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The holy grail of energy conservation is “Off the Grid” housing. This is where the homes do not need to draw power from the electric company to provide basic services for their homeowners. In Lenior City, outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, The Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Habitat for Humanity have teamed up to build 4 homes they have been operating since 2002 that use only 82 cent of electricity a day.

The development of these energy efficient prototypes do cost a fortune either. The homes were built for less than $100,000 dollars each and plans for a 1,320 and 2,640 square foot version of the homes are already drawn out and ready.

As the cost of fuel continues to rise, building green is going to add great value to a home. If the average home uses 4 dollars a day in electricity and these homes use 1 dollar, there is a cost savings of over 1,000 dollars a year just in the housing. And as the success of the Prius has shown us, many people will decide on the energy savings as the politically correct alternative.

This past weekend, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy hosted a workshop at downtown’s Lawson McGhee Library on its “Zero-Energy” home plans. The product of a partnership between SACE, the Tennessee Department of Community and Economic Development, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Knoxville’s own Elizabeth Eason Architecture, the plans are ready-to-build using proven technology such as high-efficiency heat pumps, solar hot water systems, photovoltaic electrical systems, controlled fresh air ventilation, high performance windows and superior insulation to produce a home whose net energy costs run less than a dollar a day.
Those estimates aren’t just an academic exercise, either. Starting in 2002, ORNL’s Building Technology Center teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to build four demonstration homes outside Lenoir City. Built for less than $100,000 each, those homes’ daily energy costs averaged out to a mere 82 cents a day compared to the $4-$5 of an average Lenoir City home. They weren’t entirely “off the grid,” but at times, their meters more or less ran backwards. Credit for excess electricity contributed back to the power grid trimmed an average of almost $300 off each home’s annual utility bill.
Other than some solar panels perched on the roofs, these homes were all but indistinguishable from the conventional houses Habitat builds. And, with a few finish upgrades, they could easily mix into most existing subdivisions and neighborhoods (the plans are available in both 1,320 and 2,640 square foot models). But while the demonstration project proved that drastically cutting home energy consumption is an achievable goal, there’s one piece missing.  via Metro Pulse.

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