The Cripes Round Rock, Texas Home

The Cripes worked with Solluna Builders to design and build their home. This company specializes in custom house design and has extensive experience with net-zero energy homes. The combination of a plentiful amount of sun in Central Texas, relatively mild winters, and the reduced size requirements for the homemade net-zero energy a guiding goal of the project.

While many homeowners who dream of building a sustainable home might be tempted to move into the countryside and away from the stricter regulatory powers of homeowners associations and local zoning laws, the Cripes home is an example of a sustainable, energy-efficient residential building project that is located in a conventional planned-unit development (PUD).

They did, however, face several regulatory challenges during the building process. Local lenders were not open to financing a non-traditional house, and the owners thus had to reduce their overall loan and pay for much of the construction in cash.

Their home included a geothermal HVAC system and an efficient heat pump for additional heating and cooling. In addition, a rainwater harvesting system reduced their monthly water bills by $70 for an average annual savings of $840.

Other features incorporated into the home that helped maximize energy efficiency included bio-based spray foam insulation, high-quality thermal windows, and a 5kW grid-tied solar electric system. An online monitoring system for their solar panel system allows them to make periodic adjustments to maximize the amount of energy produced. The Carrier Puron Geothermal heat pump offers 722 square feet of living space per ton of cooling and provides free hot water as a byproduct. The home is furnished with the latest energy-efficient appliances, including a magnetic induction cooktop. 

Water Savings in the Heat of Central Texas

The average high temperature in Austin, Texas, during August, is a sweltering 97 degrees. For homeowners trying to maintain a green lawn during the long summer months, an enormous amount of water would be needed.

However, the Cripes home maintains a thriving, beautiful lawn landscape even during a horrific drought that saw 100 days with temperatures routinely triple digits. The Cripes home landscape contains no turf grass, which needs excessive water to thrive in hot climates. Instead, the home utilizes an ecological xeriscaping technique that focuses on native plants that radically reduce the watering need. A 500-gallon rainwater collection system is connected to hose bibs that irrigate the garden and lawn.

The Red Sky Project

A couple of miles away from the Cripes home, The Red Sky Project is another fantastic example of a sustainable, net-zero energy home that thrives in the harsh climate of central Texas. The Red Sky Project is a massive renovation of a 150-year-old barn into a high-performance, net-zero energy home. This old barn's renovation included several upgrades, including a 4.5 kW solar system, a spray foam envelope geothermal heating and cooling, and large overhangs as part of a larger passive solar design.

Like the Cripes home, the Red Sky Project includes rainwater harvesting, native plant xeriscaping, and a greywater recycling system for a beautiful lawn landscape with virtually zero irrigation needs.

Whereas the Cripes home offers a useful example of how homes in traditional suburban settings can be designed for maximum sustainability, the Red Sky Project offers an excellent example of how even the most dilapidated structures can be renovated into high performance, beautiful, and sustainable homes.