Cole Residence

This home is predominantly occupied by the owners during the winter months, which they spend skiing at nearby Big Sky Resort. Thanks to a 12-month billing cycle written into NorthWestern Energy's terms and conditions for net-metering, in the winter the owners are able to utilize the energy credits that the system banks during the heavy sun-hour months of summer. Around the time they pursued this project, they were also integrating electric heat-mats in their bathroom floors to supplement the primary heating system of the house. OnSite Energy assisted the owner in estimating the electric consumption of these heating elements, and then accounted for this extra load during the solar system sizing process. The result was a home with a reinforced heating system that consumes zero fossil fuels.