We're Building An All-Electric House! (Part 1) 

I used to be an electrician and 85% of the homes and apartments I wired were 100% electric with no gas lines even fed to the property. I’ve since left that life and became an electrical engineer but still enjoy working with my hands helping friends and family with hour wiring or other projects. I’m here to be any help i can for you and I’m also excited to see this project from start to finish! Be sure to take a lot of videos as I’m interested in how the solar and batteries will tie into a new build vs retrofit like all others I’ve seen

Net Zero and Passive House building techniques are something every new home builder should look into. Finding a builder that is familiar with these construction techniques is important. Air sealing during construction before drywall is installed and again after drywall is installed is important. Air sealing is under appreciated and under utilized. Super well insulated, 2 x 6 or greater wall construction with Zip 2 walls and thermo breaks, energy efficient heating and cooing systems, energy efficient appliances, LED lighting systems, set back thermostats, triple pane European style doors and windows, large overhangs for shading, shade structure for patio, solar panels / roof with battery storage and an EV charger in the garage or 240 volt outlet for one. Finding a contractor and subs that are familiar with tight envelope air sealed building construction techniques is key. You do not want to have to train your builder with your money. There are many Net Zero and Passive House videos on RU-vid that go into detail. Good luck on your project. I am interested in doing the same and have had trouble finding a knowledgable builder in my area. I even offered to be part of a demonstration home project where the builder could use the home to promote energy efficiency building techniques. Your architect and builder might like that idea as a way to advertise their skills.

Since you are starting with dirt and wanna go totally electric, consider Geothermal. Plan on high thermal mass (lots of thick concrete that holds heat/cool that maintains internal house temperature like a thermal flywheel) and insulate on the OUTSIDE. This keeps the thermal mass, ie. internal temp more constant. I think most people don’t get it. It’s EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in harsh climates. My house is as cool as a cave in dead of summer (in Phoenix) due to high thermal mass. Also consider radiant heating/cooling. It’s way more comfortable than dry heating/cooling. It seems like it would compliment geothermal as well. I TOTALLY agree with going all-electric. Another thing: INDUCTIVE COOK TOP. MINE IS SUPER QUICK to boil water and heat foods. It turns the PAN ITSELF into the heating element. The food is sitting on a hot filament. Keep gap between the solar panels and your house. Most people want to place them as close to the roof as possible. This is totally wrong. Do you want airflow below the panels to keep them cool. Also, the airgap keeps the roof cool. It will act like a big umbrella covering your house. General builders have a long way to go before they do things correctly. My girlfriend works for the fifth largest homebuilder in the nation, I’m constantly cringing at how much they are getting wrong just because their focus is so short term...they focus solely lowest prices

With all the sun you get there all electric and solar seems like a no brainer. Awesome enjoy the project!!

Congratulations Alex!

Episode(s) on how you found and chose items/suppliers would be helpful. If you have not watched Maddie Goes Electric, you might want to have a look at that Fully Charged mini series as I felt she did a particularly good job of condensing and blogging her research. Costs would also be very helpful.

1) Looks like the lot doesn't take advantage of a southern exposure. Buying a lot that orients the house with the rear of the house facing south would make a more efficient use of a fixed axis solar panel. 2) Using a ground source heat pump HVAC system instead of an air heat exchanger for your HVAC would increase the efficiency of the HVAC system. 3) Facilitating a design review between the architect and the major contractors will allow changes that may impact to the cost of construction. The goal could be too build a net-zero energy home. 4) Negotiate with the general contractor a penalty clause for the work to be completed by an agreed upon time.

I'm not sure how helpful my experience building an "all electric" house in Ohio compares to CA, but I'd be happy to answer any questions or provide any insight I can to help. Best wishes on the project. You already did right by having an over sized two-car garage.

Hey Alex, become an Electric Ecosystem channel. Cover the whole Input & Output of the ecosystem.

I hope to someday build my own home from scratch (well...with contractors) and I also intend to have everything electric. I've been researching the various system I want to have in the home and I have a large document with lots of details. Some day...

Very nice what you’re doing for your parents. At first, from your intro, it seemed like you were building the house purely for producing RU-vid content! I wondered, “How well is his channel doing?!?” until the clarification! Good luck on the build!

I am excited for this video series! I've played with the idea of fully electrifying my house (currently wayyy outside my financial capabilities) but I've never heard of anyone actually doing it, much less making a video series showing the process. A side note, have you considered the Tesla Solar Roof as an option when looking at solar solutions? Since you are going to be building a brand new roof anyway, it my be financially beneficial to get one of their solar roofs installed. Anyways, looking forward to the future of this series and your channel!

Vey interested in your project, as we want to build a new sustainable house this year. With as much 3phase solar as we can fit, plus powerwalls so we can ready for charging the trimotor Cybertruck . We are in a sunny beach town in Western Australia, similar sun hours to Phoenix, although a little more temperate being right on the coast. We’ll be building a 2 storey to allow sea and river views, so there will be a challenge to insulate with a lot of north facing glass (north is sunny side in Southern Hemisphere). I will certainly follow your build/plans for ideas

I'll play the role of Cpt Obvious and say: make sure your largest roof faces South. Also, you can never have too many solar panels ;-)

I’ve got no experience, but I’m really excited to learn along with you on this journey! I would love to build a nice one story house to live in and then sell our three story townhouse.

I can provide exactly no help, but I’m excited to follow along!

Awesome!!

Alex best of luck. Will you have back up power for the electric house? The hose I live was built in 1978 during the energy crisis. The house was all electric before we converted to gas. Our fist electric bill, when we moved into house 1991, was about $900.00 for two months. Now it is about $116 - $189 a month depending on the weather. We live in cold Upstate NY. I think having an all electric house with solar is the way to go. Good luck

I'm in to follow along - great project. And nice that you are doing that for family. I thought you were going to say you were making a rental. I guess that's an option too. I wish I lived in a place that had that much space.

Splitting and building is a topic of discussion in our house. Reason: build an efficient house and make some money. Looks great man!

Instead of panels what about the new Tesla solar roof (tiles)

Exciting project! Looking forward to plenty of new video content. Sounds like a great way to expand your creative horizons with a really interesting subject. I’m sure it will be great!

My $0.02: Definitely generate your own power but first look at cost-effective ways to reduce the power demand: passive solar, energy efficiency (as you suggested). Too many people focus on adding power generation without looking at reducing demand first. If there are 2 or more occupants, price out a solar hot water heater especially if you live in an area where you can get away with a Direct-Circulation system. Between 3'x8' to 4'x10' of roof space is all you need. Don't bother with on-demand tankless systems, you'll never see your money back. I haven't tried or priced-out systems that cool your garage while heating domestic hot water - could be justifiable but I like the simplicity of a solar hot water heater.

Isn't custom planning everything yourself typically something you do if you have ample money? as opposed to cost security for retirement. Also your architect should maybe work in 3D. Sketchup, revit, that sort of thing. Inherent visualization is just better.

Where’s the man cave/ RU-vid studio?

just insulate well, import tight windows from Europe and do not waste money on expensive electrical home toys...

I just realized you look like adult version of Stewy from family guy

is “all electric” unusual out there? I live in Phoenix area and many houses here including mine don’t have natural gas to them.

Are y’all going to be doing geothermal heating: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DX2RkuE4Vuk.html In floor radiation heat etc?

Cool but you need a gaming room 🖥⌨️🔌🎙🎧🍕🍕🍕🕶