Spring 2008 - Volume 2 - Issue 1
K2 Builds Hydrogen Home
By David B. Wamsley
CEO, K2 Urbancorp LLC
In Dubai builders blithely build massive islands in the shape of palm trees so large they’re visible from outer space. They also build climate-controlled ski-able mountain slopes inside colossal mile-long buildings into which they pipe endless tons of powdery drifts of artificial snow.
Such is life in an oil-rich desert nation.
Here in the U.S.A. it’s a different story, of course. We’re frantically searching for effective energy alternatives, or looking to perfect ways to consume less. There is the unmistakable sense that our futures depend on this.
The cost of gasoline, utility rates that continue to go up and up, melting ice caps – the proverbial writing is on the wall.
Individuals and companies must find ways to swiftly create the changes required to free us all from our current over reliance on fossil fuels.
K2 Urbancorp took its first steps to do this with the design of Evening Rose, Tallahassee’s first TND, a walkable community that encourages people to unshackle themselves from the automobile and live and work in beautifully designed, green-built structures that are so energy efficient they can be 25 to 50 percent less costly to operate.
But even as we sell lots and continue building homes and commercial space in the Evening Rose Town Center we’ve begun developing what may just be tomorrow’s home today – homes powered by nothing more than sunlight and water.
Sound farfetched? Read on.
K2 Urbancorp, along with research partner Florida State University, is already building just such a building. The “Off-Grid, Zero Emissions Building,” or OGZEB, is the brainchild of our friends at FSU’s Sustainable Energy Science and Engineering Center (SESEC).
The OGZEB is totally self-contained and solar powered. Surplus electricity generated will be applied to split hydrogen from water in order to store energy.
Hydrogen gas, which burns so clean and efficient that its only byproducts are water vapor and heat, will be utilized for stove and oven flame and water heating. Hydrogen fuel cells will store and deliver the electricity. These fuel cells, designed and built by FSU graduate students at SESEC, are more efficient than any similar product available.
A partial list of other environmental features included in the OGZEB include:
- A sophisticated geothermal H-VAC system
- High efficiency building system
- Rinnai tankless water heater
- Reused lumber from old barns and buildings
- The use of bamboo and other renewable resources
- Passive lighting provided by clear windows
We think the OGZEB – which will emit no CO2 gases – will earn a Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Platinum certificate for sustainable design and construction from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). There are only 3 platinum LEED-NC 2.2 buildings in the world.
When completed in September, the home will provide a testing lab and office space for graduate engineering students who will monitor its operation, inside and out, gathering data on everything from ventilation to emissions. It will become a live-in laboratory for young engineers and home designers pursuing cutting-edge environmentally sustainable practices – the very people K2 Urbancorp would look to hire one day.
While others may talk about being green, K2 Urbancorp is building the greenest homes in Florida even as we push the envelope on what is possible tomorrow. Why do we do all of this? After all, we could be building conventional homes as most builders still do.
My four-word answer: Our freedom, our future.
