If You Go
What: The Bosch Experience Center at Serenbe
When: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Thursday-Sunday (Special events will include chef demos, culinary classes, workshops and lectures.)
Where: 10640 Serenbe Lane, Chattahoochee Hills, GA 30268 (Located off Gainey Lane in the Grange hamlet at Serenbe)
Info: 678-545-6544, boschexperiencecenter.com, serenbe.com
The finishing touches have been put on the Bosch Experience Center at Serenbe, which showcases energy-efficient, water-saving and other products the company says can help people live a "net zero" lifestyle.
The center - touted as the first of its kind in the U.S. - is open to the public to tour for free. McKinney & Son Builders, an Earth Craft-certified builder in Atlanta, constructed the center at the South Fulton community. Jill Sharp Brinson, stylist and designer for Ballard Designs, brought in furniture and accessories made of wood, stone, shell and wicker.
Bosch’s Mark Stimson shared details about the Bosch Experience Center and “net zero” living.
Q: What was the appeal of Serenbe for Bosch?
A: The whole concept of a sustainable community with technology integration lent itself very nicely for Bosch to build its very first Experience Center in the U.S. at Serenbe. The intent is to educate the general public in energy efficiency and how various different appliances, heating and cooling technologies can basically save a homeowner money in terms of energy savings. By building this experience center, it really gives (builders and homeowners) a focal point where they can collectively get information on energy savings, smart appliances, and this whole concept of net zero.
Q: How do you explain net zero?
A: A net zero home design is a design in which the home produces as much energy as it consumes over a given year. So let’s say in the winter time, you’re heating the home. You may be using more energy than you’re actually able to produce. But in the summertime months, when you have ample solar availability, a photovoltaic (PV) solar energy system generates energy and creates credits with utilities (such as Georgia Power) to offset home consumption. At the end of a full year, that home would generate as much energy as it consumes.
Q: How does that work?
A: Bosch’s PV system offsets any electrical load, such as lighting and power, to operate the heat pumps and appliances. Georgia Power has tariff (for purchasing energy from its customers) of 17 cents a kilowatt hour. With a typical 2-kilowatt system, homeowners could save $500 a year on their electrical savings, just through the PV system.
Q: What’s the takeaway for the public?
A: We really want to communicate that this is all about energy savings and comfort. This is about saving the homeowner money and living in a more healthier and comfortable indoor environment. The technologies are there to demonstrate that.
Q: Explain how one system on display in the center works, and how homeowners can save money with it.
A: The way we create comfort for the home is using the ground-source heat pump in order to provide cooling in the summer and heating in the winter months. We use that by basically pulling the warm collective temperatures in the ground in the winter months through a heat pump and basically distributing that through an HVAC system in order to heat the home. In the summer months, the same ground temperature is cooler than the ambient temperature. Ground-source heat pumps and heat pump water heaters can save between 60-70 percent, compared to a traditional air conditioning system, on the electrical cost for heating and cooling a home as well as heating hot water for a specific residence.
