Solar Energy Pays Off in Michigan!

Eric Hughes of Image Designs LLC recently told me about a home he designed in Paw Paw, Michigan, that is proving that all the energy a home needs can come from the sun—even in Michigan. In fact, when the sun really starts shining in Michigan this summer, the owners expect to be making more energy than they need in which case they'll be able to sell it back to their electric company—called net metering. Hughes calls the house the Net-Zero Home.

Our readers might remember that we wrote about a Hughes-designed home that received a platinum LEED award in Northern Home and Cottage. Click to read the story.

True, Paw Paw (near Kalamazoo) is south of where most of us live, so I'll be asking Hughes if solar powered net-zero homes will work this far North. Stay tuned. Or join our Up North Green Living Group on MyNorth Community and ask Hughes yourself—he's a member of the group. In the meantime, click to read his blog.

And here's a picture of the house:

Tags: eric hughes, image designs, leed home michigan, net metering,, solar energy,

6 Comments

Comment by Eric Hughes "The Green Home Designer" on May 29, 2009 at 1:13pm: Lissa thank you for the post on the Paw Paw ("Vineyard") project. This home is also a projected at the minimum LEED for Homes "Gold" Project. Were waiting for the final certification on it. I do think we can take a Northern Michigan home to net-zero or at the very least near-zero. We can use different sources of re-newable energy combined with Passive Solar design to get a as close to net-zero as possible. Every home site provides different challanges for us and we enjoy the challenge of designing Green/Sustainable homes here in our Great State of Michigan.

Comment by Elizabeth Edwards on May 29, 2009 at 1:34pm: Do you have any near-zero homes up here in the works?

Comment by Eric Hughes "The Green Home Designer" on May 29, 2009 at 1:37pm: Just was hired for one in Beulah last night!

Comment by Eric Hughes "The Green Home Designer" on June 18, 2009 at 8:56pm: Great news on the "Vinyard Project" our HERS scorce came in at 34 the lowest our rater has ever tested and possible the lowest in the State of Michigan. Because of the low HERS score we are able to earn enough points to move this project from a projected LEED for Homes "Gold" project to a projected LEED for Homes "Platinum" project.

You can read more about it at my Web-log at www.imagedesignllc.blogspot.com

Comment by Elizabeth Edwards on June 19, 2009 at 8:26am: Sounds wonderful. Can you explain the HERS scoring here?

Comment by Eric Hughes "The Green Home Designer" on June 20, 2009 at 7:49am: What is a HERS, or Home Energy Rating System score? Well it is basically a rating of how energy efficient a home is based on a number of things, including a blower door test, the HVAC system, energy usage, and so on. The HERS rating is what is used to qualify a home for the Energy Star Rating. The rating is based off of a standard new home built to code that was rated originally tested and used as the test case with the score of 100. A typical older home has a HERS index of 125-150. Most homes that qualify for Energy Star homes must have a HERS rating of 85. That means that those homes are 15% more energy efficient than the test house. This is really good and a step in the right direction. Most of our homes have been scoring in the 50's, which is where we would expect the to fall. That HERS score would qualifies our homes as 5 star+ in the Energy Star rating system. The "Vineyard Project" came in at 34 (lower the better) making it 66% more efficient than a new home built to code.

Based on their Home Energy Rating System (HERS) scores, the average home certified under LEED for Homes since its launch in February 2008 is predicted to use an estimated 30-60% less energy than a comparable home built to International Energy Conservation Code. Based on the average HERS ratings for each level of LEED certification, these homes could potentially see energy reductions of:

Certified: Up to 30%.

Silver: Approximately 30%.

Gold: Approximately 48%.

Platinum: 50-60%.