Download or read book Design and Construction of High Performance Homes written by Franca Trubiano and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Both professionals and students are increasingly committed to achieving high-performance metrics in the design, construction and operation of residential buildings. This book responds to this demand by offering a comprehensive guide which features: architectural innovations in building skin technologies which make lighter more transparent buildings high performing; energy-free architectural design principles and advances in building-integrated photovoltaics; essential engineering principles, controls and approaches to simulation for achieving net zero; the advantages of integrated design in residential construction and the challenges and opportunities it engenders; detailed case studies of innovative homes which have incorporated low-energy design solutions, new materials, alternative building assemblies, digital fabrication, integrated engineering systems and operational controls. Divided into four parts, the book discusses the requisite AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) knowledge needed when building a high-performance home. It also communicates this information across four case studies, which provide the reader with a thorough overview of all aspects to be considered in the design and construction of sustainable homes. With contributions from experts in the field, the book provides a well-rounded and multi-faceted approach. This book is essential reading for students and professionals in design, architecture, engineering (civil, mechanical and electrical), construction and energy management.

Download or read book Essential Building Science written by Jacob Deva Racusin and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2016-11-28 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Down and dirty – a complete step-by-step guide to making, installing and living with beautiful, all-natural earthen floors Poor heat and moisture management are the enemies of durable, comfortable, and efficient housing, and good building design and construction starts with a solid understanding of good building science. Essential Building Science provides a highly visual and accessible introduction to the fundamentals of building science for residential construction. Part one covers the rationale behind high-performance design and the fundamentals of building physics, including thermal dynamics, moisture transfer, and hygro-thermal dynamics such as vapor drive and condensation. Part two teaches the vital critical thinking skills needed to consider buildings as whole systems and to develop thermal and moisture control strategies regardless of the specifics of the design. Case studies and examples from across North American climatic zones illuminate real-life problems and offer builders, designers, and DIYers the insights and tools required for creating better new buildings and dramatically improving old ones. Good science plus critical thinking equals high performance buildings.

Download or read book Passive House Details written by Donald B. Corner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-09 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Passive House Details introduces the concepts, principles, and design processes of building ultralow-energy buildings. The objective of this book is to provide design goals, research, analysis, systems, details, and inspiring images of some of the most energy-efficient, carbon-neutral, healthy, and satisfying buildings currently built in the region. Other topics included: heat transfer, moisture management, performance targets, and climatic zones. Illustrated with more than 375 color images, the book is a visual catalog of construction details, materials, and systems drawn from projects contributed from forty firms. Fourteen in-depth case studies demonstrate the most energy-efficient systems for foundations, walls, floors, roofs, windows, doors, and more.

Download or read book Home Performance Diagnostics the Guide to Advanced Testing written by Corbett Lunsford and published by the Building Performance Workshop. This book was released on 2012-02-28 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NOW AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: Every performance test for completing a home energy audit. If you're a professional in today's fast-evolving industry of high performance construction and retrofits, then you've probably found yourself wondering a few things: Who can show me how to run that test? How do I get the most out of the equipment I own? Why do the tests work, and how do I explain them? What quality control methods should I use? Which tools will make my job faster and easier? With this guide, experienced and new diagnosticians alike will get step-by-step details on advanced testing, complete with best practices, important concepts and pitfalls, ways to present data to the client, Step-By-Step photographs, and time-saving tips, plus quiz questions for each diagnostic!

Download or read book Pretty Good House written by Michael Maines and published by Taunton Press. This book was released on 2022-05-24 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pretty Good House provides a framework and set of guidelines for building or renovating a high-performance home that focus on its inhabitants and the environment--but keeps in mind that few people have pockets deep enough to achieve a "perfect" solution. The essential idea is for homeowners to work within their financial and practical constraints both to meet their own needs and do as much for the planet as possible. A Pretty Good House is: * A house that's as small as possible * Simple and durable, but also well designed * Insulated and air-sealed * Above all, it is affordable, healthy, responsible, and resilient.

Download or read book Strategy guideline written by Duncan Prahl and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High performance houses require a high degree of coordination and have significant interdependencies between various systems in order to perform properly, meet customer expectations, and minimize risks for the builder. Responsibility for the key performance attributes is shared across the project team and can be well coordinated through advanced partnering strategies. For high performance homes, traditional partnerships need to be matured to the next level and be expanded to all members of the project team including trades, suppliers, manufacturers, HERS raters, designers, architects, and building officials as appropriate. This guide is intended for use by all parties associated in the design and construction of high performance homes. It serves as a starting point and features initial tools and resources for teams to collaborate to continually improve the energy efficiency and durability of new houses.

Download or read book The Natural Building Companion written by Jacob Deva Racusin and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 451 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural buildings not only bring satisfaction to their makers and joy to their occupants, they also leave the gentlest footprint on the environment. In this complete reference to natural building philosophy, design, and technique, Jacob Deva Racusin and Ace McArleton walk builders through planning and construction, offering step-by-step instructions on: siting and site analysis choosing materials integrating basic structural considerations into a design strategies for heating/cooling efficiency and moisture management planning for acoustics developing an integrative design navigating budgeting, code compliance, and project management creating the foundation, wall system, roof, and floors selecting and making plasters and paints evaluating options for mechanical and utility systems protecting against fire and insects integrating structures within landscape, climate, and human communities ...and more Applicable to building in climates that are cold and wet, hot and dry, or somewhere in-between, The Natural Building Companion provides the tools necessary to understand basic principles of building science, including structural and thermal engineering, and hydrodynamics. This guide offers thorough, up-to-date, and advanced installation details and performance characteristics of straw-bale, straw-clay, woodchip-clay, and cellulose wall systems, as well as earthen and stone wall systems and a variety of framing, roofing, flooring, mechanical system, and finishing options. This fully-illustrated volume informs professionals making the transition from conventional building, homeowners embarking on their own construction, or green builders who want comprehensive guidance on natural-building options. A State-of-the-Art Resource for Natural Builders The Natural Building Companion is a part of The Yestermorrow Design/Build Library and includes an instructional DVD.

Download or read book High Performance Building Guidelines written by Andrea Woodner and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High performance buildings maximize operational energy savings; improve comfort, health, & safety of occupants & visitors; & limit detrimental effects on the environment. These Guidelines provide instruction in the new methodologies that form the underpinnings of high performance buildings. They further indicate how these practices may be accommodated within existing frameworks of capital project administration & facility management. Chapters: city process; design process; site design & planning; building energy use; indoor environment; material & product selection; water mgmt.; construction admin.; commissioning; & operations & maintenance.

Download or read book Transitioning to High Performance Homes written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As homebuyers are becoming increasingly concerned about rising energy costs and the impact of fossil fuels as a major source of greenhouse gases, the returning new home market is beginning to demand energy-efficient and comfortable high-performance homes. In response to this, some innovative builders are gaining market share because they are able to market their homes' comfort, better indoor air quality, and aesthetics, in addition to energy efficiency. The success and marketability of these high-performance homes is creating a builder demand for house plans and information about how to design, build, and sell their own low-energy homes. To help make these and other builders more successful in the transition to high-performance construction techniques, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) partnered with seven interested builders in the hot humid and mixed humid climates to provide technical and design assistance through two building science firms, Florida Home Energy and Resources Organization (FL HERO) and Calcs-Plus, and a designer that offers a line of stock plans designed specifically for energy efficiency, called Energy Smart Home Plans (ESHP). This report summarizes the findings of research on cost-effective high-performance whole-house solutions, focusing on real-world implementation and challenges and identifying effective solutions. The ensuing sections provide project background, profile each of the builders who participated in the program, and describe their houses' construction characteristics, key challenges the builders encountered during the construction and transaction process); and present primary lessons learned to be applied to future projects. As a result of this technical assistance, 17 homes have been built featuring climate-appropriate efficient envelopes, ducts in conditioned space, and correctly sized and controlled heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems. In addition, most builders intend to integrate high-performance features into most or all their homes in the future. As these seven builders have demonstrated, affordable, high-performance homes are possible, but require attention to detail and flexibility in design to accommodate specific regional geographic or market-driven constraints that can increase cost. With better information regarding how energy-efficiency trade-offs or design choices affect overall home performance, builders can make informed decisions regarding home design and construction to minimize cost without sacrificing performance and energy savings.

Download or read book High Performance Enclosures written by John Frederick Straube and published by . This book was released on 2012-01-30 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: high Performance Enclosures : Design Guide for Institutional, Commercial and Industrial Buildings in Cold Climates provides guidance for architects and building enclosure engineers working to meet the growing need for buildings that have significantly lower operational energy consumption. John Straube addresses a range of practical questions about low energy building enclosures that save energy while simultaneously improving durability, comfort, and rain control: How much of an impact can the enclosure, massing, and orientation have? How much glazing is appropriate and what options are available? How much does thermal bridging matter and how can it be minimized at difficult structural details? How does one detail thick layers of continuous insulation outside of steel stud walls? Can layers of insulating sheathing reduce the risk of moisture damage?--COVER.

Download or read book The New Net Zero written by Bill Maclay and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2014 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The new threshold for green building is not just low energy, it's net-zero energy. In The New Net Zero, sustainable architect Bill Maclay charts the path for designers and builders interested in exploring green design's new-frontier net-zero-energy structures that produce as much energy as they consume and are carbon neutral. In a nation where traditional buildings use roughly 40 percent of the total fossil energy, the interest in net-zero building is growing enormously--among both designers interested in addressing climate change and consumers interested in energy efficiency and long-term savings. Maclay, an award-winning net-zero designer whose buildings have achieved high-performance goals at affordable costs, makes the case for a net-zero future; explains net-zero building metrics, integrated design practices, and renewable energy options; and shares his lessons learned on net-zero teambuilding. Designers and builders will find a wealth of state-of-the-art information on such considerations as air, water, and vapor barriers; embodied energy; residential and commercial net-zero standards; monitoring and commissioning; insulation options; costs; and more. The comprehensive overview is accompanied by several case studies, which include institutional buildings, commercial projects, and residences. Both new-building and renovation projects are covered in detail. The New Net Zero is geared toward professionals exploring net-zero design, but also suitable for nonprofessionals seeking ideas and strategies on net-zero options that are beautiful and renewably powered.

Download or read book Residential Construction Performance Guidelines Consumer Reference Pack of 10 written by National Association of Home Builders and published by Builderbooks. This book was released on 2016 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NAHB's Residential Construction Performance Guidelines were created to offer a third-party view of quality issues in residential construction (both new homes and remodeling). The Consumer Reference makes it easy to provide a copy of the guidelines to every customer. Sold in affordable packs of 10, the Consumer Reference is a great addition to your warranty claims process and: Help customers understand the basics of a properly constructed home and how it should perform during the warranty period Take action to resolve customer concerns before they escalate to complaints Exhibit your professionalism by showing that you consistently meet or exceed accepted industry guidelines Includes Residential Construction Performance Guidelines for: Site Work and Foundation Floors, Walls, and Roofs

Download or read book Essential Sustainable Home Design written by Chris Magwood and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2017-07-31 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Design your own sustainable home Many people dream of building a beautiful, environmentally friendly home. But until now there has been no systematic guide to help potential builders work through the complete process of imagining, planning, designing, and building their ideal, sustainable home. Essential Sustainable Home Design walks potential homebuilders through the process starting with key concepts, principles, and a project vision that will guide the house to completion. Coverage includes: How to clarify your ideas and create a practical pathway to achieving your dream A criteria matrix to guide design, material, and systems decisions Creating a strong, integrated design team and working with professionals and code officials to keep the project on track from start to finish. Key building science concepts that make for a high-performance, durable building Primer on building logistics, material sourcing, and protocols to ensure that the initial vision for the project comes to fruition. One-page summaries and ratings of popular sustainable building materials and system options. Ideal for owner-builders and sustainable building contractors working with clients aiming to design and build a sustainable home. Chris Magwood has designed and built some of the most innovative, sustainable buildings in North America, including the first off-grid, straw bale home in Ontario. He is co-founder and director the Endeavour Centre for Innovative Building and Living and co-editor of the Sustainable Building Essentials series. Chris is the author of Essential Prefab Straw Bale Construction, Essential Hempcrete Construction, Straw Bale Details, More Straw Bale Building , and Making Better Buildings .

Download or read book High Performance Homes That Use 50 Less Energy Than the DOE Building America Benchmark Building written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This document describes lessons learned from designing, building, and monitoring five affordable, energy-efficient test houses in a single development in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) service area. This work was done through a collaboration of Habitat for Humanity Loudon County, the US Department of Energy (DOE), TVA, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The houses were designed by a team led by ORNL and were constructed by Habitat's volunteers in Lenoir City, Tennessee. ZEH5, a two-story house and the last of the five test houses to be built, provided an excellent model for conducting research on affordable high-performance houses. The impressively low energy bills for this house have generated considerable interest from builders and homeowners around the country who wanted a similar home design that could be adapted to different climates. Because a design developed without the project constraints of ZEH5 would have more appeal for the mass market, plans for two houses were developed from ZEH5: a one-story design (ZEH6) and a two-story design (ZEH7). This report focuses on ZEH6, identical to ZEH5 except that the geothermal heat pump is replaced with a SEER 16 air source unit (like that used in ZEH4). The report also contains plans for the ZEH6 house. ZEH5 and ZEH6 both use 50% less energy than the DOE Building America protocol for energyefficient buildings. ZEH5 is a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2632 ft2 house with a home energy rating system (HERS) index of 43, which qualifies it for federal energy-efficiency incentives (a HERS rating of 0 is a zero-energy house, and a conventional new house would have a HERS rating of 100). This report is intended to help builders and homeowners build similar high-performance houses. Detailed specifications for the envelope and the equipment used in ZEH5 are compared with the Building America Benchmark building, and detailed drawings, specifications, and lessons learned in the construction and analysis of data gleaned from 94 sensors installed in ZEH5 to monitor electric sub-metered usage, temperature and relative humidity, hot water usage, and heat pump operation for 1 year are presented. This information should be particularly useful to those considering structural insulated panel (SIP) walls and roofing; foundation geothermal heat pumps for space heating and cooling; solar water heaters; and roof-mounted, grid-tied photovoltaic systems. The document includes plans for ZEH6 (adapted from ZEH5), a one-story, high-performance house, as well as projections of how the design might perform in five major metropolitan areas across the TVA service territory. The HERS ratings for this all-electric house vary from 36 (Memphis, Tennessee) to 46 (Bristol, Tennessee).

Download or read book Residential Construction Performance Guidelines Contractor Reference Sixth Edition written by N. National Association of Home Builders and published by Builderbooks. This book was released on 2022-05 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Residential construction performance guidelines is the most widely used recommendation by the home building and remodeling industry on how homes should perform during the warranty period. This fully-amended reference tool will help builders and remodelers manage customer expectations and resolve customer complaints, while delivering high-performance homes. Features include: More than 330 guidelines in 13 major construction categories New guidelines on crawl spaces, subfloor and joists, windows and glass, plumbing, cabinets, and more Glossary of common terms Italicized terms throughout for easy identification in the Glossary The consumer version of Residential Construction Performance Guidelines (sold separately) allows you to: Help customers understand the basics of a properly constructed home and how it should perform during the warranty period Take action to resolve customer concerns before they escalate to complaints Exhibit your professionalism by showing that you consistently meet or exceed accepted industry guidelines.

Download or read book Advancing Replicable Solutions for High Performance Homes in the Southeast written by and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The work presented in this report advances the goals of the U.S. Department of Energy Building America program by improving the energy performance of affordable and market-rate housing. Southface Energy Institute (Southface), part of the U.S. Department of Energy Building America research team Partnership for Home Innovation, worked with owners and builders with various market constraints and ultimate goals for three projects in three climate zones (CZs): Savannah Gardens in Savannah, Georgia (CZ 2); JMC Patrick Square in Clemson, South Carolina (CZ 3); and LaFayette in LaFayette, Georgia (CZ 4). This report documents the design process, computational energy modeling, construction, envelope performance metrics, long-term monitoring results, and successes and failures of the design and execution of these high-performance homes.

Download or read book Housing 2 0 written by Sam Rashkin and published by . This book was released on 2021-09-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Home is the ultimate consumer product. It has to be. We spend nearly 70 percent of our lives in our homes. Which leads to the "why" forHousing 2.0: Home is where life happens. Moreover, housing is one our nation's largest industries with a profound impact on our national economy. However, five crises are historically converging on the industry causing exponentially increasing pain. Housing 2.0 is about connecting the dots by identifying four market-ready innovations that will effectively mitigate these crises. In essence, it is a guide how to prepare for the inevitable disruption looming ahead.And it all begins by shifting the housing industry to a user experience optimization business model. Housing 2.0 uniquely serves this transitionwith an actionable framework for consistently delivering homes that meet and exceed homebuyer expectations. It includes:? 19 strategies for optimizing 5 key user experiences? 150+ proven user experience best practices? 400+ pages of meticulously organized content? 360+ citations supporting key findings and recommendations? Hundreds of charts, graphs, and illustrations? Eight thought leaders essays providing expert insights in key principlesAdapting the Housing 2.0 framework provides an opportunity to build homes with substantially greater user value at significantly lower cost.This finding is supported by detailed tabulations throughout the book and empirical case studies in the final chapter. But one warning. Housing 2.0 is a lot to take in all at once. Do not be overwhelmed by all of the exciting opportunities provided to optimize how we build communities and individual homes. Instead, every housing organization should be inspired to start getting on their own optimization path. One wherethey customize the comprehensive Housing 2.0 framework for their regional constraints and business constraints, and then start applying it to actual projects. Towards that end, all housing professionals are invited to join Housing 2.0 Workshops and Action Groups provided by Green Builder Media and to start their own journey to user experience leadership. Housing 2.0 is about homes where life happens better.