Imery Group built this 1,863-square-foot custom home in Monroe, Georgia, to the high performance criteria of the U.S. Department of Energy Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program.

With the 8.2-kW photovoltaic system on the roof, this home performs better than net zero, achieving a HERS score of -13, which means it produces more power than the home will use so there may be power left over to run an electric car or sell back to the grid.

Despite the quaint, old-fashioned looking exterior, this modern farmhouse is all high performance, from its highly efficient building envelope to its high-efficiency equipment inside. The home should save its owners more than $2,000 per year compared to a home built to code.

Advanced LED lighting and high-efficiency ENERGY STAR appliances save water and energy.

To minimize flood risks, the home has a raised slab foundation consisting of 3-foot-high concrete masonry unit (CMU) stem walls that form a perimeter, which was filled with compacted dirt and topped with 4 inches of stone, over which the builder laid 1 inch of R-10 rigid foam insulation and a 6-mill poly-vapor barrier, then 4 inches of concrete.

The walls consist of 2-by-4 studs staggered on a 2-by-6 plate, leaving space to wrap insulation around one edge of each stud; this stops thermal bridging or the passage of heat through the wall studs.

Heavy-duty air-sealing tape forms a gasket around every wire or pipe that passes through the exterior walls.

A coated exterior sheathing product that is taped at all seams helps provide a continuous draft-blocking air-seal around the home.

The 5.5-inch-thick wall cavities were filled with dense-packed cellulose then wrapped in a coated OSB sheathing with an interior layer of R-3 rigid foam to provide an overall insulating value of R-29 to the framed walls.

Imery keeps the home warm and dry by filling the walls with cellulose insulation then layering on a coated insulated sheathing, which is topped by a 3/8-inch rigid plastic channeled rain screen product and fiber cement siding.