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Zero Energy Home Celebrates Earth Day

Developed by The John Wesley Miller Companies in the in-town neighborhood of Armory Park del Sol in Tucson in partnership with the NAHB Research Center and Tucson Electric Power, the home is designed to produce as much energy as it consumes.

The home combines state-of-the-art, energy-efficient construction and appliances with commercially available renewable energy systems. It makes extensive use of active and passive solar systems, and Tucson Electric Power has agreed to run the home’s meter backward and credit home owners when the home’s renewable energy systems put power back into the grid.

“We want to see that meter spin backwards,” said Miller in a presentation at the recent National Green Building Conference in Baltimore.

Designed by Devereaux and Associates, the home is part of a national demonstration program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The program’s goal is to introduce the zero-energy concept into new single-family home construction.

Miller said his green-built homes “feel like part of the old neighborhood” in which they are being built and they demonstrate that “you can make green building the norm.”

The home’s features include: energy-saving fluorescent lighting, solar-powered tankless water heating, EnergyStar-rated appliances, low-flow plumbing fixtures, a very high-efficiency air conditioning system, radiant barrier roof decking, windows that minimize solar heat gain, air admittance plumbing vents and PEX piping.

Project sponsors are: Carrier Corporation, Kohler Co., Microtherm, SEISCO, Milgard Windows, Nora Lighting, Osram Sylvania, Panasonic, Sioux Chief Manufacturing Company, Studor, Sun Lighting, TechShield and Whirlpool Corporation.

NAHB Research Center staff will monitor energy use and other vital information to prepare an evaluation of the home. Once documented, these results will be made available to the public.

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