They call it the Net-Zero Energy home. It has ground source heat pumps (promising a 30% reduction in energy use), photovoltaic arrays, supplementary wind power, high efficiency appliances and battery storage, all talking to each other through a Home Energy Manager.
That's a lot of impressive technology. But are green gizmos the best way to achieve net zero energy?
Kevin Nolan, vice president of technology at GE's Consumer & Industrial unit, shows off GE's demand response appliances and Home Energy Manager GE says that the net-zero energy house will cost 10% more than a conventional house. That's a lot of money; if people would pay that much for extra insulation and better windows they would probably save 30% of their energy costs without fancy heat pumps. But they won't, and when builders offered it, few took them up on it.
Moresco notes that Passivhaus design easily achieves 80% reduction in energy use without any high-tech gizmos, just insulation, tight envelope and orientation.
General Electric has the kind of reputation that can make this kind of hardware mainstream, and can generate a volume big enough to support an infrastructure of sales, installation and maintenance that doesn't exist today. There are tens of thousands of existing houses that can be upgraded with it.But if you are starting from scratch, it is better to design so that you have less expensive technology to pay for and maintain, not more. Go for efficiency, not green gizmos.
