DOE Tour of Zero: Green Acres, Taylor St. by Greenhill Contracting
Photos
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Greenhill Contracting built this 3,200-square-foot production home in New Paltz, New York, to the high performance criteria of the U.S. Department of Energy Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program.
Photo courtesy of Greenhill Contracting
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The simple box shape provides the most cost-effective design for constructing ICF walls and is in line with the local Hudson Valley Dutch Colonial architectural style.
Photo courtesy of Greenhill Contracting
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Highly efficient triple-pane, vinyl-framed, argon gas-filled windows block heat flow while letting in plenty of daylight.
Photo courtesy of Greenhill Contracting
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The builder took several steps to maintain good air quality in the super-airtight (0.20 ACH 50) EPA Indoor airPLUS certified home. The home contains no combustion appliances, has no-/low-VOC paints and finishes, and is equipped with an energy recovery ventilator to bring in filtered fresh air while exhausting stale air.
Photo courtesy of Greenhill Contracting
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The ultra-efficient ground source heat pump provides water heating as well as space heating.
Photo courtesy of Greenhill Contracting
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ICF walls wrap the floor slab in R-22 of insulation while the entire space under the slab was covered with 4.3 inches of closed-cell spray foam.
Photo courtesy of Greenhill Contracting
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Wiring runs are covered with canned spray foam to maintain the continuous foam layer that covers the inside and outside of these ICF block walls.
Photo courtesy of Greenhill Contracting
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Every DOE Zero Energy Ready Home is performance tested by a HERS rater prior to certification. Greenhill Contracting's homes usually beat the 0.60 ACH 50 Passive House whole-house air leakage limit.
Photo courtesy of Greenhill Contracting
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Insulated concrete forms are hollow foam blocks that stack like bricks to form walls that are reinforced with steel rebar and filled with concrete. The walls are fire-, pest-, wind-, and earthquake-resistant and so airtight and insulated that they can maintain stable indoor temperatures for days without power.
Photo courtesy of Greenhill Contracting
“Greenhill Contracting has been 100% committed to building Zero-Energy Homes since 2007.”
– Anthony Aebi, builder, Greenhill Contracting
“Greenhill Contracting has been 100% committed to building DOE Zero-Energy Homes since 2007. The team has worked tirelessly to reduce the construction costs associated with high-performance homes including developing continuous improvement strategies. At this point, with the use of ICF and spray foam thermal and air-control strategies, the DOE Zero Energy Ready threshold can be achieved without any significant costs over a code-built home.”
– Anthony Aebi, builder, Greenhill Contracting
