Eco-Home at
Hawk Ridge

This project has been a joint effort between Women in Construction LLC, Wagner Zaun Architecture, Conservation Technologies and several other local and state agencies. The home will initially be used for demonstration and educational purposes, and the design and construction methods will serve as an example of how to build low-energy, high performance homes with attention to conservation and health of people and the environment. The overall concept features site-sensitive passive solar design with grid-tied solar PV array, solar domestic hot water system, solar hybrid heating design, and high-performance thermal envelope.

• 2,000 square feet of living space with a semi-attached garage
• solar-oriented siting and space planning
• envelope R-values for walls, roof, and under slab insulation are nearly twice what code requires
• double stud exterior walls with R-36 cellulose insulation
• cellulose attic insulation levels of R-60
• frost protected slab foundation with underslab insulation R-20
• rim insulation R-23
• triple pane fiberglass windows (U-0.19)
• assembly details for superior air tightness
• radon mitigation system
• 2 kW roof-mounted solar photovoltaic array
• 16-tube solar thermal collector for domestic hot water
• Energy Star appliances and lighting
• Detailed energy analysis using REM Design modeling software

The high-performance envelope design and detailing resulted in a design heating load of less than 18,000 Btu/hr, or about 8 Btu/sf.

This very low heating requirement led to a heating system design responding to the low-energy goals of the home.

The house has a "hybrid" design, where a combined system provides both heat and domestic hot water. It is a combination of very current technologies, high energy efficiencies, and renewable energy. The concept of "hybrid technology," using the on-demand water heater coupled with a solar domestic hot water system, makes this model worthy of the title "demonstration home." It is a reliable whole house system, without a boiler or furnace.

Read more about the Eco-Home Project Here.