The Solar Hybrid House
I have been meaning to write about our new home in North Carolina for same time, well, this is the first post to start this project.
In March of 2004, Getchen and I moved form Groton, MA to our new home
This is the first Solar Hybrid house build by John Delafield of Landmark Solar. We found the house through the net - we were already working through a Realtor, and I happened upon a post in the Chatham county web board by John. The house looked fantastic, but we were very interested in lowering our monthly housing expenses, and this would not be doing that. So I did not visit the home on one of my trips to NC, but we kept it in our minds. Gretchen and I would talk about it occasionally, and then I started to do some math. When I added up our current mortgage (literal translation: Death pledge) and utilites costs, and compared them to what I thought they would be wit the Solar house, the combined figure for the solar house was almost $600 less.
So we went to see the house. At this point, we had just put our house up for sale up in MA. Well, one visit, and we knew we wanted it. We called back and asked John to meet us, made an offer which he accepted, and here we are, almost two years later. So, about the house, why is a "Solar Hybrid House" Well, from the driveway, the "front" of the house which faces north, it looks like, well, it could be any house, anywhere, certainly not a Solar house. But go around to the back, the south side, and something you know you are not in Kansas anymore! It is a warm, comfortable home, and we are cutting greenhouse gasses we are responsible for by a large amount.
In a nutshell, the house features:
- 2kw or Photovoltaic Panels
- 2kw of Hot water heat
- Brick floor in main living areas for thermal mass
- 2x6 contruction
- Sealed crawlspace
- Battery backup good for about five days
We were one of the first two homes to participate in theNC GreenPower Program. 100% of the power we generate while on-grid is sold first to Progress energy. They give us a paltry amount for the power, between 2-3 cents for each KWH. In addition, we have a second meter for this "Feed", which as a separate charge totaling $8.87 per month, which means we usually owe them money for the privilege fo giving them free electricity! It is not all bad though, as NC Greenpower pays us 18 cents for each kwh we produce.