Historic Home Gets a Net Zero Energy Makeover

By Carl Seville, Networx

When planning my visit to Michigan to see my daughter graduate college, I took the opportunity to invite myself to spend the night at an over 100 year old net zero energy home renovated and owned by friend and fellow green building geek Matt Grocoff and his wife, Kelly. Just a short walk from oh-so-trendy downtown Ann Arbor (an area complete with mini wind turbines on LED streetlights), the Grocoff’s managed to transform their formerly run-down house into an energy generation machine without the typically extensive and invasive work required for deep energy retrofits. Opting against replacement (yea!), they retained and repaired the existing wood, single glazed windows, adding high quality exterior storms. They installed cellulose insulation in the existing walls, and applied spray foam to the roofline. The house is littered with CFL and LED bulbs and more occupancy sensors than I can count that turn off lights and fans automatically, saving energy in the process.

So far, so good, but now comes the sticky stuff – solar and geothermal! Oh, no, not the eco-bling! As I’ve stated before, most people don’t need solar panels on their homes. High priced HVAC equipment like geothermal heat pumps are often little more than expensive bling stuck on big, inefficient homes that don’t save as much energy as other, simpler measures would. But in this case, Matt and Kelly have done all the right stuff – the house is small (1300 square feet), they actually turn stuff off, they have insulated and air sealed everything, and they pay almost ridiculously close attention to every bit of energy they use, comparing it to how much is generated by their rooftop solar panels. Matt and I geeked out about their online energy management system for so long that Kelly eventually wandered off and left us to look at computer screens, interactive thermostats, heat pumps, and the gauges that manage the amount of energy their chicken coop uses.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Carmen S.

2:12PM PDT on Jun 5, 2012

thanks for sharing this interesting and inspiring article

June 5
send a green star

Fran F.

4:48PM PDT on May 28, 2012

inspiring!

May 28
send a green star

Past Member .

9:09AM PDT on May 27, 2012

thank you

May 27
send a green star

Terry V.

8:11AM PDT on May 22, 2012

very nice, thanks

May 22
send a green star

Tia P.

12:55AM PDT on May 22, 2012

Interesting article...

Dave C.

6:13PM PDT on May 21, 2012

cool thanks.

May 21
send a green star

Phillipa W.

5:39PM PDT on May 21, 2012

thanks

Bob P.

7:31AM PDT on May 21, 2012

interesting thanks

Kath P.

3:25AM PDT on May 21, 2012

"geothermal heat pumps are often little more than expensive bling stuck on big, inefficient homes..." I couldn't agree with you more.
The changes that were made to that house sound great. Keep up the good work!

Sam E M.

2:16AM PDT on May 21, 2012

Interesting. Pity about the two cars parked out front.