What we are doing and why we are doing it: We are building a family homestead that can support us, the animals and provide real healthy food for us and our community; all this while preserving the land.
What is Net Zero: Homes that are air-tight, well insulated, energy efficient and that they produce as much renewable energy as they consume over the course of a year. Leaving the home owner with a net zero energy bill, and a carbon-free home. A zero energy home is not just a “green home” or a home with solar panels. A zero energy home combines advanced design and superior building systems with energy efficiency and on-site solar panels to produce a better home. Zero energy homes are ultra-comfortable, healthy, quiet, sustainable homes that are affordable to live in.
Our home is very well insulated, with energy efficient insulated doors and windows. We are using materials inside the home that are safe and natural; oak wood floors, eco-friendly nontoxic paint, geothermal heating and cooling are a few ways that we are trying to achieve a healthy and energy efficient home.
First Goal Going Solar: We choose a ground mount system, as opposed to roof mount install because of 2 reasons. The amount of panels we needed would have had the roof of the house and barn covered. Additionally the biggest advantage of a ground mount system is the ability to place the panels in the optimal place the property will allow.
The solar install, a 15.84 kWp system connected to the power grid. Consisting of 48 LG solar panels with 330 watts of output for each panel. This is a ground mount system, since we have the land it will provide for better placement and solar collection. In essence we should be collecting more then the minimum 15.84 kWp, more like 18.58 kWp, but a lot depends on the full amount of sunny days we get.
