The house needs to meet these goals - with good design, choice in materials, and building techniques:
- Small footprint - comfortable for 2 people with only the rooms we use every day
- Leave worry-free for the winter - drain everything, heat not required. Minimal energy inputs to stay at 40.
- Single level living
- Net zero energy through PV panel install
- Highly-efficient and highly-insulated (without relying on caulk and tape that will fail over time)
- “Green” product choices
- Simple to build - square structure, common materials
- Low cost to build via design choices and owner provided labor
- Simple to operate - No complicated systems
- Low cost to operate - minimize monthly bills, taxes, insurance
- Can’t be weird - needs to have market value
- Don’t really need it “certified” but want to use concepts from certification programs to guide choices
- Thermal bridging should be eliminated as much as possible at foundations, edges, corners, soffits, eaves, connections, decks and penetrations.