Zero Carbon – Zero Bills
To Stop Climate Change – Start at Home
Zero carbon homes and buildings save money, improve health and substantially cut emissions of carbon dioxide. I have cut the carbon dioxide emissions of my house (and swimming pool) to zero, I pay nothing for heating or electricity and our indoor air is clean and fresh. By following my “Fab Four” recipe, which is summarized below, you can do it too and help us get to net-zero carbon by 2050.
To see a 3-minute interview of David Green by NBC Boston anchor Joy Lim Nakrin, please click here: TV Interview
To see a 20-minute TED talk at Harvard Business School, please click here: TED Talk
David Green is a scientist by training (BA in physics from Oxford University) and has spent his career in business (MBA from Harvard Business School) so we only did things to our house that made both energy sense and financial sense. I found that a lot of the conventional wisdom is wrong. What we did not do is as important as what we did do.
I regularly do free webinars called “Zero Carbon, Zero Bills” in conjunction with local environmental or sustainability organizations like towns or libraries. If you are part of a local group and would like to host a webinar please let me know at dgreen@greenzerocarbon.com I can take care of all the registration and hosting so all you need to do is add the audience. I give away a free copy of my book Zero Carbon Home to all attendees.
You can watch a recorded version of a prior webinar here: https://youtu.be/9ee-rcrvlM4
Reviews of my “Zero Carbon, Zero Bills” webinar included, “Minute-for-minute, point-for-point, one of the best webinars I have ever attended. Thank you!”, “David is a true inspiration and asset to our community. He inspired us to get solar panels and a new front door”, “This is like a masterclass in ZeroCarbon”, “Thank you soooo much for the sensible advice and your fabulous resources!!” and, although this next comment is a little flowery, it does express the sentiment of many other comments, “Your contribution to Greening America is great and will probably help our survival as a species a bit longer than expected”.
I do all my webinars for free and every attendee gets my book for free too. I do this to try to help save the planet from global warming. If you are part of a local sustainability, environmental or energy conservation group and would like to host a webinar please contact me at: email David Green to arrange it. I can take care of all the arrangements for Zoom hosting and registration so all you need to have is an just add the audience!
Our house is a zero-carbon building. We have achieved net-zero carbon and done so profitably. We achieved this in 2019, a long time before the 2050 goal of “net-zero carbon”. We did it using off the shelf equipment installed by local contractors. It wasn’t even that hard to do. It is just like baking a cake. If you tried to bake a cake with no knowledge of the ingredients and quantities you would make a lot of bad cakes. But if you have a recipe to follow, anyone can make a good cake. It is the same with cutting carbon emissions and saving money on houses. It is a lot easier to follow a proven recipe. My recipe is proven by having been applied to about 25 different houses ranging from 1,500 square feet to 14,000 square feet, from 1790’s New England colonial farmhouses to brand-new construction designed to be energy efficient, and heated by every conceivable fuel. I have never failed to help people cut their carbon emissions and bills substantially.
I hope my Fab-Four recipe for going zero (explained in both the books and the free webinar) is detailed enough for you to cut your bills substantially and get to a zero-carbon footprint on your own. However, if you feel you need some further guidance in going zero, then please see my Zero Carbon® Home consulting service described below.
My service is based on scientifically rigorous analysis of the energy flows into and out of your house (I have a degree in physics from Oxford University), I then add sound financially sound analysis (I have an MBA from Harvard Business School) to create a set of actions that will both cut your bills and carbon emissions. I am completely independent, I do not work for, get paid by, sell products for or take commissions from any manufacturer of heat pumps, solar panels, insulation, windows or any other product I may recommend. Neither do I take money from any company selling loans. My advice is given free of these financial conflicts of interest.
For several years I have consulted to homeowners who asked for my help in cutting their energy bills and carbon emissions. So far, I have helped about 25 homeowners to do so. A typical project has cost the homeowner about $1,500 and they have usually saved far more than this in the first winter. Homeowners give me great reviews, like the following:
“Working with David Green was an absolute pleasure, he guided me through the process with his experience in lowering my energy expenses and my overall carbon footprint.” DS, Long Island, NY.
“I wholeheartedly endorse David Green as a home energy consultant. He used his expertise in energy efficiency to focus on cost-effective solutions. As a result of following his suggestions, my house has significantly reduced energy consumption along with improvement in the overall comfort of my home.” – LA, Westwood, MA.
“I couldn’t have done it without you!” “Read his book!” – KA, Arlington, MA.
“we found your report to be very helpful indeed!” – ML, Needham, MA
These projects are very effective, but they have taken a lot of time. My goal is to help as many people as possible, so I have invested many hours to streamline the analysis of the energy flows in houses and financial impacts of adding the Fab Four. As a result, I have been able to cut in half the amount of time it takes me to analyze each house and write a report. Therefore, I can now offer my consulting service to homeowner at half the price of my original service. I now offer the energy/financial assessment for a flat fee of $750 per home. You can download an example of the report I write here:
Please email me at dgreen@greenzerocarbon.com if you are interested in this service.
This service is currently only available in MA, for detached single-family homes. If your house is not in MA, or is a double or triple decker or an apartment, I can still help you but probably not for the same price. Please email me at: dgreen@greenzerocarbon.com if you are interested.
In addition to the investment returns of 15% after tax (sure beats my 401(k)!), according to a large body of academic research, our house price has increased by between 8% and 14%. Even the low-end estimate greatly exceeds what we invested in the Fab Four. Hence you no longer have to wait until the savings pay for the investment in the equipment, you can get your money back as soon as you sell your house. In fact, adding the Fab Four is now a good way to prepare your house for sale.
On this site there are now written answers to over 300 questions that were asked by people like you on one of my webinars. These include topics like: using heat pumps with hot-water radiator systems; dampness, moisture, humidity and rotting cathedral ceilings; ducted and ductless heat pumps; the carbon footprint of natural gas, heating oil and propane; cutting carbon emissions from swimming pools; the return on investment from batteries like the Tesla Powerwall; net metering for solar panels and why adding insulation to walls is rarely a good idea. Click here: Q&A
I have written three books on how to get to zero carbon, zero bills. You can get my first book, Zero Carbon® Home, for free by attending my free webinar. My second book, Zero Carbon® Pool is not available for free but you can buy it from this website. My third book, the Special COVID19 Stuck at Home Edition of Zero Carbon® Home you can get for free by entering the code COVID19 at checkout. All attendees at my highly-acclaimed webinars get a free copy of the e-book version (for iPad/Nook or Kindle) of my equally highly-acclaimed book Zero Carbon® Home. When Paul Hawken, the author of “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming” reviewed the book he said, “Your book is terrific.” Bill McKibben has also endorsed the book as have many people I have helped to cut their bills and carbon emissions.
If you run a sustainability organization and would like to host a webinar, or TED Talk, please contact me at dgreen@greenzerocarbon.com
You can see a recording of one of my earlier webinars on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/9ee-rcrvlM4
You can see a TED Talk recording here: TED Talk
If you are looking for a T-shirt with a lifetime carbon footprint of zero, (which I have created in order to try to reduce the XXXL carbon footprint of the clothing industry) please click here: Zero Carbon® T-shirt. The T-shirt is made from 100% organic cotton grown grown in the USA. It is also sewn in the USA and uses no bleach or dyes. It costs $19.99 and is only available in the USA.
If you are looking for how to make money by cutting the carbon footprint of your swimming pool to zero, (which I have also done – it was quicker, cheaper and made a higher return on investment to go zero on my pool than on my house) please click here: Zero Carbon® swimming pool
Getting to a zero-carbon / net-zero home.
David Green’s “Fab Four” recipe for “making green by going green” i.e., making money by cutting your house’s carbon footprint to zero is:
- install 12″ of insulation in your attic and in the ceiling of your basement
- replace your AC units with heat pumps
- when you replace your windows, replace them with triple-glazed windows not double-glazed ones, or add low cost “fit-from-the-inside” window inserts
- install solar panels on your roof
To find out more about the fab four please click here: Fab four summary.
To see how much money we saved and how much carbon dioxide we cut with each one of the fab four, please click here: How much CO2 did we cut?
To see a free recorded version of David Green’s 45 minute webinar presentation “Zero Carbon® , Zero Bills” (followed by 45 minutes of Q&A), hosted on YouTube, that covers the fab four recipe, please click here: ZCZB webinar
If the idea of watching a video for 90 minutes (even if it will probably save you thousands of dollars a year) makes you want to leave this web site then here are three shorter versions:
To download a pdf file of the slides for the webinar (also for free), please click here: Webinar slides July 2021 – Compressed This pdf file is compressed to 3.2MB to make it easy to download, so the pictures are a little grainy.
I have also broken the webinar into 6 bite-sized chunks, all hosted on YouTube, and all available for free:
- 1. Summary, 10 minutes.
- 2. Heat pumps, 5 minutes.
- 3. Insulation, 4 minutes.
- 4. Triple-glazed windows, 9 minutes.
- 5. Solar panels, 7 minutes.
- 6. Putting it all together, 5 minutes.
And here is the link to a TED Talk version of the webinar that I did for Harvard Business School: TED Talk
To read the written answers to over 300 questions that have been asked on these webinars (this is a goldmine of useful information about cutting your carbon footprint and other related topics like humidity control and ventilation), and is also available for free, please click here: Q&A from webinars
To easily calculate the carbon footprint of your house, please click here: Carbon footprint calculator.
To read about the author, David Green who is both a bit of a techie geek and quite financially nerdy, please click here: About the author
To order a copy of David Green’s books, Zero Carbon® Home and Zero Carbon® Pool, please click here: Order the book
These are unsolicited comments I have received on the book:
“Your book is terrific.” Paul Hawken., San Francisco, California. Author of “Drawdown” and one of the world’s leading environmentalists.
“I thought the book was straightforward and clear” B. Mc., Middlebury, Vermont. Leader of 350.org and one of the world’s leading environmentalists.
“Wow that was an awesome book! Super informative on all aspects of the process to get to net zero. I’m very glad I read your book it is such a passion of mine I’ve been wanting to do this for years, you really inspired me to make it happen. Thank you.” D.S., Mastic, New York. Homeowner who is making a 46% per year return on investment by cutting his carbon footprint 38%.
“Absolutely loved the book. Very readable for the non-scientist. Fun, entertaining, quite educational for the scientist.” A.N., Weston, Massachusetts. Homeowner who is going zero on his house.
“Thank you so much for your effort and attention here. I feels so fortunate to have met you!” K.A., Arlington, Massachusetts. Homeowner who is going zero on her house.
“I’m very impressed the way you explained the technical terms, the Fab Four and your thoughts on them, leading you to your choice. I was also very surprised when reading the section about old architectural solutions, like verandas, pergolas, deciduous plants, etc. being very often forgotten. Really good stuff.” M.B., London, U.K. Homeowner who is going zero on his house.
David Green’s work on zero carbon houses has been publicized on global news media outlets including ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox and has appeared on the front cover of Green Energy Times, in the Boston Herald and in Renewable Energy World, as well as the websites of the U.S. Department of Energy, Zero Energy Project, Cool Effects and the Green Home Institute.
To read an explanation of energy terms used in the books (don’t worry, it is precise but in a friendly way), please click here: Energy terms explained
To read an explanation of finance terms used in the books (again, precise but in a friendly way), please click here: Finance terms explained
To read an explanation of zero-carbon house terms, such as net-zero energy, PassivHaus, LEED Certification, Zero-Energy Ready Home (ZERH), Home Energy Rating System (HERS) and my proposed new term, Greenness, please click here: Net-Zero Energy terms explained
It is pure coincidence, or perhaps destiny, that my family name is Green. I got it from my father. I am not making it up, just like I am not making up anything else in this website, book or webinar.
The books, reports, website (including blog posts), webinars, website downloads and other form of communication (including the author’s answers to people’s questions in any form, written or oral) refer to the author’s opinions and experience with energy efficiency improvements, investing, tax, finance and regulations but neither the author, nor Zero Carbon® LLC is giving investment, tax, financial or legal advice, nor offering any warranty or guarantee of results.
The mark Zero Carbon® is a trademark of Zero Carbon® LLC registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office with numbers 5,730,207 and 5,944,678. Use without the written permission of Zero Carbon® LLC may be a violation of law. In addition, the trademark has been recorded with the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to prevent the importation of articles bearing unlicensed versions of the trademark. For permission requests contact: email David Green
Copyright © 2020 to 2023 David Green. All rights reserved. No part of this publication, electronic or printed, may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. All commercial use is prohibited. All photographs and illustrations are copyright © David Green, unless otherwise credited.