{"id":14871,"date":"2022-03-01T21:07:03","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T02:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/?p=14871"},"modified":"2022-03-01T21:08:24","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T02:08:24","slug":"do-it-smart-do-it-right-building-net-zero-homes-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/do-it-smart-do-it-right-building-net-zero-homes-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Do It Smart, Do It Right &#8211; Building Net Zero Homes Today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Over 130 building &amp; real estate professionals &#8212; builders, realtors, lenders, architects and others &#8212; signed up for Green Needham&#8217;s January 31 webinar, &#8220;High Performance Building Design &#8211; Do It Smart, Do It Right.&#8221;&nbsp; Attendees heard how <b class=\"c\">net zero ready and net zero homes can be built today &#8212; at competitive cost and without requiring a radically different type of design<\/b>.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Our panel of experts discussed how to make these new homes carbon neutral through the applications of thermally efficient envelopes, heat pump technology and solar PV systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> We believe a new generation of buyers will increasingly ask for and come to expect these homes, and we want to help building professionals respond today.&nbsp; With new homes expected to last 50 to 100 years, this type of construction is critical to meeting our climate goals  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/videoplayer.telvue.com\/player\/O7e6JrKKSJ3H_TX3VgEvpbSSL7Dbnrk2\/media\/703735?autostart=false&amp;showtabssearch=true&amp;fullscreen=true\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Watch the webinar here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The webinar included presentations from the following Speakers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Craig Foley<\/strong>: with LAER Realty Partners, discussed how the real estate market is changing in response to the climate crisis.&nbsp; He discussed how new home valuations are affected by climate-friendly technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Stephanie Horowitz<\/strong>: Principal with ZeroEnergy Design Architects, provided numerous examples of construction techniques and details that are important for the successful design and construction of NZE homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jonathan Kantar<\/strong>: Principal with Sage Builders, a NZE housing contractor, walked us through the construction details of a NZE house recently completed in the Metro Boston area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Joel Boucher<\/strong>: Sales Manager at Boucher Energy Systems, explained how heat pump technology makes it possible to eliminate fossil fuels from new home construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ed Quinlan<\/strong>: a member of Green Needham and a retired energy engineer, presented the results of an energy analysis, comparing a standard stretch-code-constructed house with fossil fuels to an all-electric heat pump NZE house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can watch the webinar here and on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.needhamchannel.org\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.needhamchannel.org\/\">The Needham Channel<\/a>.  The <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/documents\/2022\/02\/net-zero-homes-webinar-slides.pdf\/\" target=\"_blank\">webinar slides are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here&#8217;s a summary of key points presented in the webinar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Summary<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>If you are building a new home, build with a cold-climate electric heat pump system for your heating\/cooling. It is built for our climate.<\/li><li>The construction cost is less than or equal to a conventional fossil fuel house.<\/li><li>In many cases, this will also reduce your monthly utility bills.<\/li><li>You will improve the comfort and indoor air quality of your home.<\/li><li>Work with your architect and HERS rater to explore options for increasing the efficiency of your new home with enhanced insulation levels.<\/li><li>Add solar to your roof if you have a good exposure and \u201cclean\u201d roof lines.<\/li><li>With electric heat pumps and solar, you can make your new house a \u201cNet Zero Energy\u201d (NZE) home without radically changing the look of the house.<\/li><li>Even if your house doesn\u2019t lend itself to a solar PV system, with heat pumps you will be building for the future of a clean carbon-free electric grid.<\/li><li>An all-electric home (especially a NZE home) has a higher sale value.<\/li><li>If you are replacing your existing heating\/cooling system, now is the time to convert to heat pumps (and solar). With incentives, you may pay very little.<\/li><li>Check for Federal, State, and utility company credits and incentives to lower the cost of your clean energy investments.<\/li><li>When you build a home, you are building something that will be around for 50-100 years.<\/li><li>Do it Smart, Do it Right\u2026.now is the opportunity. Your children will thank you.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over 130 building &amp; real estate professionals &#8212; builders, realtors, lenders, architects and others &#8212; signed up for Green Needham&#8217;s January 31 webinar, &#8220;High Performance Building Design &#8211; Do It Smart, Do It Right.&#8221;&nbsp; Attendees heard how net zero ready<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[274],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-14871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-net-zero","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}