Home with Insulated Panels and Geothermal Will Use Half the Electricity, No Gas

April 8th, 2011 by Glenn Meyers

Denver geothermal home built using structural insulated concrete panels Photo: Meyers

Stand on the outside and it’s difficult to see what makes this four-story home under construction in north Denver so innovative. That is, until looking at the list of energy-conscious materials and technologies that are part of the package.

It is not so much a list as it is a blueprint for the future, a habitat that has been built with a minimal energy footprint –- both for the environment and for the folks who have to pay the energy bills.

Richard Sims, owner of Sims Construction, is nearing completion of this state-of-the-art geothermal, insulated panel home that, when complete, will use no natural gas for heating or cooling purposes and only half of what would be considered a normal electricity bill.

This home represents a dream Sims has had for five years. “I wanted to build a better mousetrap,” says Sims. “I have always wanted to work with more efficient housing.”

Now it will be the first such example in the metropolitan area.

The home blends an Austrian-based Amasond geoexchange system with a structural insulated concrete panel system (SCIP). When coated with Sakrete, the walls will protect the house’s heated and cooled air with a verifiable R-40 rated insulation rating.

Structural insulated interlocking concrete panel system Photo: Meyers

Engineer and geothermal innovator Merline Van Dyke is presently working with Sims Construction on finishing this 2,400 square-foot house that uses structural concrete insulated panels (SCIPs) on the exterior to maintain efficient temperatures.

“What I’m interested in talking about are the efficient ones,” says Van Dyke. He began experimenting with making homes more efficient in 1994, building a home in the foothills west of Denver, using structural insulated panels.

The Amasond Geoexchange system Sims has installed in this domicile has a lot of appeal. Geothermal (taken from the Greek roots geo, or earth, and thermos, or heat) is power extracted from heat stored in the earth.

Sims drilled to a depth of 118 feet, where the Denver earth is a constant temperature of 52 degrees — a foundation for adding heat in the inter or cool air in the summer.

At Amasond, developing a new technology system for a geothermal heat exchange was an idea developed by Dr. Sonderegger, director of HENN connectors, and Ing. Amann, who has worked in the field of energy and geothermics for many years.

Sims flew to Austria to learn as much as possible about the company’s Geoexchange system, not just for the homes he will be building, but for existing homes that can be retrofitted with a geothermal system.

The top floor of the home will serve as a garden and patio, says Sims. The lower portion will feature a three-car garage. Sims says he is already receiving calls of interest from other builders and architects. The Amasond system is modularly designed, offering installation flexibility. In addition to being a modular platform, the Amasond system can be used for retrofitting on existing homes. Sims says the price tag can run from $20,000 to $30,000.

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Tags: Amasond, geoexchange, Merline Van Dyke, Richard Sims, SCRP, structural conrete insulated panels

About the Author

Glenn Meyers is a writer, producer, and director. Meyers was editor and site director of Green Building Elements, a contributing writer for CleanTechnica, and is founder of Green Streets MediaTrain, a communications connection and eLearning hub. As an independent producer, he's been involved in the development, production and distribution of television and distance learning programs for both the education industry and corporate sector. He also is an avid gardener and loves sustainable innovation.

chi

This looks really similar to the Tridipanels in S. CA.
http://www.tridipanel.com/
http://www.facebook.com/scip.buildings Scip Panel Buildings

Some big differences between ICF and SCIP is it you do not protect the exterior like SCIP System’s you will not have the fire rating. Without thermal mass material on the interior side you do not take advantage of the flywheel effect of thermal mass.

Check out Oak Ridge nationals Labs study of 16 different wall configurations including ICF, SIP and SCIP.

Thermal Mass – Oak Ridge National Laboratory
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/research/…/thermal/index.html
Go to CONCLUSIONS
Taken from report
(Comparative analysis of sixteen different material configurations showed that the most effective wall assembly was the wall with thermal mass (concrete) applied in good contact with the interior of the building. Walls where the insulation material was concentrated on the interior side, performed much worse. Wall configurations with the concrete wall core and insulation placed on both sides of the wall performed slightly better, however, their performance was significantly worse than walls containing foam core and concrete shells on both sides.)
http://twitter.com/GreenBuildingSt Barrett Enterprises

Building with ICF, using ICF coatings they can be zero maintance, eco-friendly and disaster resistant.
- http://twitter.com/sims55 Rich Sims
  
  But vary limited thermal mass.
  
  See http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/research/detailed_papers/thermal/index.html
  Comparative analysis of sixteen different material configurations showed that the most effective wall assembly was the wall with thermal mass (concrete) applied in good contact with the interior of the building. Walls where the insulation material was concentrated on the interior side, performed much worse. Wall configurations with the concrete wall core and insulation placed on both sides of the wall performed slightly better, however, their performance was significantly worse than walls containing foam core and concrete shells on both sides.
Richard

We did not attempt to build truly passive home on a 25′ wide lot with zero setback on sides.
I did turn the heat off for the past three weeks this winter and the heat never dropped below 60 degrees. Inside the house the interior walls where the sun hits were as warm as 82 in the late afternoon warming the house through out.
The thermal mass combined with a thermal break is what makes the difference. Before the windows were installed and after the interior shotcrete was shot the heating fuel need dropped by 70%.
Anonymous

Yes, yes, yes, but does it meet passivhaus?