At 8pm on August 26, the DIY Network series This New House will feature four side-by-side research homes constructed by the Zero Energy Building Research Alliance (ZEBRAlliance) in Knoxville, Tennessee. Alliance members, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), built four 2,800 sq. ft. homes with identical designs and different building envelope systems to get real world data on the most cost effective technologies for zero energy homes.
Jeff Christian, the Director of the Buildings Technology Center at ORNL, spoke with Knoxville’s WBIR news team in April on the energy monitoring of the homes using simulated heat cycles, showers and even appliance use over the next two years. When the study is complete, it will provide the building industry with concrete energy and cost data of how SIPs compare to advanced framing, EIFS, and cellulose insulation laced with phase change material.
For more information, visit the ZEBRAlliance website
