New Lab for Testing Possibilities of Net-Zero Energy Homes
It looks a lot like many other suburban homes. It’s even located in a popular suburban area – Gaithersburg, Maryland, just north of Washington, D.C. But it’s really a Recovery-funded laboratory, built specifically to allow researchers to test various high-efficiency and alternative energy systems, materials, and designs that would produce all the energy a residential home would need every day.
Officially called the Net-Zero Residential Test Facility, the recently completed lab will be home to researchers from the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. Over the course of a year the researchers, simulating a family of four, will test and demonstrate whether a net-zero energy home can fit in just about any neighborhood.
Approximately $2.5 million of Recovery funds paid for construction of the lab, which includes three types of geothermal systems so they can be evaluated in the same climate and soil types, and multiple ducting systems. Elaborate safety systems are also included, as they would be in any other lab.
The goal is to identify existing and new energy technologies that work best and most affordably in a home-environment.
This technology must be developed sooner rather than later. Geothermal and solar are particularly promising for reducing the carbon footprint worldwide. Not to mention lower the costs of housing for the average buyer.
It’s a normal looking house. I’m curious to see how all that lab stuff fits inside without making the rooms small. Geothermal systems does not sound very consumer friendly from a cost standpoint however.
Unlike solar, geothermal is promising in all kind of locations around the world. It can make the difference for the carbon footprint worldwide.
Are there any plans to show the inside of the house? I’m very interested in seeing this, thanks!