Farrar Green Home

The House

The Farrar Green Home is a net zero energy, carbon neutral home. It is certified as LEED Platinum, by the US Green Building Council, the highest rating for green building and is also an SDG&E Advanced Case Study Home as a model of green building.

The house is an open and airy two story, four bedroom, three & 1/2 bath home, designed to emphasize the scenic view of Lake Hodges, and to make the best use of natural light and breeze for the greatest energy efficiency.

“In the United States, buildings account for 39% of the total energy consumption. Building a green/energy efficient home will help minimize the impact of our natural resources while reducing our footprint on the earth. Shouldn’t we all work towards these goals?”
- Drew Hubbell

Anyone can build green! Green building is supported by many federal, state and local tax and other cost saving incentives. The Farrar Green home was designed, from the first pencil sketch, to be green. Architect Drew Hubbell, with Hubbell and Hubbell, has a long track record of designing beautiful green homes.

Features

Some of the green features in the design include:

* The house is oriented to take maximum advantage of the sun for natural lighting and the coastal breezes for cooling. The house is also oriented for optimum output from rooftop photovoltaic (PV) solar panels (link to Solar data sheet), which are sufficient to completely power the home, one electric car and one plug-in hybrid car..

*Passive ventilation strategies bring cool air into the ground floor and allow warmer air to escape naturally through a solar chimney. This allows the home to be comfortable for the majority of the year without additional heating or cooling. Decks and roofs extend over western facing windows to shade the windows from the hot afternoon sun.

* The house is constructed with 1 foot thick, insulated concrete form (ICF) blocks made from recycled concrete and Styrofoam. These blocks are 10 times more sound insulative, 7 times stronger in an earthquake, and 4 times more heat insulative than normal stick frame construction. They also provide a high level of fire resistance and are termite proof and mold resistant. The house was designed specifically with these ICF building blocks in mind in order to minimize construction waste and labor costs. Residual block material was used for landscape walls.

* The house is heated and cooled using a Ground Source Geothermal Heat Pump. This system uses the ground as a heat source or heat sink for high efficiency heating and cooling, with the heat pump powered by solar photovoltaic panels. The Geothermal Heat Pump is also used to heat the swimming pool and spa. And waste heat from the heat pump is sent to the hot water heater, reducing the need to burn natural gas.

* Smart Home Technology is integrated into the whole home and controlled using a Cortexa app running on iPads and iPhones. It controls the heating and air conditioning, whole home audio, lighting, irrigation and security systems all with a touch on a screen. The system is easily programmable which allows it to be customized to changing requirements.

* The standing seam metal “cool” roof, with a radiant barrier, reflects the heat and also allows the solar panels to be simply snapped on, eliminating the need for additional framing materials and providing a very low profile for the solar panels.

* A view deck over the entry to the house also acts as a cool roof to help reflect solar heat before it can enter the home and provides another place to relax and enjoy the view.

* Sustainable materials such as bamboo and cork for flooring, recycled glass and concrete for counters and non-VOC paints and finishes are used throughout the home. Beautiful, locally quarried granite is used for the barbecue countertop and a custom courtyard fountain.

* Long lasting and low power consumption LED lighting was used throughout the house.