Things we’d do differently
When building a new house, it is always easy, with hindsight, to think of ways we could have built the house better. Here are some of our thoughts:
- Think about snow and your solar panels. Our panels are at about a 45 degree angle on our upper roof, which is not quite steep enough for the snow to slide off quickly. Originally we planned a gantry which ran in front of the panels so we could sweep off the snow easily, but we didn’t construct one for budgetary reasons. Make sure that your panels are positioned so that they don’t accumulate snow, or so that you can safely remove any snow, or you’ll lose valuable energy in the winter.
- Put in way more power points than you think you'll need. You'll need them! Keep an eye on the electricians and make sure they put them all in. Once the dry walling is done, it's much more expensive to fix later.
- Think about how you'll dry your laundry. Tumble dryers use a lot of energy, whether
gas or electric. If we ever build another house, we will include a solar drying room.
This will be a south facing room with lots of passive solar heat, and perhaps a solar
space heating panel, which produces warm air from sunlight (here’s an example from
Northern Tools). With the right design, this would give a free supply of warm air
to dry clothes on sunny days -
at zero energy cost. We are also looking at a way of diverting the exhaust hot air from our tumble dryer in winter so that it heats our utility room instead of venting valuable heat outside.
- Pay attention to the well pump. If you might get your electricity from solar panels in future, your choice of well pump can have a profound impact on the cost of your solar electric system. Many well pumps run off 220V and have a very high starting current. Your solar electric system will have to supply 220V and cope with this high starting current, requiring you to buy much more expensive inverters. Look at getting a solar friendly well pump system, even if you don't initially buy solar electric panels.
- Keep it simple -
our radiant heating system is very effective, but it uses 5 zones with a multitude of pumps and valves, all of which can draw power (and go wrong). With hindsight, we probably could have simplified the heating system somewhat, reducing the initial cost and power consumption.