Sustainable House

Sustainable House Overview:

I've been working on an "ideal" home with the goal of making it as sustainable as possible while still being above and beyond normal expectations of comfortable living.  A dream home if you will, that will encompass everything from raising infants through high school and accommodate even the aging parents.

While I realize that in today's world it doesn't make sense that everyone live in large, lavish homes; my goal is to scrutinize every detail to make the home as wholesome for the environment as the people living in it.  The idea is to look both at the construction process and the longevity of the house to create a structure that will function optimally and responsibly throughout its extended lifespan.

Now, a little about me and the purpose of this page.  This is a work in progress.  I wholeheartedly appreciate constructive criticism, questions, and input.  I am not a professional of any kind in the fields related to residential construction, but I do have limited experience in the commercial, industrial, educational construction fields.  I will try to lay out as clear of purpose for every decision as possible to allow discussion points and critique.  Again, I not only welcome, but encourage any helpful feedback and I'll do my best to respond to everything.

 Goals:

Design a sustainable home for a family that is capable of being off electric, water, and sewage systems thereby being completely self-sufficient.

 Desired features:

•  Reduction of materials through coordinated design.
•  Home designed to entertain.
•  Integration of outdoor with indoor in key locations. 
• Open floor design where possible with flow of traffic and resource utilization kept in mind.  Areas open enough for good flow characteristics but capable of segregation depending on type and evolution of event.
• Kitchen set up so that the preparation is smooth and allows the chefs to still be social.
•  Dining room large enough to seat and serve the whole extended family for dinner and other holiday events. 
•  Concealed utilitarian features
•  Main floor (and to a realistic extent all floors) to be designed with accessibility in mind.
• Bedrooms and bathrooms to accommodate family of five with live in parents and possibly guests.  (Intent is really for family of three or four, but you never know!)
•  Dedicated rooms for theatre/gaming, fitness, office, and multipurpose / playroom.
• Gardening area sufficient to meet three (if not all four) season produce needs for the family.
• Dedicated workshop space.
• Full automation and high speed local network for device integration.

Systems to be focused on:

• HVAC (Heating, ventilation, and air/conditioning) 
• Both passive and active systems with prioritizing passive systems
• Local geothermal heating and cooling
• Natural ventilation and humidity control
• Heat recovery systems
• Radiant in-floor heating
• Exceed standards for insulation
• Plumbing
• Currently the scope of the plumbing is up in the air regarding the extent of off the grid and water treatment regulations might allow.  The hope is to create a system where all the water leaving is as pure or more pure than all the water entering the system.
• Minimize material and water usage and waste
• Reduce the length of piping runs by locations of loads
• Selection of fixtures and appliances for reduced water usage
• Creating multiple use cycles to ensure all water is used a minimum of twice before leaving the system
•  Rainwater capture
• Grey-water reclamation, filtration, and purification
• Black-water treatment and composting
• Electrical
• Currently the scope of the electrical is up in the air regarding the extent of off the grid capabilities depending on the end magnitude of the house load versus energy generation.  The hope is to have a net positive generation with a margin significant to overcome inconsistent generation.
• Maximize local power generation through all sustainable resources available on the property.
• Currently the projection is to rely mostly on solar and wind generation with backup biomass fuel cells for low output assistance.
• In development, configure the home to have both A/C and D/C circuits to eliminate the need for transformers and rectifiers for electronics designed to run on D/C power.
• Automation
• Full integration of all systems to be monitored for resource usage including trending to analyze the system for areas of improvement and optimization.
• Independent intranet control of all systems
• Prioritization of all systems based on net cost and impact.  
• Material Selection
• Prioritization of all materials selected on their net environmental impact (costs).
• Pre-fabrication costs
• Distance product traveled (locally sourced material where possible)
• Methods used to create (sustainably grown timber, high recycled content, etc.)
• Waste products generated
• Assembly costs
• Additional chemicals needed to prep, prime, paint, sand, polish, finish, or otherwise work with the material onsite.
• Additional time and equipment required versus other products.
• Waste products generated
• Lifetime costs
• No off-gasing of products allowed
• Durability and future replacement costs
• Maintenance costs (sealant, polish, paint type and interval, etc.)
• Energy costs (correct sizing of equipment)

This is just the beginning!

Disclaimer:  Please advise a professional before attempting anything you may read.  If you use any idea from this process, I only ask you give credit where credit is due.  Other than that, feel free to contribute and take what you will.  (And enjoy!)