"EMPOWERHOUSE" The Future Of Living

   
The term "energy efficient home" just acquired an entirely new concept, and that is the "Empowerhouse". Engineered and developed by students at Stevens Institute of Technology, Parsons The New School for Design, and Milano School for International Affairs; the Empowerhouse won the Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon competition for its cost effectiveness. The Empowerhouse, located just outside of Washington D.C., has basically NO carbon footprint by using approximately 90% less energy for heating and cooling.

     The home is a 1,000 sqft duplex with 12 inch think walls and triple glazed windows. For proof of the homes efficiency it was given the passive house certification test and passed. To test the home a giant blower fan was positioned in one of the doors while all the other doors and windows were closed. The fan slowly sucked out all of the air until the house was pressurized at 50 pascals and then the amount of air that creeped its way back in was measured. The results on a typical home will have a reading of 7 air changes per hour which basically means that in one hour, all the air in the home is replaced 7 times. To pass the passive house certification test means you have recorded a reading of 0.6 air changes per hour. 

“That means that all the little leaks put together are smaller than a postage stamp,” said Orlando Velez (Manager of the Housing Services for Habitat for Humanity of Washington D.C.) “And if you wanted to, you could heat your home with a hair dryer quite easily.”

     Now to answer the questions that I am sure most people are wondering, what is the price tag on this housing innovation and how much will you actually save in energy costs? Well, the cost is approximately $200,000 for each half of the duplex and the estimated energy savings is almost $72,000 over the length of a resident's 30-year mortgage. A lot can be done with that amount of money freed up for your future. 

“I just remember thinking, we did it, a non-profit, affordable house developer can do this, even using volunteers with no construction experience,” said Velez. “And then I started thinking, what’s everyone else waiting for?”