Technical Summit Determines Research Objectives of ecosmart house Project

By Bill Hoy, Project Manager

Bill Johansen explains the goals of this sustainable construction living laboratory.

With the construction phase of the ecosmart house nearly complete, last month 38 building industry business and association representatives from across the U.S., as well as members of the academic community, met in Bozeman for a technical summit. 

The ecosmart house project aims to exhibit the possibilities of maximized energy efficiency and occupant comfort through a combination of the latest sustainable building products and systems. Coordinated by REHAU, two-day the summit brought industry stakeholders and academia together to help determine the direction of the upcoming two-year research phase. 

Participants collaborated to define parameters for using the house during this period as both a demonstration project for sustainable residential construction, and as a unique research, measurement and data-gathering entity for building product and system performance.

Six areas of focus were identified for the two-year post-construction phase of the project:

• Building envelope
• Systems (mechanical/renewable/ventilation/controls/comfort)
• Education, research and lessons learned
• Technology integration standardization
• Marketing
• General oversight

Committees were formed for each area of focus, with a designated leader who will work to recruit additional committee members and to outline specific goals over the coming months.

Research Data on Sustainable Building Systems to be Available via LabVIEW

By Bill Hoy, Project Manager

Fall is here in Big Sky country and cooler night air is settling in already. The heating system is scheduled to be operational by the first of November and the mechanical room is in the process of being completed along with finalization of the electrical wiring. The sheetrock is tentatively scheduled to be installed the week of November 7.

The innovative Sunlight-Responsive Thermochromic (SRT) glazing has been installed in the windows. SRT glazing passively tints the glass in response to direct sunlight using a film sandwiched between two pieces of 1/4 in. glass which is then assembled into a 1-3/8 in. insulated glazing with a suspended heat mirror film between another 1/4 in. glass with a Low E layer.

What does all this mean? It means a possible R4 to R8 glazing rating. The research over the next several years will validate the actual R value.

Technical Summit Will Usher in Research/Academic Phase
A technical summit has been scheduled for November 3-4 here in Bozeman. This is when we will open the project to critical thinking as well as academic and professional scrutiny in order to define exactly what makes homes affordably sustainable and energy efficient. The group will determine what research and data would be most beneficial to verify optimum building designs and mechanical configurations.

A number of sustainable building industry stakeholders from both the public and private sector as well as academia from across the U.S. have been invited to participate. The house is scheduled to be complete by January 2012, after which REHAU will lease the facility for two years to demonstrate and document the various energy systems with the help of Montana State University (MSU).

Open Access to Data
All data and information will be available on the Internet (details to be announced), and will be openly available for access by the general public to learn about all of the systems and their performance. The MSU School of Engineering students will be responsible for installing and monitoring over 350 sensors utilizing data acquisition with a software program called “LabVIEW.” The other key objective of the project is to understand the ROI of the systems and provide recommendations to the industry on alternate systems that are economic.

Geothermal Systems Done, Facade and Envelope Get Finishing Touches

By Bill Hoy, Project Manager

The exterior of the house is 80 percent complete with siding and the stone façade being finalized on the front elevation. The REHAU window frames and door have been installed, with glass scheduled to be installed into the frames during the week of Sept 26. The glass is fabricated with Sunlight-Responsive Thermochromic (SRT) glazing, which passively tints the glass in response to direct sunlight, helping to keep rooms comfortable and allowing occupants to enjoy views without glare or heat from the sun’s rays.

In the mechanical room, the subcontractor has completed connection of the RAUGEO geothermal loops into three separate pairs of manifolds, while installation of the two separate REHAU ECOAIR ground-to-air heating/cooling exchange system is 95 percent complete. The intake ports for two identical ECOAIR systems have been installed with separate valves and fans in order to demonstrate in the research phase how ECOAIR is best installed for optimum efficiency. One system is located within the footprint of the house and the other outside buried 7 ft below the ground.

The triangular tube gas boiler has been attached to the wall and the heat sink manifolds have been completed. Now, work is ready to begin on the installation of the 2-in. PEX distribution piping from all the manifolds and to the equipment and storage tanks.

Stay Tuned for the Research Phase

Sheetrock installation is expected to begin during the week of October 17 with final completion anticipated during the last week of December. Stayed tuned - the research phase of the project will commence once construction is complete!

Infrastructure Work Continues; REHAU Window Installations Begin



Well leads in the mechanical room wait to be tied in to the manifolds.

By Bill Hoy, Project Manager

Infrastructure work continues throughout the house with plumbing and mechanical rough ins now complete. The subcontractor has also completed the geothermal wells. Well leads have been run to and installed in the mechanical room and will next be tied into the manifolds. Permanent power and water service have also been installed in the main mechanical room.

REHAU Window Installation

Windows designed by REHAU are being installed the week of August 8. The windows will have glass fabricated with Sunlight-Responsive Thermochromic (SRT) glazing, which passively tints the glass in response to direct sunlight, helping to keep rooms comfortable and allowing occupants to enjoy views without glare or heat from the sun’s rays. 

The windows will continuously adapt any time of the day, year round, in any place in the house, based on the amount of direct sunlight.

Preparing for Research Phase
As the construction phase moves closer to completion, MSU's Creative Research Lab will begin preparation for the research phase of the project. Geothermal system comparisons will be conducted and performance data on each of the systems and technologies will be gathered and analyzed.

The project's goal is to provide the green building industry with cutting-edge knowledge on the most effective sustainable building systems and how these systems are best optimized. To be among the first to get this information, visit the project's website and register for research updates.  

Geothermal Systems to be Compared in Research Phase: Installation in Progress

By Bill Hoy, Project Manager

Subscribe to this blog so you'll be tuned in when the research phase of this sustainable building project begins this fall. Enter your email address at right. __________________________________________________________________

The summer has finally arrived here in Montana and with the good weather the geothermal installation has begun. The subcontractor is in the process of drilling the first of four 300 ft deep holes that are 6 3/4 in. in diameter. Each hole will accommodate four 1 in. RAUGEO^TM Double U-bend vertical ground loop PEXa pipes. Once the contractor completes the boreholes, he will begin drilling three 20 ft deep, 16 in. diameter holes to install a RAUGEO Helix vertical ground loop probe in each.

The RAUGEO Helix probe, which offers an alternative to deep well drilling, is a new geothermal product that's been in the European market for the last 12 months and is now being introduced to North America. Though this is a new construction project, helical probes are a good solution for a retro-fit in existing residential applications as they don't require large drilling equipment.

This seven-minute video from REHAU UK shows the RAUGEO Helix geothermal probe installation process. (The video will take some time to load.) Also, see diagrams of both the vertical and helical geothermal probes in the May 17 post on this blog.

Both Geothermal Systems Will Be Compared in the Research Phase
As the project proceeds into the research phase, the helix probes will have sensors along with the four vertical geothermal probes which are installed in deep wells. The performance of the two different types of geothermal applications will be compared and the data made available. 

Work is also proceeding in the mechanical room. The subcontractor has begun placing the equipment for the ecosmart house including the AAON heat pump and the heat recovery ventilator (HRV). This Popular Mechanics article explains HRV in more detail.

Within the next several weeks, work will continue in the mechanical room with completion of the HVAC ductwork, connection of the REHAU ECOAIR system into the HRV and heat pump, and rough plumbing for the REHAU thermal solar panels. Other work continues on installing the shingle roof, placement of the fireplaces, completion of all the rough plumbing and preparing for the window installation in mid-July.

Please feel welcome to post questions or comments below.

Preparing for Geothermal Installations

By Bill Hoy, Project Manager

Great weather has allowed for steady progress on the REHAU MONTANA ecosmart house Project. The main work continuing has been the completion of the roof and overhangs around the perimeter of the house as well as the beginning of the waste and vent rough plumbing.

The REHAU radiant heating manifolds are currently being installed and the sub contractor is scheduled to begin work in the main mechanical room during the first week of June. The REHAU windows are being fabricated and should be shipped to the project in mid-June.


REHAU radiant heating manifolds.

Current view of house.



Geothermal Ground-Loop Heat Exchange 

One of the most environmentally friendly and economical heating and cooling systems available today is the ground-source heat pump. In addition to four, 300 ft double U-bend RAUGEO probes to be installed in geothermal wells, the house will also have three REHAU Helix probes. The latter is a product only recently introduced to North America. Each Helix probe consists of 130 ft of 1 in. PEX-a configured in a spiral approximately 15 in. in diameter. The prefabricated Helix is placed in a 16 in. auger hole that is 14 ft deep to allow coverage for frost and filled with grout or native soil mixed with water. This should take place within the next few weeks. 



The REHAU MONTANA ecosmart house will have the ability to monitor temperature on both geothermal systems and compare their performance data.

 

Diagram of vertical probes.

 

Diagram of helix probes.



Experimental Heat Sink Storage Concept

By Bill Hoy, Project Manager
As mid-April approaches, good progress is being made on the REHAU MONTANA ecosmart house. The structural insulated panels (SIPs) for the second floor walls are 90% complete and the contractor is preparing the structural beams and connections for the placement of the SIP roof panels. The roof panels have been delivered to the project site and are scheduled to be installed using a crane this week.

In addition, the Aaon water source heat pump will be delivered to the sub-contractor this week with installation and placement scheduled for early May. Within the next few weeks, the structure of the house will be completed and the plumbing rough-ins will begin. 

Heat Sink Storage Installation

One of the unique concepts of this project is the installation of an experimental heat sink storage based on the Drake Landing Solar Community project in Canada in which 52 houses are part of a district geothermal community system. Each house has two thermal solar arrays that generate domestic hot water. In the summer months, excess hot water is dumped back into the central thermal well field to regenerate heat in the field. Last winter, after two full years of dumping excess hot water in summer, the community was able to use the heat sink for more than 60% of its heating requirements.

The REHAU MONTANA ecosmart house will have three thermal solar panels for generation of the domestic hot water needs and supplemental use of the radiant heating demands. Once hot water needs are met, the excess hot water generated from the thermal solar panel in the summer will be dumped into a heat sink located on the southwest corner of the house buried 10 feet below the concrete deck of the front patio slab.

The heat sink is made up of four zones of one-inch REHAU PEX piping laid in runs of approximately 400 feet each, placed in a loop configuration on top of sheet foil insulation. The loop field will be encased in one foot of grout, scheduled to be poured April 18. Then the heat sink will be backfilled with 95% compacted road mix base material within the ICF walls, and topped with rigid insulation prior to pouring the exposed concrete patio deck.  

The heat sink has sensor monitors located at various heights as well as temperature and flow sensors to document the benefits of this concept and measure the contribution of the heating requirements for the winter months.

Loop-configured REHAU PEX piping is laid at the base of the heat sink.