Increased comfort level as the super insulated walls reduce radiant cooling and heating. Sitting near the outside wall on a cold day won't make your back feel cold anymore. Insulation value of these homes is two to three times higher than mandated by building codes. In addition, the houses are quiet; there is less indoor noise with triple insulated windows and quiet air circulation system.

Decreased energy costs. Super insulated building envelope (wall and roof assemblies) and a well sealed home reduce heating and cooling loads by greater than 50% over standard construction. Optional renewable solar photovoltaic electricity system can reduce the energy load to zero.

Insulation on both interior and exterior faces of the structure reduces thermal bridging. The exterior air barrier is continuous; all decorative eave details are applied after the house box is fully air sealed.

Higher indoor air quality with the whole house, high quality filtered air circulation system. No carbon monoxide emissions are possible in the house as no fossil fuels are burned in the house (oil or gas). In addition, house materials are selected for no or low VOC content, making the house a healthy place to inhabit.

NOW homes are typically provided with multi zone heating and cooling systems. These systems are offered called ductless, or mini split heat pumps; and are quite efficient as they can produce several times as much heat energy as the electricity they consume. Heat pumps are able to move heat from one place to another, just like a kitchen refrigerator moves heat from inside the box into the kitchen. During the cooling season, the equipment operates in reverse and pulls heat from inside the home and pushes it outside.

Courtesy of US Department of Energy
In heating mode, an air-source heat pump evaporates a refrigerant in the outdoor coil; as the liquid evaporates it pulls heat. from the outside air. After the gas is compressed, it passes into the indoor coil and condenses, releasing heat to the inside of the house. The pressure changes caused by the compressor and the expansion valve allow the gas to evaporate at a low temperature outside and condense at a higher temperature indoors

A NOW House makes Net Zero Energy possible.

A Net Zero energy home is capable of producing, at minimum, an annual output of renewable energy that is equal to the total amount of its annual consumed/purchased energy from energy utilities.

To meet the Net Zero energy standard, our homes use a combination of active and passive strategies to integrate the latest high-performance building technology, including low-energy building envelope assemblies and mechanical systems.