One year ago we traveled to Germany to visit the BAU ‘09, a huge international building trade show held every 2 years in Munich, Germany. We went to the BAU with the intention of learning more about European building products and their (in some cases) exceptional design and performance. At the BAU we found several products that we ended up importing and utilizing in the construction of the prototype. The most important of those were the windows and doors from EGE Fenstern und Turen.

The windows arrived from Germany in late November after being shipped across the Atlantic in a 20’ container. When they arrived on site, as per the shipping contract, we had 2 hours to unload the windows and doors from the container, and while 2 hours seems like a reasonable amount of time to do this, the size and weight of the windows (up to 500 lbs) made that somewhat complicated. Thanks to our focused crew, the windows were not only unloaded in the two hour limit, but also then installed in one day.

The most important attributes of the German windows we chose are the insulating and solar heat accepting properties of the glass and the operability and air tightness of the window frames.
The glass and Low-e coatings: standard windows in North America are double-glazed with low-e coating designed to reject most of the solar heat that hits them. In short, they are designed for cooling climates, where accepting solar gain usually means over-heating. In Maine, where we have a serious heating climate, standard glazing ends up rejecting 70% of the sun’s heat energy that hits the glass. Coupled with a very low R value (or insulation value) of about R-3, south-facing windows end up rejecting and losing more heat than they gain! The windows we imported from Germany are triple-glazed and accept about 50% of the sun’s heat that hits them. Coupled with an incredible R-value of about R-8.5, they basically become the home’s heating system, as they allow solar energy to pass through them and then hold the heat in the building.

The frames: the German windows are also built to be air-tight, with beautiful, solid, clear-finished pine frames and multi-point locking hardware, which create an air-tight seal between the sash and the frame when closed. The exterior of the windows have a painted aluminum cladding that creates a durable weather-tight seal to the glass, and requires little to no maintenance over the life of the window.

In order to verify the air tightness of the building shell and the windows, we conducted a preliminary blower door test. The result of the test showed that with the windows installed and sealed, the building’s shell is amazingly air-tight, surpassing the Passive House requirement of .6ACH. This incredible performance is attributed to the attention to detail in the building shell’s design and construction, as well as the extremely high quality of the windows and doors.

Read the article from Village Soup.
>waldo.villagesoup.com/p/356065″>

GO Logic Homes of Belfast Awarded Contract for Passive Solar Residence Hall at Unity College

The long-term financial benefits of investing in a GO Logic home based on Net Present Value Calculations

GO Logic is an architectural design-build firm, building super energy efficient homes designed for cold climates. As a design-build firm, the efficiency of project delivery from concept to completion is improved over standard design-bid-build delivery systems. The result of these efficiencies is a shorter planning and construction period, but a finished product with improved long-term energy performance for space heating. These improvements in process and product result in both first-cost and lifecycle savings for the homebuyer, saving money on construction and the long-term operating costs for the home.

To demonstrate the investment value in a GO Logic home, we have compared the construction cost and lifetime energy savings of a GO Logic home vs. a standard built home in today’s dollars using a Net Present Value Calculation. The NPV (Net Present Value) calculation compares the lifetime (30 year) costs of each build method in today’s dollars, taking into account inflation and operating costs.* Because we are comparing the benefit of reduced operating expenses over the life of a mortgage, we expect to see a favorable NVP calculation expressed in a negative numbers, or dollars saved.

Based on the time period of a standard 30 year mortgage, the NPV calculation compares the total cost of a GO Logic home to a standard built home. Given this time period, we estimate that the cost saving for a GO Logic home in today’s dollars to be $55,150.

Not discounted to today’s Net Present Value, the model projects total cost savings resulting from a GO Logic home’s super energy efficiency over the course of a 30 year mortgage, including material estimated energy inflation, to be a remarkable $147,268.

To provide background and insight into the assumptions made for the NPV calculation, the Energy Performance, Cost of Construction and Financing and Inflation rates are explained below:

1. Energy performance: A GO Logic home, built to the German Passive House Standard**, is showing performance in the model home of only 10% of the energy used for space heating of a standard built, code-compliant home. Given Maine’s cold climate, this level of energy performance has a significant impact on the life-time energy costs of the home. In standard built construction, the cost of space heating is typically 75% of the total energy used by a home, with the remaining energy balance divided roughly evenly between the domestic hot-water and plug loads. Reducing the space heating demand therefore has the greatest impact on reducing a home’s total energy consumption and related energy costs. In terms of the actual cost savings of space heating on an annual basis, comparing a 1500 SF standard built home with a GO Logic home, the savings for space heating is estimated to be $1,300*** in the first year. For the NPV calculation, we have modeled the annual space heating cost for a GO Logic home to be $400, and that for a standard built home to be $1,700.

2. Cost of Construction: The cost of construction for a GO Logic home is similar to standard code compliant homes of similar durability. The 1500 SF GO Logic prototype home was built in 2010 for $150/ SF, resulting in a total construction cost of $225,000.**** The cost of construction for standard code compliant homes of similar durability is approximately $145/SF, resulting in a build cost of $217,500.**** For the NPV calculation we have assumed the GO Logic home’s construction cost at $150/SF and the standard built home at $145/SF for a 1,500SF home.

3. Financing and inflation rates: The long-term cost of a home is determined by the difference in rates between the interest for a fixed 30 year mortgage and energy inflation, the latter likely being the greater and more costly of the two. The historical rates of inflation for heating oil in the North East have fluctuated significantly in the past 20 years. We have conservatively set the annual energy inflation rate at 8% for the NPV calculation. Likewise, the mortgage interest rate has been set at 4.5%, based on the average interest rate today for a 30 year fixed home mortgage.

*Net Present Value-NPV, www.Investopedia.com
** Passive House Standard, more information visit- www.passivehouse .us
*** Estimated space heating costs for 1500SF home in Maine: standard built $1,700, GO Logic $400- Space heating costs based on energy modeling using Mid-Coast Maine climate data, at today’s oil heating oil price, $2.76/gal.
****The cost per square foot and construction costs include the site work, foundation and mechanical systems.

http://waldo.villagesoup.com/p/354203

http://www.nesea.org/Scripts/googleMaps/detail.php?id=3230

The GO Home was recently featured in a blog by the GreenBuildingAdvisor. The Blog discusses The GO Home’s super energy efficiency and passive house standard construction at affordable costs.

Check out the article.

Squeezing The Price on Passive House

Jetson Green featured the GO Logic prototype today on its online publication. This post describes the prototype project with its many green design elements as well as its latest coverage in the news.

To read more, link to:
www.jetsongreen.com

G•O logic’s prototype home being built in Belfast was recently featured in Residential Architect’s innovate Shelter Lab column, written by Bruce Snider. The article captures the spirit of the project, describing the home’s super energy efficiency and stylish and practical design.

To read the article link to:

http://www.residentialarchitect.com/sustainability/savings-plan.aspx

G•O Logic was recently featured on radio news by Tom Porter of Maine Public Broadcasting. The story describes G•O Logic’s soon to be completed prototype home in Belfast, that is scheduled to obtain the first Passive House Certification in Maine.

To hear the story please link to:

http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/11653/Default.aspx

Once at a building conference I heard about the results of a study on air quality. The study said the air quality inside the average new home in rural Wisconsin was 8 times worse than the air quality outdoors in New York City. This made my head swim. How could it be true? And then I heard more, and read more, about how toxins and pollutants can build up inside a home, and if there’s poor ventilation, reach unsafe levels in the air. Rates of asthma and other respiratory diseases have been on the rise in this country, and while industrial pollution is certainly a factor, the way houses are built and furnished is probably a bigger factor in the decline of respiratory health.

How can a home be less toxic? Conceptually it’s very simple—reduce the nasty stuff inside and bring in plenty of fresh air. Practically, though, it’s not that easy. On the material side, builders have gotten away from good old-fashioned building materials like solid wood, plaster and stone, and for some good reasons: they’re expensive and poorly insulating. But when these materials are replaced with particle board, fiberglass, vinyl, and synthetic carpets, the home buyer is spending less money and probably using less energy for heating, but at the same time volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, and other toxins have been introduced to the interior air. And in an effort to reduce energy use, builders have been trying to make buildings more air-tight and less drafty, thereby improving comfort as well as the utility bill. However, the combination of the tighter envelope and the off-gassing interior finishes is what leads to sick people in Wisconsin (and other places).

With the advent of “sick building syndrome,” architects and builders are hopefully becoming more aware of what is being put in houses and taking steps to ventilate properly. It is now relatively easy to find out if a building material is air-quality friendly. Several ratings agencies exist to test and determine the safety of various materials; an architect can specify formaldehyde-free or low-voc plywood and paints; natural linoleum is available as an alternative to vinyl flooring; people should know better than to put carpeting in a damp basement, and so on. On the ventilation side, agencies such as the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers studies indoor air quality and issues standards for rates of ventilation. They have formulas for determining how much air to bring into the house over time to ensure adequate fresh air supply.

More specifically, in the homes G•O Logic builds, we install a complete, ducted, mechanical ventilation system that delivers fresh air to bedrooms and living spaces and removes stale air from the kitchen and bathrooms. The incoming air passes through a heat-recovery unit that transfers almost all the heat from the outgoing air to the incoming air, which means there’s very little energy penalty for healthy ventilation. We determine the proper ventilation rate based on accepted standards. For example, in the 1500 square-foot model home, we will ventilate at a rate of 70 cubic feet of air per minute, continuously. This means the entire volume of air in the house will be changed once every 3 _ hours, ensuring healthy air quality for a family of 4 or 5. The air flow is very low and generally delivered to points in the house where it’s not noticed, so one never feels a draft. And on the material side, we specify only low- or no-voc materials and finishes. The floors are either polished concrete or solid wood; cabinets are formaldehyde-free. The building is incredibly air-tight, which helps tremendously in the energy-efficiency and comfort of the home, and when coupled with the ventilation system, results in a home that’s both super-efficient and healthy to be in.

Matt O’Malia and Alan Gibson of G•O Logic presented: Smart Houses Don’t Just Stand There at the Juice 2.0 conference last Friday. The following powerpoint was used for the presentation.