JUST MY NOTES FROM AN ARTICLE I LIKED

A FEW QUOTES FROM AN ONLINE ARTICLE I AM READING:
http://www.cchrc.org/docs/sns/Zedda-Abstract.pdf


"Provide a roof structure that will allow future location of photovoltaic and solar thermal arrays."

"Use of natural ventilation along with supply air brought it from air cooled by groundwater."

YES,
How do we cool the place in the summer? There are about 4 weeks of summer that might be more comfortable with an AC unit. But in place of an AC unit, can we run pipes down into the ground to capture coolness from ground water / water table? (without increasing Radon exposure)
So far all the info is applicable to places like Maine, Canada, and Alaska. But how about COOLING factors?

"including natural light in every space." ~ sounds like a novel concept... even if it is from the north a "reflective" lighting.

Oh, and ran into someone that said they knew a couple that build a home for their golden years. They put the master on the first floor. Then they built it so that after the kids moved out (god willing our kids will one day ~ actually move out) they had built in shut offs. All water and heat could be shut off with some changes of valves. All water, heat, and electricity shut off. Then they had a way to block the heat rising up there. Not a bad concept. So... insulate the first floor... from the second floor... as you insulate from the second floor to the roof. Then save one piece of foam, pre cut to fit in the stairs to make it look like a wall, and the upstairs... disappears. Disappears from the Utility bill.

"heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system"
also called THE MAGIC BOX

"They installed the largest solar array in the YT on the south side to provide a total
output of 3.825 kW of power using a type of solar panel that didn’t require a battery bank. The building is small and the batteries would have taken a large portion of the space. Excess power is sold to the local utility in the summer and bought back in the winter. "
also called NET ZERO.

OOPS~ SOMETHING TO AVOID HERE:
"The building was designed and built in factory and then disassembled and shipped to the site. A problem was encountered because the building design didn’t account for the SIP joints adding 1/8” per joint to the width of the structure. As there were many SIP joints, the last panel wall extended 6” beyond the foundation. There was also a problem with a 1” gap between the sill plate and the column splice joints."

"Focus on the Basics – Improve thermal efficiency of building envelope before spending big bucks on technological gizmos"