This week we embarked on a little mini-series, highlighting 5 reasons why the Passive House in the Woods project is a sustainable project.

The leapfrog design of the Passive House in the Woods is based on integrated design and the holistic idea of building and living. Gary approached us with a vision of carbon-neutral, low impact building. That in itself does not sound like much. But we quickly realized how serious he is about it, and embraced the idea by assembling and leading a team of experts to deliver on all fronts of sustainability.

Follow the entire series at www.passivehouseinthewoods.com

Passive House in the Woods front entry perspective

The Homestar Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program could be the government’s cash for clunkers for homes equivalent. Read more about the offering that is in the works at this link.

In this writer’s humble opinion, the incentives offered may be low compared to the real cost of any significant and holistic energy efficiency upgrade in a home—especially in a cold climate. However, it’s a starting point.

Passive House offers the potential for true energy independence. With its conservation first approach, Passive House minimizes the energy needs of a building very dramatically right up front. This reduction allows for smaller renewable energy systems like solar photo voltaic or solar thermal to become very effective. In most circumstances, a Passive House building can be designed and retrofit to meet these standards:

• Net Zero Site Energy: A site ZEB (Zero Energy Building) produces at least as much energy as it uses in a year, when accounted for at the site
• Zero Utility Bill: Produce enough energy on site to offset the cost of all utility bills
• Net Zero Source Energy: A source ZEB produces at least as much energy as it uses in a year, when accounted for at the source. Source energy refers to the primary energy used to generate and deliver the energy to the site. To calculate a building’s total source energy, imported and exported energy is multiplied by the appropriate site-to-source conversion multipliers (to account for transmission losses)
• Net Zero Energy Costs: In a cost ZEB, the amount of money the utility pays the building owner for the energy the building exports to the grid is at least equal to the amount the owner pays the utility for the energy services and energy used over the year
• Net Zero Energy Emissions: A net-zero emissions building produces at least as much emissions-free renewable energy as it uses from emissions-producing energy sources. This is sometimes referred to as a carbon-neutral building
• Carbon Offset and Net Positive Energy: A building offsets more CO² than produced at the provider to deliver the energy consumed on site. It produces more energy than used at provider to deliver site energy. In this case, the building helps offset energy used elsewhere

Linda Wigington of Affordable Comfort, Inc. spoke at the recent 3rd North American Passive House Conference about something she calls “Deep Energy Reduction Retrofits”. A Deep Energy Reduction Retrofit project includes all the measures needed to cut 70%+ of a building’s energy consumption.

Most people in the sustainable building industry now agree that we need these kinds of energy goals in order to curb the energy use-related environmental pollution and CO2 emissions from the building sector significantly enough to achieve true sustainability.

Deep Energy Reduction Retrofit projects will typically include more insulation, better windows and doors, and likely a new or enhanced mechanical system. While that may seem like a lot, it can potentially be done without changing the layout or interior finishes much at all, therefore keeping cost to a minimum. If you start with a building that needs new siding and windows, you can essentially eliminate this cost from the deep energy retrofit budget, as it is part of the ongoing maintenance the building needs anyways. This is when Deep Energy Reduction is most affordable. In other words, you buy or own a house with obsolete mechanical system, shot siding (roofing) and windows, and you are in the optimal position to do an affordable Deep Energy Reduction Project. I am starting to advise people to consider this when purchasing a used home.

You may notice that I have not mentioned embodied energy, green building materials, or improved indoor environmental quality at all. It is my assumption that a best practice management approach goes along with any Deep Energy Reduction Retrofit project. The designer should be aware of both the energy consumption potential, as well as the necessary “greening” potential. I find that a lot of the discussion in the industry is still focused around what I call “surface greening”—meaning putting in more earth-friendly materials. In the greater scheme of things, and while this is a proper approach, green building materials and finishes alone cannot help overome the energy challenge we are facing today. It is therefore imperative to analyze each building’s potential, and put together a package that offers true sustainability and long-term value to the client. Anything short of that will likely result in a “sunk investment”, that will effectively prevent the current owner, or future owners from giving the building the make-over it needs to overcome energy obsolescence.

The duty of a building designer is not just to the client, it is also to the society as a whole.

Deep Energy Reduction Retrofits do not require Passive House standard. As a Passive House Consultant however, I will likely use tools and ideas derived from Passive House for your Deep Energy Reduction Retrofit project, which means that you will benefit from the knowledge of the arguably best building energy standard today, even if you are not building a house from scratch.

Eastside Food Co-op is offering a program in my community, that I feel is worth mentioning. While recycling is never as good as avoiding trash in the first place (similar to renewable energy versus energy conservation), this is still a great effort and me and my family try to make use of it as much as we can. I hope that eventually, manufacturers and distributors will understand that plastics are too valuable to throw away, and that they need to circulate (on a parts per million basis per Cradle to Cradle). In the meanwhile, I pledge to do my part to reduce the amount of stuff I buy, and carefully dispose of what I have to buy and need to throw away.

Plastics Recycling at Eastside Food Co-op:
Thursdays 3:30-7:30 and Saturdays 10-2
(more…)

ACI’s (Affordable Comfort Inc.) Linda Wigington was one of the speakers at the recent Passive House conference in Dutluth, MN. Her organization offers initiatives to improve the performance of homes. Linda introduced the crowd to what she calls “Deep Energy Reduction Retrofits”, an effort to help overcome the energy obsolescence of the existing housing stock in the U.S. To help with deep energy reduction retrofits and encourage people to start, ACI just launched the Thousand Homes Challenge. Take a look at ACI’s website. It is a great resource offering white papers and resources on how to do deep energy reduction retrofits.

For those who have not seen the story of stuff, here is a link: http://www.storyofstuff.com/ It is somewhat similar to what Cradle to Cradle describes. I enjoyed the animations and the straight forward comments by the author.

“Teach your children what we have taught ours,  that the earth is our mother.  Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.  The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth.  Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it.  We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

Chief Seattle (1786-1866), Native American Suquamish Tribe

Need I say more?

I am a guest speaker on a panel on sustainable lifestyle today, at 10.30 AM, at Christ the King Lutheran Church in White Bear Lake. If you would like to join the conversation, or be a guest, you are welcome to join us in the fellowship hall. Christ the King Lutheran Church is located at 1660 Birch Lake Avenue, White Bear Lake, MN 55110, (651) 429-4828. Directions.

At TE Studio, we believe that Passive House design—both for new construction and retrofits—delivers tremendous value for our clients. Here is a brief summary on why you might want to consider Passive House Design for your next construction project.

Economy: Significant conservation and improved performance = cost savings to the owner

• Up to 75% savings on source energy (pending household use pattern), e.g. reduced utility bills (in Twin Cities, as much as $2,500 year or more in utility savings for an average sized residence)
• Potentially reduced homeowner’s insurance (due to reduced mechanical system and quality construction) (more…)

I just got the audiobook version of Cradle to Cradle, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. The concept is extremely interesting and in anybody’s search of sustainability, it presents the ultimate concept of how to achieve it. William McDonough spoke at TED, which I frequently look at for excellent talks on all sorts of subjects, as a matter of fact, you can subscribe to TED’s talks in iTunes (as Podcasts) and receive all their available videos for free.

With all the conventions and political activity these days I hear a lot about green collar jobs. I would describe myself as having one of these green collar jobs, and I have even had people send their resumes to work with me in this green economy. Now we just need the economy to catch up with the green collars that are out here. So my political message of the day is: (more…)

During this last session of Passive House Training I learned that 25-35kWh per square meter and year are acceptable, and respectable space-conditioning energy numbers for a remodeled building. At the same time, any other requirements like air-tightness do not differ from the original Passive House requirements. While a remodel that achieves 25-35 kWh per square meter and year does not pass PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) calculations, it is a substantial achievement and definitely a significant improvement over performance before the upgrade (potentially up to 80% and more energy saved).

The Passive House Institute has researched and shown, that there is tremendous value in retrofitting to Passive House standard. Adding Passive House insulation and achieving high air-tightness helps avoid condensation and due-points at the thermal bridges and inside wall assemblies, therefore protecting the existing structure far better than a lesser improvement. This also ensures healthier indoor environmental quality.

I found this worth reposting since it is a new requirement for registered architects. I highly welcome it.

To demonstrate its commitment to sustainable design and the architects’ leadership role, the AIA Board of Directors modified the AIA member Continuing Education requirement to include four (4) hours of sustainable design continuing professional education as part of the existing 18 hour annual requirement. This sustainable design continuing education requirement goes into effect in calendar year 2009 through 2012.
(Excerpt from AIA knowledge net newsletter – September issue)