High Performance, Passive and Zero Net-Energy Homes

Everyone wants to save money and energy, especially if you’re thinking of building a new house or for any major renovation. A public presentation on Tuesday, July 15^th will address how to design, model and construct high performance, super-insulated homes, even to point of having the building be zero net-energy, i.e. where all the annual energy it uses is less than the energy generated. All are welcome to attend this free forum at the Park Street Complex (648 Park Street) in Honesdale from  7:00pm to 9:00pm.

Rob Lewis and Jack Barnett will lead the discussion, which will include super-insulated walls designs for air tight envelopes, passive gains for lighting, heating and cooling, household systems and appliances for energy conservation and modeling the whole building’s energy usage to properly size an energy generation system, such as solar photovoltaic.

Rob Lewis lives in Shavertown, PA and is a principal with Bakker & Lewis Architects. Jack Barnett is a SEEDS board member, interim board president of the newly formed Clean Energy Cooperative Inc. for Wayne and Pike counties, and owner of a ‘nearly’ zero net-energy solar home near Hawley, PA. Rob has been personally and professionally interested in high performance buildings since 1980. He and his partner, Margaret Bakker, designed Jack’s house, which was completed in 2008.

“We want to keep people informed about the latest developments in home building methods for maximum energy efficiency,” says SEEDS Executive Director, Jocelyn Cramer. “This forum will be highly useful to those in the building trades, and anyone interested in renovations to their present home or considering new construction.”