A great opportunity crossed my path when Jamie Trahan from the USF Clean Energy Research Center called. As a local green builder, she thought I could help her search for homes to feature on the 14th annual ASES National Solar Tour being held across the country on October 3rd.
Sadly, I informed her although I researched installing solar on our super energy efficient homes, I couldn’t find a way to make it work. Our mission is to build sustainable and affordable. We went with a gas fired tankless hot water system. Yes, it is natural gas, not a renewable, but still better than a traditional water heater sapping electricity around the clock. I know everyone can relate to waiting for water to come from the tank to your shower and up to a comfortable temp, wasting gallons upon gallons of water in our already deprived region. Tankless saves money and almost more importantly, water. Would I have preferred solar? Damn straight I would, future homeowners of our Ec0-Craftsman would have benefited from a zero energy home, but solar is caught in a conundrum of sorts. There’s not the demand to spur mass production, which leads to lower costs while at the same time, there isn’t the mass production leading to lower cost which would spur demand.
This article appears in Sep 2-8, 2009.