The Shapes of Homes to Come

Posted by sunlight on Saturday, 19 of April , 2008 at 3:47 pm

It is time to rethink the shape of our homes in response to current energy and environmental issues. Oversized homes designed to look like little castles have been inspired by some romantic notion of times gone by, not by the prospect of peak oil or rising energy costs. World energy supplies have changed in fundamental ways in the last ten years. We have crossed the Rubicon regarding the use of fossil fuels. The old rules of thumb are not appropriate for current reality.

Being human, we often take more time than we should to adjust to changing circumstances. In some sense, the American housing paradigm is like the Titanic. Our energy boat has a giant hole in it and is taking on water and we are dancing on the decks. We have a limited time to react to this new reality and transition to a new, more sustainable national infrastructure. 

What does all this have to do with the shape of homes? Part of the solution to the problem is to make the switch to renewable energy and phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible. One component of this is the amount of energy used in heating, cooling and lighting our homes.

In our business it is our goal to design our homes to be as close to net zero energy use as possible. To do this we have to consider the design and shape of our homes to maximize efficiency and the production of renewable energy. All new homes should really be PV-ready, designed with space on the roof to collect solar energy. The layout and orientation of the home should be in alignment with the principals of passive solar heating and natural day lighting as well. When you combine these design principles with super insulated building technologies, the result is a home that is relatively self sufficient and able to create more electrical energy than it needs, allowing excess energy to be available for others.

Our goal is to have every home we build have the electrical energy production for two homes. This makes sense because in doing so we are helping to create a solar infrastructure that will serve all of us in the future. It also makes sense as an investment. Green energy is the future and selling your excess solar energy back into the grid will repay your initial investment many times, over the lifetime of the system. 

Speaking of investments I believe that in the near future we will see a division between the values of old style energy hog homes and new energy producing and conserving homes to the point that old style homes will sell at a deep discount. It is not hard to imagine that many old style homes will have monthly energy costs higher than the mortgage payment. The handwriting is on the wall and the sooner we align ourselves with future trends in homebuilding the better it will be for all of us.

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Category: Passive Solar

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