Clintonville Passive House

November marked the end of “Solar Year One” at the Clintonville Passive House. And as my solar panels take a rest under their blanket of snow, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the first twelve months of electricity production and consumption in our all-electric home.

Let’s cut to the chase: we didn’t meet our net zero goal. Overall, the house produced [81.7%] of what we consumed. That’s a bit disappointing, but it’s not a surprise given where the numbers stood at the end of June. A mix of over-consumption and underproduction are to blame, mostly centered around the winter months. The fact that both my wife and I have been working from home most of the time may play into the increased energy use. 

[Graph: Monthly electricity consumption and solar production for Solar Year One.]

A silver lining is that the last four months of the Solar Year (July through October, that is) saw better-than-anticipated solar production and slightly less consumption than projected. So, we ended up in slightly better shape than I thought we might when I wrote the last article. 

I’ve made a couple small improvements to the HVAC and hot water delivery systems that may have a significant positive impact on reducing consumption. A slight adjustment of heating and cooling air registers should encourage more even temperature distribution between the basement and upper levels of the house, necessitating less use of the backup resistance heat over winter. Also, it seems that a faulty check valve in the hot water recirculating system may have been allowing hot water to convectively travel through the loop even when demand wasn’t calling for it, losing heat along the way. Replacing that check valve has hopefully prevented any more of that nonsense.

Even though I haven’t yet achieved real-world net zero performance, I can take solace in the fact that the house has performed admirably in essentially every other respect.  It’s far more comfortable, quiet, and healthy than the status quo houses of the day.  

I’ll keep looking for ways to conserve energy.  For now, I’m crossing my fingers that the snow is mostly done for December, because underneath the snow is where the sun don’t shine—at least in one sense of the expression.

Here’s to the holiday season, time spent with family and friends, and staying warm!

Thanks for reading.