100% Powered by Sunshine: First Home in Whatcom County to Receive Net Zero Energy Certification

Improvements by Annie and Jeff Aslan have resulted in Net Zero status for their KCLT home this year. Photo credit: David Johnston.
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Submitted by Sustainable Connections

Sustainable Connections energy program manager doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk. Jeff Aslan and his wife Annie recently received a Net-Zero Energy Certification for their home from the International Living Future Institute — the only home in Whatcom County to have done so, and they are one of only 33 certified in the world!

Jeff and his wife bought their Birchwood home two years ago, it was originally designed by Greg Robinson and built by Cascade Joinery for the Kulshan Community Land Trust. It came with energy efficient construction and a solar system installed by Ecotech Solar. With the onset of the Bellingham Energy Prize, Jeff wanted to do even more to help reduce Bellingham’s overall energy usage. His goal was to supply 100% of the home’s electricity use with solar over the course of one year and receive a Net Zero Energy Certification from International Living Future Institute. The idea of net-zero buildings is to allow for a future free of fossil fuels with distributed energy systems and net-zero buildings — buildings that generate at least as much energy as they consume over the course of a year. 

Photo courtesy: Sustainable Connections.
Jeff and Annie Aslan made substantial changes to their home to make it energy efficient. Photo courtesy: Sustainable Connections.

Getting to net zero by adding more solar panels wasn’t an option for Jeff and Annie as the roof was already full. Instead, they ended up making substantial changes both to the efficiency of the building and to their lifestyle. They started with an assessment from the Community Energy Challenge, giving them some good ideas on how to reduce their usage, then started with small projects such as changing out all the lighting to LED and installing thermal blinds on all of the windows. They then tackled bigger projects like putting in a heat recovery ventilator, a heat pump water heater, and topping off attic insulation. All of these projects had additional benefits like making their house more comfortable, and giving them better air quality and lighting.

They finished their first year in 2015, and as a result of the retrofits and change in personal energy use habits, they ended up producing twice as much energy as they consumed! It was so much energy savings they actually put more energy back into the grid than they consumed a total of nine months out of the year. The stellar energy performance continued into the second year, which confirmed consistent and permanent energy saving for the foreseeable future.

Improvements by Annie and Jeff Aslan have resulted in Net Zero status for their KCLT home this year. Photo credit: David Johnston.
Jeff and Annie’s house is one of thirty-three in the world to recieve this certification. Photo credit: David Johnston.

“We realized we had a lot of control over our spending habits – ultimately how efficient our home is and how conservative we were with energy usage. In terms of our lifestyle, there were certain things that we weren’t willing to compromise on to get to net zero. We wanted to have a warm house in winter, take normal length showers, and still cook all the time. However, we did stay very mindful about our usage – checking our energy usage daily and looking for ways to save. For example, we put all of our electronics on switchable strips and turned them off overnight and while away, and checked the weather forecast before doing laundry so we could dry our clothes outside” says Jeff. “To me, there is no better way to make homeownership affordable than having a home that doesn’t have a power bill.”

This project was accomplished with the help of funding from the Kulshan Community Land Trust, Greg Robinson, EcoTech, Cascade Joinery, and Sustainable Connections. To see more about 2938 Madrona St and other Net-Zero Energy certified buildings visit living-future.org/net-zero/certified-projects.

 

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