Posts filed under 'Simpatico Homes'
The energy system design for the Simpatico Prototype Home qualifies it as a Net Zero Energy residence. Simply put, a Net Zero Energy home is one that produces as much energy as it consumes. This means that the Prototype will be self-sufficient with its electric, hot water and space heating needs. (This system has the added bonus of eliminating any need for natural gas in the home, highlighted in the posting An Introduction to Induction.)
The Net Zero Energy goal will be accomplished by combining 30 solar panels on the roof with a high-efficiency electric heat pump, passive solar architecture, and extremely efficient fixtures and appliances. This system will allow the home to “sell back” excess energy it generates during sunny days and to purchase energy like any other home during nights and cloudy days. Over the course of a year, the power bills should achieve a net zero energy equilibrium.
With rapidly declining solar install costs and aggressive federal and state credits/rebates, the projected payback on this system is only 3-1/2 years. To learn more about how this Net Zero Energy system works, please visit our design partners at www.NetZeroEnergyCertified.com.
January 25th, 2010
Want to know how to cook faster, using less energy, with more control? Try cooking with magnetic induction, a process that bypasses heating the cooktop surface and goes right to heating the pot. The Net Zero Energy design for the Prototype Home presented us with an interesting dilemma– keep a gas line in the home only to run a gas cooktop or eliminate gas completely and embrace an alternative method?
Magnetic induction cooking uses electricity to produce a magnetic field that sends currents into iron atoms that react by movement which causes friction and heat in a metal vessel. The electro-magnetic elements are housed under a ceramic-glass surface.
Unlike conventional cooktops that create heat below a pot, the magnetic induction process makes the pot into the heating element. Food is heated more quickly and to precise temperatures. Because they are not directly heated, cooking surfaces cool more quickly eliminating the potential of injury from unknowingly coming in contact with a hot surface. Cooking with magnetic induction is also 90 percent efficient, as compared to resistance electric at approximately 65-percent efficiency, and open-flamed gas which measures in the 55-percent efficiency range.
The simple act of boiling water will never be the same!
December 15th, 2009
Check out the nice press we received about the Prototype Home on Jetson Green. Jetson Green is a daily updated magazine that’s obsessed with green building and everything related to it, including sustainable architecture, good design, green prefab, clean technology in the built environment, affordable housing, and eco-friendly development.
June 5th, 2009
Simpatico Homes is featured in a recent article entitled All the world’s a Twitter. Published by our design partners at Hutner Descollonges, this latest trend in social networking is explained. We’ve just found it another great way communicate our message and engage the modern/green/prefab communities. You can find us microblogging as @simpaticohomes. Okay, we need to hop off our blog now and get back to our Twittering…
May 28th, 2009
Simpatico Homes travels east to lend a hand to our friends at AMB Modular. Over the course of 2 weeks Simpatico worked side-by-side with the AMB team to help them set and finish-up 3 modular homes. Take a look at the Video Slideshow of the Modular Set on Feb 28 in Manasquan, NJ. These guys really know what they’re doing– start to finish this home set took only 6-1/2 hours! Maybe we’re biased, but this is just about the most fun you can have on a Saturday.
April 23rd, 2009
Mostly we were excited to participate in something that has such an important-sounding French name.
So what do a LEED professional, an architect, a landscape architect, a contractor, a modular factory, a mechanical engineer and a structural engineer have in common? They all spent a long day in a workshop aimed at making one home a little bit greener. Much to our surprise, after the initial calculations in the charrette, the prototype home is on track to achieve a LEED Platinum rating. Looks like that team of professionals is pretty good at what they do.
Stay tuned for more on some of the features that make the Simpatico Homes unique.
September 16th, 2008
The energy system design for the Simpatico Prototype Home qualifies it as a Net Zero Energy residence. Simply put, a Net Zero Energy home is one that produces as much energy as it consumes. This means that the Prototype will be self-sufficient with its electric, hot water and space heating needs. (This system has the added bonus of eliminating any need for natural gas in the home, highlighted in the posting An Introduction to Induction.)