Aiming for Zero: How to Build a Zero-Carbon Home

(Page 5 of 5)

January/February 2009
By Mindy Pantiel 
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American "Dream" Home
Boulder, Colorado
This 3,950-square-foot (including basement) classic American home is insulated and sealed with urethane foam in the roof, walls and basement. Double-pane low-E windows further limit heat loss. An efficient natural gas boiler supplies hot water for domestic use and for the radiant floor system. An evaporative cooler, which replaces air conditioning, minimizes summer electric loads. The occupants could easily have lower-than-average energy bills and carbon emissions. But because they use large amounts of electricity and hot water, their consumption habits keep energy bills high and bring them close to the national average (around 39,000 pounds of CO2 emissions a year). User behavior is as important to green building as the building itself.  A low-energy house is just one part of a low-energy lifestyle.

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