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Zero Energy House Design Project

Engineering Design – 100

Section # 014

Group 3: Team De’Luxe

Submitted To: Professor Catanach, 06FEB15

Alex Troxell: art5332@psu.edu McKinley Ross: mpr5201@psu.edu

Matthew Verne: mjverne95@gmail.com Joel Schuck: jws6400@psu.edu

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Table Of Contents

Executive Summary ………………………………………………………….... 3

Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 3

Mission Statement ……………………………………………………………... 4

Customer Needs Analysis ……………………………………………………... 4

Renewable Energy Source Survey…………………………………………...…..7

Needs Statements ……………………………………………………………… 10

External Research ……………………………………………………………….11

Concept Generation …………………………………………………………..15

Concept Selection …………………………………………………………….17

Final Design Description ……………………………………………………..19

Real Model Representation……………………………………………………...21

Zero Energy Calculator………………………………………………………….23

References…………………………..…………………………………………...24

Executive Summary

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The De’Luxe company specializes in designing premium zero energy homes for a range of customers. Established in January 2015, De’Luxe’s first project is to design a zero energy home in the State College area, with a manufacturing cost under $140,000. The zero energy home should create enough energy throughout the year to have an ample supply for the winter. The home will also incorporate the use of things such as: solar power, geothermal, windows naturally heating the house, and [heat slab]. The home will also be air tight well insulated in order to maintain heat in the house. All of the appliances will be Energy Star certified. The home must be able to power an electric car.

Many angles were taken to ensure a maximum efficiency design at the lowest cost. A survey was conducted to see how the public viewed different types of green energy, the majority of people prefer solar energy to any other type of renewable energy. Based on these poll results, our home will mostly use a photovoltaic system.

Many risks could be present because of the design. The biggest risk is not producing enough energy to last the whole year. We took proper precautions to this risk by installing a large enough photovoltaic system so that any excess energy can be put back into the grid. We planned in our budget enough money to ensure that we can afford this voltaic system. The final prototype is scheduled to be delivered to our E-Design 100 class on March 3, 2015.

Introduction

World populations are growing, but natural resources remain scarce. People are now beginning to question their energy consumption. Due to new technology and a greater awareness of sustainability, Zero Energy Homes are becoming a hot product. A Zero Energy Home gets all the energy it needs by utilizing solar, wind, and water resources. New technologies are also incorporated into its unique design to greater its sustainability.

In order to develop the most suitable Zero Energy Home, the De’Luxe team got together to brainstorm. We assigned preliminary research categories to specific team members. Green technology, renewable energy sources, cost of materials, sustainability, geographic weather patterns, and human energy consumption behavior were the subjects that were extensively researched. With an abundance of information the team discussed available options, while decided what technology would be implemented into our Zero Energy Home. We then laid out the floorplan on solid works, which served as the blueprint for our scale house model. The house features 1,536 square feet with 2 bedrooms and one bathroom.

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Mission Statement

“Creating Safer, Sturdier, More Efficient Home, while Building a Cleaner, Greener, and better Future”

Customer Needs Analysis

Customer Requirements:

Based of the Customer Statements vs. Needs Matrix and our survey’s on the idea of a Zero Energy Home (ZEH), we can draw a few conclusions about what is desired and what people really want in the design of their ZEH.

Motivation: Based on one of our surveys taken, on a scale of 1-10, the average desire of college age students to have a ZEH is a 4.5/10. This is a little bit of a disappointing and discouraging number as our world on a global scale is running out of resources for consumers and homeowners to use. Regardless the percentage of students that view ZEH as a valuable concept are very excited and enthusiastic about having a home that is Zero-net-energy.

Cost: Based on our ZEH Survey and internet research one of the greatest concerns/needs of consumers when deciding to invest in a ZEH is money. In the long term creating a ZEH can have someone a lot of money and once the infrastructure is in place, than they are great for saving money and also good for the environment at the same time. However, initial instalment of things like Solar Panels, Solar Hot Water Heaters, and new insulation can be a very expensive process. And it turns out that it can just as expensive if not more to turn a regular house into a ZEH if it wasn’t a ZEH to begin with. In Summary, most people think a ZEH house is a great idea in the long run but since the technology is a little less public and understood many are skeptical of the transition to a ZEH because they are not sure it will really meet their expectations.

Main Renewable Resource Used: It seems from research and surveys that the most popular form of a power supply for a ZEH is Solar. This is no great surprise to our group as solar is regarded as a relatively developed method of using alternative energy to power a house. The

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advantages of solar energy are great and there are a lot of companies and businesses that are already producing and selling solar panels for domestic power supply applications. The disadvantage of solar technology at the current time is the cost. Most solar panels are not cheap enough for the average consumer to find it worth spending a lot of money on that they will not see end back up in their wallets for many years. On a similar train of thought Solar panels need to be maintained and have some elements within them replaced or restored after a number of years which is another cost coming out of the consumer’s pocketbook. Another disadvantage is that many of the resources and materials used in creating solar panels are hazardous and need a special disposal process (ie. Another cost for you to pay to get them taken away if they are damaged)

Needs Statements: Many of the needs that Team De’Luxe has conceptualized for the ZEH can be found in the Needs Statements section of this report. This is because the Needs Statement portion of the report directly addresses the criteria necessary to satisfy the average ZEH customer base.

Setting and Other Points of Customer Needs Review: After surveying college age students, a big concern for them in terms of creating a ZEH and its real importance to them is the location. Most people in college now and even adults will not easily totally re-locate themselves to the countryside simply because they can increase the efficiency of solar power by a small percentage. The true key to creating an effective ZEH is making the technology available and installable into peoples current homes. This is generally more expensive since infrastructure adaptations need to be made, (ex. walls need to be made thicker), however most people would value their current home location more than the increased house of converting a pre-existing home into a ZEH rather than creating an entirely new ZEH far away from their work/family/friends/city/ etc.

Selecting City/Location:

State College, Pennsylvania was selected because it is a college town that experiences four different distinct seasons that can accommodate for different types of renewable energy. It

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also has great interest as a result of the housing market. Based on our surveys many of the students and adults interviewed would still like to live in a suburban environment near a place where they can find entertainment and culture without driving too far.

Background Information on City/Area:

State College is a town located in Centre County, Pennsylvania. According to the US census, the 2013 population was estimated to be 41,757. In 2010, it was determined that there were 13,007 housing units with a person per household of 2.26. State College is also home to Penn State University, the largest public university in Pennsylvania. State College experiences all four seasons, the weather statistics are listed below.

Renewable Energy Source Survey:

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Research of Zero Energy Home:

Research was done initially from a house in Portland, Maine and was evaluated for its individual advantages and disadvantages. Most of the research was centered around finding proper building materials and what a basic format for a ZEH really looks like in the real world. Below are the findings.

House #1: Portland, Maine

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Location (city, state) Portland, Maine

House size (floor area in square feet)

1960 ft2

Number of floors 2 Floors

URL of web site where info is found

http://coldclimatehome.com/

Number of occupants 4

Number of bedrooms 2 Bedrooms

Type of heating (forced air, hydronic, radiant floor, heat pump, etc.

Air source heat pumps and solar hot water systems or electric heaters.

Main heating fuel (electricity, natural gas, wood, oil, etc.)

Electricity

Size of photovoltaic system (kilowatts)

Solar water heater (yes or no) Yes

R-value of wall insulation R-40

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R-valuof ceiling insulation R-60

Ventilation air heat recovery (yes or no)

Yes

Predicted or measured annual energy use

$1,165/year after energy efficient retrofit

Any other pertinent info Make a variety of other types of homes with all different type of design types that accommodate all different tastes of styling.

Needs Statements:

Create a ZEH that will place well in a National competition between other Universities

House needs to be a Zero Energy Home while having the ability to power an electric car and still provide the grid with excess power.

The home will be able to operate on solar power within the commonwealth of Pennsylvania

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The engineering design process is implemented while designing the ZEH

A scale model is constructed

A 3D computer model needs to be designed and virtually constructed

The designs must accommodate a family of four

Meets the documented needs that the design team develops before-hand

Green principles must be implemented during the planning and construction of the home

The design must be appealing to the customer

Teams need to be diverse and work well together in their respective groups to complete the task of designing a ZEH efficiently and a home that will benefit the local community.

Need a design that will begin to improve the state of the world through innovative ZEH design

Final product needs to address improving the health and welfare of its constituents and

The final product cannot afford to diminish the ability of future generations to meet their own energy needs

The house design needs to avoid using non-renewable/valuable resources

The house design needs to avoid creating harmful byproducts towards humans/animals/plants/ and all other life in the surrounding area

The house design needs to avoid social inequities and needs to meet everyones needs.

Create a home that you yourself would live in after the construction of the house is complete

The design for the ZEH needs to be aesthetically pleasing

Research will be conducted on the various ZEH designs

The ideas we develop will be documented with sketches to show the customer

Using the engineering process tools we can narrow the design down for the customer

We will choose a concept that pleases our team and the customer

Design and energy analysis will be performed to show to the customer

We will design a 3D model for the customer to see

The team must produce a scale model for the customer

External Research

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Overview: In this section Team De’Luxe will explore what pre-existing Renewable Energy Resources are available for ZEH design that can increase the efficiency of the house and maximize the resources that the house uses to become net zero.

Wind Power: Wind power is very simple in its mechanics, in a short summary wind spins a propeller which then spins a turbine that turns mechanical energy into electrical energy which can then be stored in batteries or directly integrated into the power supply of the whole house. In terms of current technology optimized for ZEH use; there are few companies that create these large “windmills” for home application as most are designed for large scale use that flow into a power grid for a large region. Another concern with using this technology in a ZEH is that it may not be aesthetically pleasing especially in an urban/suburban setting. If you are living out in the country for example the desert of Arizona roughly 15 miles away from other people nobody is going to be around to complain about a large tower that has ten foot propellers on it. However, a next door neighbor twenty yards to your North might be a little set off when their house is in the shadow of your wind turbine in the late afternoon. Another factor is altitude. Wind power makes sense when you are located in high altitude regions of land where wind currents are uninterrupted by natural or man-made obstacles. State College however is already home to some large wind turbines as can be seen driving West on Rt. 80 near State College.

http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2011/10/20081124-air-breeze.jpg

Hydro Power: Hydroelectric power has great potential for ZEH home applications. Think of all the water sources going in and out of your house. Drinking water, warm water, waste water, sewage, steam from your microwave, etc. Like wind power small turbines can be integrated into the houses water systems. As the water passes through the pipes a small turbine could be engaged and spun turning mechanical energy once again into electrical energy that can be stored in batteries or interpolated into the houses existing power grid. Even though the power generated from the little turbines throughout the house would not be a whole lot of energy, every little bit of energy that can be re-directed throughout the

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house can add up to make big changes to the overall energy consumption of the house. Every watt of energy that the house can get from itself is one less watt that the house needs to draw from the grid.

http://www.solaconnections.com.au/images/Micro%20Hydro%20Turbine3.jpg

Solar Energy: Probably the renewable energy source best optimized for home use is the solar panel. It has been in development for quite some time and has been optimized not only for gross power collection on a solar farm scale per say, but revamped for home applications. Solar panels if installed correctly and maintained properly can provide energy for the house with little to no effort at all. Initial cost and installation is still relatively expensive, however the instalment cost will eventually pay itself off in around seven to ten years. For those looking to make a long term investment into the environment and their homes, solar power is one of the most viable options. They also can add the aesthetic value of the home to fit in with a lot of color schemes as well as giving a reflective shimmer that makes the house stand out from the cookie cutter birds-eye repetition of gray shingles.

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http://renomii.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/solar-energy.jpg

Biomass Energy: Biomass energy is one often not considered in the typical slew of “green” energy sources. Applications for the safe use of biomass energy are pretty limited for a ZEH design as a result of the need for a fuel source to burn the biomass in the first place. One idea that uses pre-existing resources from within certain houses that are not already Zero Energy Homes is the use of wood burning stoves to burn the biomass that is generated from food waste and other biomass materials like wood shavings. The concern then becomes what happens if the biomass fuels being burned create pungent smells or unsatisfying odors throughout the house. A simple solution to this problem would be the installment of filters similar to that of an air purifier placed into the exit valve of the wood burning stove before the hot air from the stove is circulated throughout the house. Another concern is that Wood Burning Stoves are often regarded as being inefficient for heating a large house. However, if you are only living in a smaller house that is already being heated by optimized window placement and other supplemental sources of heat for the winter, than wood burning stoves can be used very effectively void concerns of no designs currently being in use. Pictured below is a biomass boiler specifically designed to burn organic material to produce heat and electrical energy.

http://www.doddgroup.com/Libraries/Home_Owner_Images/biomass.sflb.ashx

Biofuel Energy: Biofuel works as alcohol is produced by fermenting sugars found in organic plants that have a high enough sugar content to produce enough alcohol after fermentation. This same type of process can be used to create Biodiesel ethanol fuel from leftover animal fat and vegetable oils. These types of waste oils are regularly discarded by local businesses. Especially restaurants that use the vegetable oils for things like large scale deep friers or animal oils that are no longer adequate for edible use. Most of these oils are sent into the waste liquid system and not reused. These biofuels can be used to help run vehicles, especially cars and trucks, and thus reduce the amount of electric energy required to charge the car that the ZEH needs to be able to supply electrical energy for.

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http://d3ux6s8yj4izvp.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bio-fuel-cars-diesel.jpg

Geothermal Energy: This type of energy has been around for almost as long if not longer depending on the definition of geothermal energy. In the hot parts of the summer the basement is always cooler that the attic of a two-story house. Once people started realizing that this idea could be applied to energy sources, the basic ideas behind geothermal energy were born. The picture below illustrates the advantage of channeling the house water supply through the ground during the summer and the winter to reduce the amount of heat required to warm or cool water during the winter and the summer months.

http://energybible.com/geothermal_energy/geothermal_images/summer-winter%20geothermal.gifhttp://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2011/10/20081124-air-breeze.jpg

Global Marketplace:

The market for Zero Energy Homes is growing fast. Some European countries have already established energy regulations mandating builders to implement the technologies found

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in Zero Energy Homes in their products. The United States and Japan are also moving in this direction. The upfront cost of green technology makes some investors a little nervous about jumping on board with the zero energy movement, but as long term benefits become more apparent, views are quickly shifting. Pike Research estimates that the market will grow to $1.3 trillion by 2035.

Concept Generation

Introduction:

To further narrow down the choices after the survey, De’Luxe used the selection matrix shown below to choose two green energy sources from solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric. Solar was initially thought to be the top choice; the matrix helped to narrow down the other energy source that should be used. Based on the results, solar and geothermal are the top two energy choices.

The Concept Generation Process:

The team decided to build our home in State College, PA not only for it’s environmental advantages but also for its location. We not only wanted to make our Zero Energy Home eco-friendly and have net-zero energy output but the team also wanted the house to one that would actually sell in the real housing market to younger families looking for a great place to call their home.

The house was just over 1500 square feet and was set-up as a ranch style home to reduce heating inefficiencies. The final floor plan included two bedrooms in the back of the house, a bathroom in the front of the house, and a large open living room/kitchen. We left doorways open and left the living room and kitchen open to allow for better air-flow, make the house feel open, and maximize the effect of the passive solar design heating the slab in the living room and part of the kitchen.

The roof was designed with an overhang of 2.54 feet optimized for allowing sun into the house during the winter and shading the house from heat in the summer based on solar angle calculations for the State College area. The large window in the front of the house also features a sliding feature to allow a cross-breeze through to cool the house in the summer.

The energy source for the home came from two primary sources. The first was solar energy. Using solar angles we found that making the sides of the roof two different sizes can help us optimize the amount of energy the house gains during the day as it is constructed facing South. The second energy source was using supplemental-geothermal hot water heating systems to reduce the amount of energy required to get water up to a suitable level in the first place. This

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reduced the initial installment cost on the home allowing more financial resources to be used for better and higher performance solar panel technology and a larger quantity of panels.

The house uses R-40 wall insulation that is blown-in to prevent any air leaks and the ceiling used R-60 value blown-in insulation to prevent any heat from escaping through the roof of the house during the winter months. The windows are Double-Low Glazed with a high SHGC rating to also maximize the amount of heat that is trapped into the house and prevents heat from leaking through the larger windows in the front and back of the house.

All of the appliances installed in the house are Energy Star rated and are plugged into smart circuit breakers that turn off selected appliances when they are not being used (ie. the TV, microwave oven, computer chargers, light fixtures, etc) This smart-circuit technology not only helps to save energy but also keeps the home safe, which is a good feature for a family of four with two children. Little things like energy-efficient light fixtures are also used to help

The team did not all decide unanimously that this was the best way to create an aesthetically pleasing and eco-friendly Zero Energy Home. The team used concept selection matrices to determine the best possible course action for designing our final product.

Concept Selection

During the concept selection phase we used the metrics-matrix and concept screening and scoring to decide what technology to use. We first narrowed our choices to five different energy and heat generating methods and proceeded to rate them. Our rating system of using multiple (+) and (-) signs to denote the score of each criterion helped us organize and decide what to eventually implement into our house. Solar energy was our highest rated concept in terms of energy production for a reasonable cost, while passive solar heating proved to be the most energy efficient and most reliable source of heat. We decided to supplement the passive solar system with the use of a heat slab. The heat slab will help heat the house when the sun is out, while R-40 insulated walls will keep heat from escaping the house. For our third rated concept, a supplemental geothermal heating system will be utilized in order to lower the energy cost of water heating. The fourth and fifth rated wind and geothermal were scraped from our project because of their low scores on the selection matrix. Overall, after looking over the matrix our decision was to continue with solar, passive solar, and geothermal as the main energy and heat production sources.

Concept Screening/Scoring:

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Selection Criteria Solar Wind Geothermal Hydroelectric Passive Solar

Power Generation + + + + + + -

Ease of Installment + + 0 - +

Cost 0 0 0 0 +

Durability + + + + 0 + +

Efficiency at State College + + + + - + +

Sum +'s 6 4 5 1 6

Sum 0's 0 2 2 2 0

Sum -'s 0 0 0 2 1

Net Score 6 4 5 -1 5

Rank 1 4 3 5 2

Continue? Yes No Yes No Yes

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Final Design Description

Team De’Luxe was able to successfully construct a net zero energy home in State College, Pennsylvania that produces more energy than the occupants that live in the home consume. This project was completed by using various energy efficient sources to power and heat the household. The electricity of the house is created by solar energy. Passive solar heating and geothermal heating methods are used to heat the house during the fall and winter seasons. Energy Star appliances are also present in the home to reduce the consumption of energy. Overall, the project was a success for the team in which we created a net zero energy home with a final cost of $136,000 and exceeded the customer’s expectations.

Legend:

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1 - Sanyo HIP 195DA3 Solar Panels

2 - Passive Solar Window (Double Low Glazed w/ High SHGC Value)

3 - R-40 Rated Blown-In Wall Insulation

4 - R-60 Ceiling Blown-In Insulation

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Legend:

1 - Heat Retaining Slab Flooring

2 - Master Bedroom

3 - Passive Solar Window

4 - Main Bathroom

5 - Kid’s Bedroom

Real Model Representation

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Energy Calculator

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References

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http://www.navigantresearch.com/newsroom/revenue-from-net-zero-energy-buildings-to-reach-1-3-trillion-by-2035

http://www.sunterrahouseplans.com/green-home-plan-design-concepts/zero-energy-homes/default.aspx

http://www.houzz.com/zero-energy-home

http://www.zeroenergydesign.com/helpful.html

http://www.probuilder.com/path-zero-tips-building-net-zero-energy-homes

http://zeroenergybuilt.com/portfolio/home-plans/

http://dreamgreenhomes.com/plans/zeroenergy1.htm