Page 34 - Green Builder Sept-Oct 2019 Issue

Economic elegance. When it comes to Annual Building Science Roundup 2020 A GRAND SYNERGY
electricity, solar panels are helping to make
power more than plentiful for Depot
Neighborhood’s small, single-family homes.
COURTESY OF HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, GRAND TRAVERSE REGION

install solar panels on the roofs at construction so that the homes
Absolute could start performing as net-zero homes upon completion. A net-
zero home produces as much energy as it uses over the course of the
year. As a result, it is not uncommon for homeowners in the Depot
(Net) Zero Neighborhood to have negative energy bills in the spring and sum-
mer. This excess production shows up as credits on the utility bill,
which can be applied to winter season bills when energy demands
are higher in this heating-dominated climate.
Habitat for Humanity’s latest housing Depot Neighborhood is a 1,352-square-foot, two-story home with
The DOE ZERH Housing Innovation Award-winning unit at the
project brings green affordability to the 27 solar photovoltaic panels mounted on the roof. Each panel is

Grand Traverse’s Depot Neighborhood. rated at 275 watts, so the array provides a total installed capacity of
7.4 kilowatts. Like all Depot Neighborhood houses, the three-bed-
BY GREEN BUILDER STAFF room, two-bath Midwestern farmhouse-style home has the roof
HE HABITAT FOR Humanity, Grand Traverse Region has aligned for southern exposure to best accommodate the solar panels.
an inspiring vision for its Depot Neighborhood begun in The solar panels cost about $17,000, but a 30 percent tax credit
Traverse City, Mich., in May 2014: to build each of the reduced this amount to about $12,000, yielding a project payback
community’s 10 single-family homes to be truly afford- of about 13 years.
T able ones that harvest and produce all the energy they
need over the course of a year, with the goal of eliminating home- PERFORMANCE DETAILS
owner energy bills forever. To meet this goal, the Habitat affiliate Solar panels alone are not what allows the home to achieve its zero
decided to certify all 10 of the homes to the strict energy performance energy status. Before the PV panels were installed, the home was
requirements of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Zero Energy designed and constructed with a high-performance building enve-
Ready Home (ZERH) program. lope and efficient equipment that meet the DOE ZERH program
For Depot Neighborhood, the Grand Traverse affiliate chose to requirements. This results in a construction that significantly reduces

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