How a Washington, DC, Architect Made His 1925 Rowhouse Net Zero

Architect Will Teass and his family have a lot of experience living in historic rowhouses in Washington, DC. When he and his wife, Liz Dixon, were looking for a bigger place for their family of five, they wanted to find another rowhouse they could really make their own. They found this home in the Capitol Hill neighborhood and did a full gut renovation, keeping the historic facade while modernizing everything else. Now, the house is net zero from an energy standpoint, meaning that the home produces as much electricity as it uses. We asked Will for his design and energy advice so you can find ways to make your own home more sustainable over time, too.

Even though Will and Liz's house isn't protected by historic preservation regulations, they chose not to disturb the outside front of the home. "We didn't really want to interrupt the streetscape by proposing something so radically different that it stood out," Will says. They also liked having a front porch and ultimately decided to keep it as-is rather than expand the house a few feet into the front garden. Instead, the house got a nice paint job to match the rest of the new design.

When Liz and Will decided to renovate this house, they didn't set out to make a net-zero home. At first, they just wanted to install solar panels, but then the conversation "snowballed," Will says. They thought, "Well, if we do the solar panels, all these other possibilities open up to us," he says. If you're considering installing solar panels on your own home, now is likely a good time to do it. Many states have tax incentives to help offset the cost of installation, and Will says there's a lot of competition between solar-panel companies that homeowners can use to their advantage.

One of the biggest ways to make homes more sustainable from an energy consumption standpoint is to decouple them from the gas grid, Will says. So, when he and Liz bought this home and gutted it, they had the gas company terminate the line. Now, all of the appliances in the home are electric. This would be an extreme step for someone working on a small renovation project, he says, "but over the course of time, you should think about phasing out that gas service." Will recommends choosing more efficient Energy Star appliances.