Hello all! :) This will be my first post here, I'm in the process of building a new home, I'm currently closing on a 35 acres plot in north central Colorado (60 miles for the nearest city :) I've been working on the plans for my new home, roughly 2,600 sqft (between two levels, main floor and basement) I'm planning on doing it with SIPs (Still not sure between OSB and Metal clad/metal studded) with an ICF foundation. It will be a 100% off grid home with PV/Solar Thermal, Radiant Floor, 2Ton 2 Stage Geo-Heat pump. LED Lighting, triple pane windows. bla bla bla. Im excited to build it and wanted to share the design build process with others to both inspire and get advice from others. I'll be posting plans, heat loads, electrical diagrams, photos of the build (wont be until next summer as we wont have the plans done in time for next winter :( Some of the things I will be really proud of is the electrical system and renewable energy systems. The power system will consist of a LiFePo4 400Ah Pack, 20kW Slow Speed Diesel DC Generator (Yes DC not AC), 4kW PV Array. 5kW Pure Sine Wave and 5kW of Modwave. The excess power will be pushed into some other sources. Such as a Atmospheric Water Generator, Slow speed well pump and water filtration system, and a few other things that will run when there is excess power. Other things on site will be a green house, hydroponics and and hopefully a biodiesel algae system that I have in small scale currently. I've been working hard over the last few years to develop system that would allow me to live off the grid with out compromising my comfort of living. My goal is to produce my own food, my own heat and my own power. beyond that I will have a minimal need for much else outside of that. Every thing I do I do with that in mind. Please feel free to comment, ask question, and pose ideas. Some of the things I still need to work on is the ventilation system, water water, security, appliance selection

Brian,
You have taken on a great challenge! I'm also planning my dream house but don't believe I can do it off grid but want net zero, grid tied. I have been planning and designing for a good while and am nearly ready to start. Some questions I have from your initial post: Is the 2600 sq ft made up of a1300 sq ft basement and a 1300 sq ft main floor? Is it 2600 sq ft each level? Why geothermal? Are you sure you have enough battery capacity for the solar array size? Have you considered an air source minisplit like the Mitsubshi Hyper heat series? Why 2 types of inverters? Have you an idea of the cost? Can you use wood as a fuel?
Feel free to contact me off list at lieblerj (at)windstream.net
FWIW I'm planning a poured concrete basement with interior stud walls as the structural support for the entire house and double stud walls on the main level. r80 ceiling, r50 walls above grade r30 basement walls & r24 sub slab.
I'm planning 8KW grid tied PV & I have considered LIFEPO4 battery back up and an XW 6048

Posted By Liebler on 01 Feb 2013 10:53 PM
Brian,
You have taken on a great challenge! I'm also planning my dream house but don't believe I can do it off grid but want net zero, grid tied. I have been planning and designing for a good while and am nearly ready to start. Some questions I have from your initial post: Is the 2600 sq ft made up of a1300 sq ft basement and a 1300 sq ft main floor? Is it 2600 sq ft each level? Why geothermal? Are you sure you have enough battery capacity for the solar array size? Have you considered an air source minisplit like the Mitsubshi Hyper heat series? Why 2 types of inverters? Have you an idea of the cost? Can you use wood as a fuel?
Feel free to contact me off list at lieblerj (at)windstream.net
FWIW I'm planning a poured concrete basement with interior stud walls as the structural support for the entire house and double stud walls on the main level. r80 ceiling, r50 walls above grade r30 basement walls & r24 sub slab.
I'm planning 8KW grid tied PV & I have considered LIFEPO4 battery back up and an XW 6048

I enjoy a challenge also! I would do grid tie but the cost to get a line to the house is 4 times what it would cost to get what I need to be off grid. 400Ah may seem small but I will have a pretty constant load. between the solar thermal system, the green house, the HVAC system and well pump that 400Ah 48V is pretty well sized to minimize short cycling of the charing system. The other reason is that a 400Ah LiFePO4 pack is equal to about 800-1000Ah of FLA batteries due to the larger DOD you can take. LiFePO4's come with their own troubles. Charging them is a little bit different and you need to make sure what ever you attach to the system doesn't try to run its own 3 stage charging cycles. Yes the floor plan is pretty evenly split upper and lower. Im still figuring what type of sip to use for this area before I know what my R-values will be but I would hope ~30 for the walls and at least 60 for the ceiling, although many of the ceilings will be valts so Im not sure I will be able to get to your 80 The TV, entertainment system, wall clocks, and control system run on the pure wave, (any thing with an internal clock, while the well pump, hvac, fans, heating blankets, stove, refer can all be run on the mod wave or straight DC. Truth be told I could run every thing on pure wave but mod wave has a higher output for less cost. I messed up also the mod wave is a 220Vac Non-split phase 7kW inverter with a 14kW peak for 10 seconds while the pure wave is only 110Vac 2kW with a 6kW Peak for 20 seconds. Not really sure where I remembered 5kW from. But Mod wave is much cheaper than pure wave and hits harder for starting high hp motors like deep well pumps ( looking at 400-500' of lift) although the well pump will be on a VFD of its own. I will have a pellet stove but mostly that will be used to warm the house up quickly when we come back from a trip rather than waiting the hour or so for the radiant system to catch up. However, I chose Geo due to the fact that i could run it with out having to bring in a fuel source, be it propane, or wood. I can produce all the power I will need on site for the heat pump. Spec'ed at a 2kW load BTW