Now Available!   
Energy Free
Homes for a Small Planet
by Ann V. Edminster

The definitive guide to design, construction, and economics of net-energy-producing homes

This book is designed to equip building professionals and homeowners alike with a toolkit for creating homes that use no more energy than they produce – homes that are free from the vagaries of energy price fluctuations and that help to free society of the high political and environmental costs of fossil fuels.

Individuals and institutions have been working towards “zero-energy” homes for years, even decades. This volume is the first record of those collective efforts, distilling their experience into a practical, comprehensive, how-to guide. The author includes lessons learned, resource information, and step-by-step guidance on how to make the decisions that will yield an energy-free residential project, whether a single-family home or multi-family building, new or existing, in an urban or a rural setting. The unique needs and opportunities of each context are addressed.

The principal topics include the project boundaries (or why you have to consider not only your home’s behavior, but also your own); prioritizing strategies (e.g., insulation vs. photovoltaics); economics, including payback periods and incentives; how to minimize the building’s energy needs; how to minimize your energy needs; and how to power the energy needs that remain after you’ve pared down as much as you can. A wrap-up chapter focuses on the critical role of integrated project planning in delivering all the home performance goals you establish, and how to orchestrate that process.

Underpinning the whole is a wide array of resource information, from detailed window and insulation comparisons to assessments of the relative contribution of different building elements to overall performance. Energy Free draws on research and empirical data from myriad sources, including DOE’s Building America program, Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s House of the Future, Passiv Haus Institute in Europe and the Passive House Institute of the US, Florida Solar Energy Center, Living Building Challenge, Affordable Comfort, Inc.’s Thousand Home Challenge, and many pioneering individual home projects across North America.

Here's what they are saying:
"Few books are as vital in their time as this one. It's not about the latest green thing --
its about the 'right' thing. And the time is now."
—Mark Piepkorn, Associate Editor, Building Green