This is an older house (1984), and pretty large at 3,000 square feet. It is an early sun tempered design, letting in lots of sunshine, but with no thermal mass to store the heat. There are large windows, facing both southeast and southwest, on every level that let in a lot of light and views of the foothills. Unfortunately, it faces southwest so summer afternoons cause it to overheat. Solar screens and a swamp cooler help with this problem. Heating costs are kept low, (the highest monthly bill was just $35.00!!!), by a combination of passive solar on the top level and three zones of baseboard hot water heating. The house performs well in the winter, but the lack of thermal storage mass increases the dependence on the hot water heating system for night time use.

• Passive Solar
  • Sunspace
  • Trees for shading
    
    
• Photovoltaic Panels
  • Grid-tied
  • Oriented 45° southwest of true south and oriented 22.6° up from horizontal
  • 2.6 kilowatts from 20 panels
  • Utility bill reduced 100%!
    
    
• Thermal Envelope / Thermal Comfort
  • Daylit
  • R-20 walls
  • R-6 additional over the walls
  • R-38 roof
  • Sun screening features
  • Ceiling fan
  • Evaporative cooling
  • Zoned heating or cooling
    
    
• Lighting
  • Natural light in all rooms
  • One skylight
  • CFL bulbs
    
    
• Energy Star rated appliances
  
  
• Transportation / Lifestyles
  • Hybrid Honda Civic
  • Public transportation
  • Recycling
  • Composting
  • Gardening
  • Low consumption lifestyle
    
    
• Highly informed homeowner
  
  
• Green Features
  • Pre-engineered trusses
  • Green power (RECs / Windsource)
    
    
• Water Features
  • Xeriscaping
  • Low flush toilets
  • Low flow shower heads