A Near-Zero-Energy House In Upstate New York

The engineered frame has custom-made SIP columns

DEPEW, NY — Builder David Lanfear is completing work on a 1,300-square-foot straw-bale house designed to approach net-zero-energy performance. Topped with a 10-inch-thick SIP roof, the home includes a 2-kW photovoltaic(PV) Generation of electricity directly from sunlight. A photovoltaic cell has no moving parts; electrons are energized by sunlight and result in current flow. array and an eight-tube evacuated-tube solar collectorSolar collector consisting of a series of glass vacuum tubes in which an inner tube containing fluid (or in some types, a metal plate) absorbs heat energy and transfers it for practical use, usually water heating. connected to an 80-gallon solar storage tank. “We’re using a lot of used and reclaimed lumber and we’re not using adhesives with VOCsVolatile organic compound. An organic compound that evaporates readily into the atmosphere; as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, VOCs are organic compounds that volatize and then become involved in photochemical smog production.,” said homeowner Carrie Zaenglein. “We’re trying to do everything as green as possible.”

The home has an unusual post-and-beam framework with custom-made SIP columns that are as wide as a straw bale (14 inches) but only 4 1/2 inches thick; the SIP posts are infilled with bales of straw. “We’ll be plastering right onto the straw bales with local clay, gathered on site,” said Lanfear. For more information, visit www.baleonbale.com.