Green Low Energy Home in South Austin

By archives on Jul. 8, 2010 | Topics: Single Family | 7 Comments

This home, designed by Ben Obregon and built by Bill Taute Homes, recently hit the market in Bouldin Creek for $725,000. If you’re in the area and the pending contract doesn’t close, you could find yourself in a contemporary, low-energy home powered by rooftop solar photovoltaics for something near that price.

After completion in 2008, the 2,416 square-foot home received a five star rating from the green building program in Austin. Depending on the month, electricity bills fluctuate between credits and nominal charges, according to the American-Statesman.

Part of what makes this home low energy can be attributed to the cellulose and spray foam insulation, as well as the reflective metal roof, large roof overhangs, low-E windows, and operable windows in the stairwell that release warm air. There’s also some on-site energy created from solar panels.

In addition, the yard is low-maintenance and requires a small amount of water due to the installation of an underground sprinkler system and local water-wise plantings.

This home is located at 1702 S. Third Street in Austin, Texas and has three bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, and a studio above a two-car garage.

[+] Read more about this Five Star Austin House in American Statesman.

Media credits: Marathon Real Estate.

Article tags: Austin, residential

About archives: This article was contributed by the founder of Jetson Green. With the arrival of new ownership in December 2012, Preston left Jetson Green to pursue other business opportunities. If you have questions or need assistance, contact tips@jetsongreen.com.

http://twitter.com/joshudavid Josh Robertson

I’m not saying that every green project has to be tiny, but I feel like Texans are really missing the mark on decreasing footprints. This looks like a greened up version of one of the many mcmansions in austin’s suburbs.
- http://squallco.tumblr.com/ Kevin
  
  I don’t think that’s a fair criticism on this one. It’s 2,400 sq. ft. Sure, it’s not tiny, but it’s not huge either. At the end of the day, if it’s as efficient as advertised, they’ve been very responsible.
http://www.ListedGreen.com Dave

There’s a lot of argument for what considered “too large”. It must be a personal perception, because so many folks with lot’s of money that I personally know have huge (5000 sq ft. +) homes.

We prefer to educate, so they will build smarter. Maybe someday, they will build smaller.
David

How are the operable windows in the stairwell controlled? Manually? Doesn’t look like they would be very easy to get to…
- http://leedvancouver.com/ Ines
  
  Yes, it seems like they are manually controlled and pretty hard to get to. But maybe the smaller window below is enough…
Mchiconsky

The interior looks comfortable, not the usual sterile beauty. Note the more efficient 3 blade ceiling fans throughout. Nice touch.
Tom

It’s been ages since I’ve looked at the photos and I still think that Ben, our architect, did a great job. One thing that makes the house look larger is the 600 sq ft room over the garage. My wife is an artist and many of her canvasses are rather large, and of course artist’s studios must have great ventilation. On the “greened up” comment, nothing could be further from the truth. The first action was to chart the angles of the rising and setting sun through the seasons, then the dominant wind direction through the seasons, and plan everything in the house to work with nature. Most of the green features are passive, not high-tech. Our last electric bill in the house was $1.86.

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