November 05, 2012 – When four of the nation's most energy-efficient houses are sold, the new homeowners can opt to allow the research project to continue, providing additional data that could make houses of tomorrow even better. This would also enable researchers to compare simulated occupant effect on energy use with actual occupancy. Over the last three years, the Wolf Creek subdivision houses in Oak Ridge used less than half the electricity of the average new house of the same size. Making these savings possible were new heat pump water heater and geothermal integrated heat pump technologies, high-efficiency appliances, new envelope techniques and other energy-saving strategies. The ZEBRAlliance houses were designed and built by a team comprised of Schaad Companies, BarberMcMurry Architecture, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee Valley Authority, the Department of Energy and industry partners.
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