new home ideas

 Hello and good day to all,
I am writing here today because I am looking for ideas. I am currently
designing a new house to be built here in upstate New York in the
spring. I am looking for ideas to make this house as efficient and
cost effective as possible. Ideas to keep my energy usage to a minimum
and make the most of the energy products that I do use. This will be a
ranch house approximately 2000 square feet built basically in the
middle of a 4 acre field. any help or ideas that anyone could give
would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
JJ

 

dbljay7542 wrote:


Insulation insulation insulation !

Think about making good use of solar gain in the building.

Graham

 (Amazon.com product link shortened)

Good reference for you!  Worth buying a copy...

 wrote:


If you have not checked out passive houses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house  you should do that.
There are probarbly contractors that specialize in them.

For lighting, I think fluresscent (T5) for general lighting and see if
you can use LED's for spots. The LEDs often does not have the same
range(distance) as halogen.

As you have some land, you might want to go for a mass oven to do your
heating http://www.mainewoodheat.com/rothschild1.html  , if so, you can
use scrubs, wood, grass etc to fire it up. It will keep the warmth for
a long time, and will only need to be fired up once or twice a day.
There are probarbly automatic versions too.

Hopefully there are some organization or persons in New York that have
already done what you are planning, if so you should lissen mostly to
them, as they know the climate and solutions that are easy to find in
your area.

--
SEE YA !!!
Trygve Lillefosse
AKA - Malawi, The Fisher King

 wrote:


If I would build a house today I would make sure that the roof facing
South would have the proper slope to later install solar panels. When
the price and efficiency improves.

I would have a large veranda built with black  metal tubes used to
collect the sun's energy and provide shade to the floor below.

Recover 50% of the heat from the shower.

Heat pump with horizontal or vertical piping with a super heater

Radiation floor and forced air for AC

Increased insulation on the West side of the house. Prevailing winds

Minimize the number of windows on the North side and use fixed windows
if permitted by local laws. Usually one must have one window per wall
that can be opened,

Drive way and stairs with a metal grate and a large tank under to
store the snow,  connected to the sewer pipes for minimum shoveling.


I am close to you and... ... may be we could exchange a few more ideas
or arrange for a visit

John