Click here to view the Channel 5 TV coverage of the Passive House in the Woods.

Just to be accurate, the waste-water heat recovery unit in the basement does not heat or cool the home, it pre-warms cold water going into the hot water system to reduce the need for water heating.

MPR picked up on the Passive House in the Woods and conducted an interview with Gary Konkol, the owner.

You can also find the interview on MPR’s website.

Metro Hippie aka Josh Foss put up a blog post about his recent visit to the Passive House in the Woods project. You can find it at this link.

The Pioneer Press published an article about the Passive House in the Woods: “Hudson, Wis. / House’s energy use puts it nearly off the grid”

Richard Defendorf at greenbuildingadvisor.com just posted a nice article about the Passive House in the Woods:

Passive House in the (Wisconsin) Woods
A Passive House project nearing completion on the state’s western border aims for energy-positive performance and a high profile

The Passive House in the Woods project was just written up by the local Hudson Star Observer: “North Hudson man takes building ‘green’ to a new level”.

Green Builder Magazine featured the Passive House in the Woods project in its March issue in the Green Scene section. Thanks for the tip Josh.

Jetson Green posted this wonderful article about the Passive House in the Woods today.

The Passive House in the Woods project is currently featured in the spring edition of Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine in the “Buzz” section: “Zero Footprint”.

Repost of an article about Passive House on builderonline.com

Here is the link to the Merriam-Webster website entry.

Carbon footprint (1999): the negative impact that something (as a person or business) has on the environment; specifically: the amount of carbon emitted by something during a given period.

On that note, remember that Passive House building energy standard creates buildings with the lowest certified carbon footprint (for operation) in the world.

My colleague Dave Brach had his first Passive House project published on JetsonGreen. You can follow the project on Twitter @ourpassivehouse

Dave can also take credit for building the custom kitchen cabinetry in our house! We love the kitchen—thanks Dave.

I think this has been up for a while as it was recorded almost a year ago. I was just alerted to it by a potential client.
Thanks to Bill Karges for inviting me into his house and to talk about Passive House building energy standard.

In the latest weekend edition of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, it published an editorial on Passive House. Please click to read the complete article titled “A case for active government on passive houses”

My Comments: I agree that some light-handed legislation can help get standards like Passive House under way. Ultimately, I believe that Passive House produces enough return on investment to be attractive to building owners. One of the key aspects of Passive House is its future-proof design. I believe that it is not a matter of if we will see another energy crisis or price hike, but rather when it will happen. Passive House is the best standard available today to help insulate building owners from the impact of such developments. In cold climates, survivability is another important factor. I encourage anyone to shut off their heat for a brief period of time on a cold winter day and watch the rate at which the interior temperature drops. Ultimately, I think most people will agree that in freezing temperature, the building will freeze too. Passive Houses are built to retain energy. The rely on the sun for part of their heating load. As a result, they typically do not freeze, even when unoccupied and unheated—creating a highly survivable structure for its inhabitants.

I would also like to stress some other advantages of Passive House design

• Health—due to improved interior environmental quality
• Comfort—due to continuous air-exchange, reduced noise pollution, as well as warm interior surfaces, which reduce radiant heat-loss potential (make you comfortably warm in your building)
• Durability—due to quality construction and quality control, as well as third party testing
• Reduced Carbon Footprint—due to its low energy consumption, which makes the use of renewable energy sources very attainable

Passive House’s energy savings potential is somewhat underestimated at 60% in the article. For existing buildings, and those built to code, savings can be in excess of 90%. Passive House is estimated to use about 60% less energy than today’s Energy Star (and therefore LEED) standards, which are not yet commonly applied to new construction.

The article does not talk in depth about retrofit projects. The energy savings potential for older structures is incredible. And while it may not be feasible or doable to convert any existing buildig into a Passive House, a Deep Energy Reduction Retrofit can be applied to any structure, utilizing Passive House principles and materials, to achieve energy reductions of up to 70% or more.

Please contact TE Studio for more information on Passive House and Deep Energy Reduction Retrofits.

Here is a link to a newspaper article on my visit at Eagle Bluff a couple of weeks ago. It came out today thanks to writer Mary Whalen. I had a great time at Eagle Bluff where I also experienced a high-ropes course for the first time. Let’s just say, I will be more confident at the next job-site visit.