Image Credit: Cobblestone Homes (images 1, 5, 6, and 7) and The Dow Chemical Company (images 2, 3, 4, and 8) A showcase for building products produced and co-developed by Dow Chemical Company, the Vision Zero house was built by Cobblestone Homes, based in Saginaw, Michigan. The Vision Zero house will be used as a showcase for local suppliers and contractors, Dow products, and Cobblestone Homes for about a year before it will be placed on the market. Dow has developed a website that includes a video overview of some Vision Zero house energy efficiency features. A virtual tour presented on Dow’s Vision Zero website highlights applications for its Styrofoam tongue-and-groove insulation. The home includes a ground-source heat pump. Solar power collection for the home is handled in part by these Dow Powerhouse solar shingles. Standard solar panels are mounted on a portion of the roof facing the back of the house.
Even if it attracts significant buyer interest, “Vision Zero,” a recently completed energy efficient house in Bay City, Michigan, is unlikely to be sold for at least a year, say those who collaborated on the project. Vision Zero is – like a lot of other new builds that have popped up to help market energy efficient construction, retrofits, and materials – a demonstration home first and piece of housing inventory second.
The Dow Chemical Company and Saginaw-based builder Cobblestone Homes joined forces with several other local contractors and suppliers to construct the 1,752-sq.-ft. three-bedroom/two-bath ranch-style house. It is being presented as Michigan’s first net zero energy single-family dwelling, but also as a destination for people who want to learn about energy efficient construction and materials and appliances that can be used to improve the performance of existing homes.
A no-holds-barred approach
The house is packed with Dow insulation products, including Styrofoam structural insulated sheathing, Styrofoam polyurethane spray foam (for above-grade interior walls and the attic), Perimate insulation (on the basement wall exterior), Thermax sheathing (on the interior basement wall), and a range of sealing materials that collectively push the building’s energy efficiency to almost 70% above that of a comparable home built to code.
This demo, though, is also very much about the virtues of renewable-energy systems, including its ground-source heat pump, solar hot water, and a solar-power system that features both a conventional photovoltaic array on the rooftop facing the back of the house and, on the front-facing roof, Dow Powerhouse solar shingles.
The energy efficiency upgrades over code added $78,400 to the construction cost, according to Dow, while the house is expected save about $3,507 in annual energy costs.
We’re checking with the builder on R values for the shell and on overall construction costs, and will include them here when they become available.
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