Navigating Challenges and Rewards in Creating an Energy-Efficient Home
When Susan Stillman, former chairman of the Vienna Conservation and Sustainability Commission, recently built a new home, her goal was to establish it as a leading model of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
According to the Gazette Leader, Peabody Fine Architects in Alexandria designed the house, located at 214 Ayr Hill Ave., N.E., and its constructed by AllenBuilt Inc. of Bethesda.
The house, which covers about 3,200 square feet of interior space (excluding the basement), received a ZERO 2021 design certification from Phius, a non-profit group that specializes in high-performance buildings that require little energy to heat or cool. The home rates 11 on the Energy Use Index, versus 45 for the average U.S. single-family house, indicating it uses 75 percent less energy.
A bank of solar panels dominates the south side of the home’s peaked roof. The house has all-electric appliances, continuous insulation, triple-paned windows, LED lighting and Energy Star appliances. There are 6 inches’ worth of insulation on the house’s exterior, 6 inches of Grade 1 insulation inside the home’s shell and even insulation under the concrete basement slab.
An energy-recovery ventilator removes stale air and brings fresh air into the tightly sealed house. Virginia’s building code permits a home’s air to leak out 3.5 times per hour; Stillman’s house, with its envelope-sealing “AeroBarrier” system, changes air once every five hours.
