum certified. I can say that it is not worth the cost, but is the nicest home I have ever lived in.
Great information, not many Americans can afford even half of what Matt Ferrell has. It's great to see how the wealthy live though, stuff that inspires. Thanks for the video
Probably an unpopular opinion but hones tgese days are built too airtight which results "stail" air being trapped inside causing more allergies, sicknesses etc.
At 14m2s: So much uninsulated pipework 🙁
I think the KISS principle is highly overloaded.
Definitely saving on Bills, but is it worth the up-front cost it takes? From financial standpoint. All that geo heating, water tank, solar, battery' must crazy expensive. And insurance on all that? Isn't it better to just use gas combi boiler for heating and hot water? Maybe wet heated floors or radiators? What is pay of point for solar and battery and their life span?
It is all great untill we come to the topic of maintenance.
Hey, Matt, look up Home Performance. He’s quite literally going through a series regarding CO2 levels in the home. It’s arguing against the current paradigm of 2000-5000 ppm being unsafe.
Humanity and technology PEAKED here.
not subscribed? perhaps you should think of us as undecided..
A clothes line for drying is pretty energy efficient and cost effective
You can't just say you managed to cut the energy usage in the network closet by 35% without saying HOW? 😉
it is inlky modern techniques, bt acient techniques workes very well, especialy when it modernly integrated, I am desingning such a house now
Did you just remove your server racks from the energy calculations ignoring that all that energy was actually heating the space. Then you collect that heat -> your other calculations are way off. Nice setup anyway but don't take big parts off and then pretend that you can still compare other parts of equation like that.
Really nice work it must be so rewarding to get positive results. Kerry Forides Mr. I've designed a home that can self-regulate its temperature without needing electricity. It uses the sun for heating in winter, thanks to the correct orientation and passive solar design based on my latitude, and self cools summer, all without electrical input. However, due to local restrictions under Greek Cycladic laws, the home can’t sufficiently self-heat. To address this, I’ve designed a carbon-neutral rocket mass stratification heater, for central ducted heating. I haven’t yet constructed the rocket.
Matt I’d love to chat. At the moment, I don’t have any air quality or testing equipment. Could please you recommend some sensors and perhaps you could suggest who I can talk with to get monitoring equipment.
Your house cost more than one built to code?
Remember: code is the MINIMUM. Anything less than code is a failure.
Don't cook your cat, let alone eat her.
I am convinced that panels plus batteries and heat pumps are a good thing but for already existing houses it is difficult to justify especially if you are likely to move or are over a certain age. I am 70 so a system for my 6 bed house would take 15 years to pay off, I hope to be around at least that long but am not betting so much money on it.
Backup heater – is that the DHW sterilisation cycle to prevent legionella build up? It's mandatory in the UK and might well come on a different register.
Thanks for the video! I have a ground source heat pump in a cold climate (I live in Stockholm) and I have the same experience as you have with wasting more than saving energy when trying to micro-manage temperatures. Watching the HeatGeek channel a few months back convinced me that I was doing it wrong, and since then I have adjusted my settings to try and heat all the time (in winter months ofc), all the house, with lower water temperature than before, which improved my efficiency quite a bit. I even had tado smart radiator valves to control room by room the temperature, but that I now set only to avoid overshooting temperature to uncomfortable levels (which can happen in very sunny winter days).
I know the idea here is to focus on energy efficiency, but economic efficiency I think is not an insignificant point. I love the idea of these kinds of appliances like the geothermal HVAC system and even the heat pump dryer. But, using that heat pump water heater is an example, because it is the only appliance I have direct familiarity and knowledge of, it is so insanely expensive compared to a standard water heater, and then there's the issue of maintenance. There is no way that I can reasonably expect that that refrigerant system in that thing is going to last 15 years. And, when it does require maintenance, if I can even get someone to fix it for less than the cost of a new unit, which is highly unlikely given the cost of that type of work these days, it seems like you reach a point of diminishing returns.
I have a solar water heater, an AO Smith, which I absolutely love. But the reality is that this thing cost about $5,000 installed. whether the water heater dies or not within 20 years, I'm sure my homeowner's insurance will demand that I replace it at some point solely on the basis of its age. I did spend a couple of bucks to put an electric anode in it, which has a 20-year warranty and so far my 10-year-old water heater seems to be performing well, but it will never save me $5,000 or anything close to that in electric usage even over a 20-year lifespan when compared to a relatively inexpensive but efficient standard electric water heater.
Heat pumps usually rely on a traditional burner or electric heating coil for emergency heat. The thermostat should have a control wire for activating that. I’m guessing that’s what your app is calling backup heat.
I have not 'done the numbers,' but the combination of solar, with batteries, and heat pump/AC mini-splits, has not only lowered the 'co$t' of our energy, it has made our power bill miniscule, and the batteries also provide back-up from storms, etc . . . overall, LOVIT !
Too bad Home Depot and Lowe’s don’t have enough of the Heat Pump water heater in stock. It was going to take 3 weeks to get one. When you don’t have hot water you can’t wait.
What is your total kWh usage each year? We use 29 MWh and solar covers about 19 MWh. I have tried to lower energy use over 7 years here with no luck. We seem to simply choose more comfort over lower energy use.
I will just add more solar to get to net-zero if necessary.
In SWFL and ended up getting a Rheem heat pump water heater and agree, even without anything fancy to pre-condition the water, only using about 88kwh in the summer to keep my water hot (we leave it at 140), with the added benefit that it's also helping to cool my house down!
GPT has thoughts: In the SPAN Smart Panel app, "heat backup" refers to the ability to prioritize heating systems (such as heat pumps) when managing backup power during an outage. If your home is equipped with a backup battery system, the app allows you to designate essential circuits, like heating, to receive power from the battery during a power outage. You can control which appliances or systems continue to run, optimizing how your stored energy is used to extend battery life. This feature is part of the broader customization options available within the app to manage home energy usage and backup systems efficiently.
WTH How was I not subscribed???
no wait wait wait … your network closet… uses more energy than HEATING OR COOLING YOUR HOME…. hooooollllllllyyyyyyyyy wow!!!! 🤯
Should have started off with a solar passive design. Any design that doesnt capitalize on south exposure isnt built with the earth in mind. 😉
1:28 air tightness is a losing battle. You gotta have ways to deal with the leaky air. Passive cooling. Strategic window placement. Awnings. Etc.
Something you really need to hear: technology will not save us.
Why didn’t you bring your attic into the conditioned space and use the ERV to control temperature and humidity?