Boles Home

2021 All-Electric Leader
Honorable Mention

Location: Pacifica

Building type: Single family home new construction with Accessory Dwelling Unit

Status: Completed

Size: 3,189 square feet

Expected completion: 2019

Homeowner: Christine and Robert Boles

Overview

The homeowners of the Boles home are architects and environmentalists with children who are “passionate about working to solve the climate crisis.” Christine and Robert Boles wanted to build an efficient, sustainable, all-electric Zero Net Energy home. They also wanted to use the project for education, starting with themselves, and also sharing their experience with the larger community.

In trying to convince their architectural clients to go green, the inevitable question is “how much will that cost?” They were on a tight budget themselves, so they strove to find simple, low-cost design solutions that were esthetically successful without compromising energy efficiency.

 

The home is fully electric and zero net energy. The HVAC and water heating are high efficiency heat pumps; the clothes dryer is a ventless condensing type, essentially also a heat pump. The many windows and skylights minimize the need for artificial illumination. Light fixtures are LED. The windows are high performance, airtight and low-e. The house is very well insulated, with R-54 in the roof, R-26 in the walls and R-30 in the floors. It is also well sealed, tested to a level of 1.1 ACH at 60 pascals, limiting air movement through the envelope and thereby minimizing heating and cooling losses. Ventilation is via Energy Recovery Ventilators that exchange the temperature of the exhausted air with the incoming fresh air. Our PV system generates 140% of current energy needs, awaiting the purchase of a fully electric car.

Special Features:

  • Envelope “outsulation” that sheaths the walls and roof with carbon-negative cork to improve energy performance
  • Onsite 7.9 kW solar photovoltaic system
  • Heat pump water heater
  • Air source heat pump
  • Induction cooktop

Project Team:

Beausoleil Architects, Christine and Robert Boles
Bruce King
Fox Brothers Construction