Do your homework. It’s a strategy Anson Fogel brought to his 2,300-square-foot home perched in the Colorado Rockies. Before the first wall was erected, he looked at decades of local weather data and fine-tuned the design to maximize energy efficiency. Once the last nail went in, he flipped on a computer-controlled system that overclocks the house, automatically adjusting the indoor climate. Why obsess? Temperatures here can swing by almost 40 degrees in a single day – Fogel needs to be able to change with the weather.
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CLIMATE ANALYSIS When his house was still just plans on paper, Fogel ran weather and use scenarios on three computer programs, including one from the US Department of Energy. The apps analyzed local climate data and predicted how the house would perform in different types of weather. Then Fogel tweaked the blueprints, moving windows and doors to maximize solar gain and cross-ventilation.
INSULATED PANELS The modular walls are built from structural insulated panels that replace traditional stick framing. The panels have polystyrene foam cores (like an ice chest), which cut the amount of energy needed to heat or cool by up to 40 percent.
COMPUTER MONITORING A computer in the mechanical room gathers data from light and temp sensors. If temperatures drop, the system takes into account the time, historical climate info, and current weather forecast to determine whether the heat ought to be turned on or off, or the shades opened or closed automatically.
HEATED FLOORS A radiant hydronic system pumps 85 gallons of hot, nontoxic antifreeze-like fluid through the house. On the second story, aluminum sheets resting atop the in-floor tubes absorb and disperse heat across the rooms. The metal increases efficiency by as much as 30 percent.
SOLAR POWER Motorized 4.2-kW solar panels track the sun as it moves across the sky. The system powers the entire house and even generates excess energy, which is sold to the power company.
LONG-DISTANCE WI-FI The house is located on an old ranch more than a mile up a dirt road. It’s so remote that Fogel couldn’t get broadband cable. The fix: Go wireless by installing a dish antenna, which transfers data between the house and a mountaintop tower nearly 8 miles away. Indoors, a 3‑terabyte server on the lower level streams more than 4,000 albums and movies to the rest of the house.
– Sonia ZjawinskiHow To: Install Automatic Lights
Occupancy sensors flick on the lights when people enter a room (and off when they leave). it’s not the kind of home automation that cooks you dinner while you’re driving home, but it’s good for bragging rights, and it could save you a few bucks a week (hey, that’s almost a latte).
– Bob ParksGo Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.