Last year East Cooper Breakfast Rotary Club (ECBR) President Wayne Cassaday had a vision.

He saw that area Rotary Clubs could join together to build a Habitat for Humanity house, thinking it would be a good way to build camaraderie among the various clubs and within the individual clubs.

This vision grew to what is now an incredible opportunity for volunteers and a Habitat For Humanity recipient.

"In the Rotary tradition of Service Above Self this is an opportunity for the area Rotary clubs to work together towards a large goal and have tangible, long term benefits for the community," Cassaday said.

But this won't be just any Habitat House.

This house, located in Phillip's Community on McAdams Court will be a Net Zero Energy House.

Charles Muldrow, a Rotarian in the ECBR Club, and a local architect, has been involved for some time with the Charleston Building Enclosure Council (BEC | Charleston), a joint initiative of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the National Institute of Building Science (NIBS) - which has a primary objective of providing educational opportunities to architects, contractors, and manufacturers, and building officials, toward means of improving the performance of the building envelope.
BEC | Charleston had been exploring the idea of building a Net Zero Energy House, and using the construction process as a vehicle for education, with a particular emphasis on how to achieve net zero energy consumption in a hot-humid environment such as Charleston.
Cassaday's vision and Muldrow's need for a real world case study made for the perfect match.
Together they approached the East Cooper Habitat for Humanity with the idea.
East Cooper Habitat For Humanity President Bob Hervey enthusiastically endorsed the idea.
He shared his thoughts.
"In recent years Habitat has been building houses that are more energy efficient. We're building to LEED certification specs, a rating agency for energy efficiency. In addition we have been putting in energy efficient appliances to make the houses more affordable over the long run for the homeowners. But we felt that we wanted to do something different and the partnership with the Rotary Club allows us to take a big step forward in showing what kind of energy efficiency can be obtained in well designed and highly efficient housing," Hervey said.
BEC | Charleston sought the help of Jeff Christian, a pre-eminent researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help.
Christian has overseen a research project over the last number of years that has resulted in seven near Net Zero Energy Houses being constructed.
What is it?
A Net Zero Energy House seeks to achieve two primary goals: 1. construct an energy efficient, super-insulated building envelope, and control the amount of outdoor air that enters the structure; and 2. provide a renewable energy source, generally photovoltaics, that produces energy for the house, and sell excess energy back to the power company through a process of reverse or "net" metering.
In addition, all energy using equipment and appliances must be very efficient.In June of 2009, Jeff Christian presented his research to BEC (Charleston and the East Cooper Breakfast Rotary Club).
He spoke of the challenges and the benefits of the concept in a world that will see energy cost continue to rise. There are benefits to the utility companies as homes use less energy, produce their own energy and more during peak demand times, and create less demand on the grid— and thus less demand for new power plants.
"The real story here is that a Net Zero House will generate enough energy to power the home plus sell power back to the utility," Muldrow said.
In the hot humid climate that exists in the Charleston South Carolina region, the need to pre-treat the humid air coming into the house presents a challenge to the idea of a Net Zero Energy House. Energy must be consumed to provide for drying the indoor air. Thus, the research aspect of this house provides the Charleston Building Enclosure Council a good opportunity for exploration of solutions.
This project has tremendous implications in highlighting energy-efficient construction methods and cost-effective net-zero energy strategies, beneficial to all citizens of South Carolina, but very significantly to the sector of the population that is least able to afford increasing energy costs.
"The initial cost is higher because of the technologies used, but as they become more prevalent, those costs will hopefully come down," Muldrow explained.
This project will explore the challenges of constructing a net-zero energy in a hot humid environment. Most notably, the demands of very tight envelope required to reduce infiltration, dictate fresh air be brought in under controlled circumstances. This climate with hot-humid air can lead to elevated moisture loads, which must be dehumidified to avoid fungal defacement and other moisture related problems. This project can help identify strategies to balance indoor air quality issues with the energy consumption demands for such dehumidification.
Muldrow expressed his hope that this project will reach across a broad spectrum of the population to encourage energy efficient design. It will be a learning laboratory for engineers, architects, and designers. It will provide a model of efficiency for Habitat for Humanity for this and future projects. It will educate a legion of Rotary, community, and student volunteers in a new way of thinking, and hopefully engender enthusiasm for the imperative of less energy consumption.
This project will build on the work of others, such as Jeff Christian's work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, but it is the hope that the successful completion of a Net-Zero Energy House will increase the prominence of South Carolina in effectively tackling building energy consumption, and engage the state's electric utilities in find ways to make net-metering a balanced success story for consumer and provider alike.
With tremendous support of local material suppliers, and the enthusiastic cooperation of local Rotary Clubs, the project is now close to the funding levels that the actual construction can hopefully begin in September.
The project, with anticipated technologies such as geothermal heating and cooling, solar water heating, and photovoltaics is estimated to exceed $100,000. Of that amount local suppliers and Rotary club grants will provide almost $70,000. The East Cooper Breakfast Rotary Club is asking for the public's help is closing this funding gap, and through every dollar donated to Rotary for this purpose, matching grants can make it multiply. Muldrow said about $40,000 is the needed funding to construct this project.
The house
The house design has been modified from a design used by Christian at ORNL. Rotarian Paul Curry is helping with the structural design work. Rotarian Warren Pruitt is assisting with site design. Dennis Knight, of Liollio Architects and a member of BEC Charleston is assisting with the mechanical design to study how the humid outdoor air will be treated. Pella Windows has donated its (most energy efficient) windows, while a reflective roof has been donated by (IMETCO) and SIPS (which is a Structural Insulated Panel) from Global Solutions are being donated at a reduced rate.
ECHFH has built LEED Certified homes before but this will be the first of its kind focused on energy. However, Muldrow explained, the home will feature (other) sustainable strategies.
South Carolina Electric and Gas recently launched a program to allow for a Net Zero system and have in place specific guidelines for those who want to tap in using a specified inverter to safely put power back through the lines.Building this house won't be much different for volunteers who have worked on Habitat Homes in the past. The real difference Muldrow said would be the great attention to detail that goes into making the home air tight. Volunteers from the building industry will work alongside
Rotarians and then a blower door test will be conducted to ensure the house is air tight. In addition, Sea Island Habitat For Humanity is a partner. Grants Coordinator Nikki Seabrook is working to secure "sustainable project" grant funding.
Construction should begin in September and take about five months to complete, which is only one month longer than the construction process on a traditional Habitat home. The home will feature two bedrooms and two bathrooms and will total 1,200 sqft. A homeowner has not been chosen for the home yet, but their responsibilities will be passive. The utility bills will be monitored for research purposes.
To donate
Contact East Cooper Breakfast Rotary President Wayne Cassaday at wayne.cassaday@gmail.com to donate to East Cooper Habitat For Humanity at 881-2600 to volunteer.