Gee-whiz, isn’t solar a good thing?

Gotcha! You thought I was going to say don’t install any solar on your house, right? Wrong! Yes, solar is great. In fact it’s one of the best things you can do for a new house. Solar can be a fantastic long-term financial investment and it can help reduce the need for nuclear, coal, and natural gas 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you’re building a new house I strongly recommend calling some local solar installers to request bids on your project. It may not be in the budget but you’ll never know unless you inquire. Many factors have driven down the cost of solar and arrays can be implemented almost anywhere, so it’s worth serious consideration.

But we need to do more than solar.

As cool as solar is - or any alternative energy generation for that matter - it’s not a solitary solution without some considerable drawbacks. In the case of solar, battery reliance can be a huge drawback. For grid inter-tie systems, space, structural requirements (for load) and initial costs can still be more than many projects can handle. It would be far preferable to promote construction that delivers extremely low energy needs in the first place. Trust me this can be easily accomplished. I’ve done it multiple times and in fact my wife does much of the needed work on our houses completely on her own. So, why not simply reduce new building energy needs to the lowest possible point and then supplement with alternative energies? That’s a good question.

Let me compare two progressive nearby cities that I’m familiar with to illustrate what I’m talking about.

A tale of two cities.

Vancouver, BC is probably doing more than any other city in North America to promote Passive House as a primary solution for energy demand in new construction. The city is encouraging builders and homeowners to,

insulate above code

pay attention to simple but meticulous air-sealing techniques

control ventilation using heat recovery systems

choose high performance windows and doors

conduct basic energy modeling before building

Check it out, the city even promotes it on their website! Friends, that is cool and this approach is a sure fire way to make a long-term positive change in reducing the energy impacts of buildings. (As a side note, all this fervor is even spurning local innovation and economic development. For instance, Passive House window companies are popping up in the region along with a variety of other innovative building product manufacturers and suppliers.)