Very Green Homes- “Passive House&#...

This is another great article outlining what Passive House is… it even mentions Dan Whitmore’s house in Seattle, the first Passive House currently being constructed in Washington state. Passive House Arrives in North America:  Could It Revolutionize the Way We Build? Full Story from Environmental Building News Executive Summary Originating in Germany twenty years ago and drawing inspiration from the superinsulation and passive solar movements in North America in the late 1970s, Passive House has migrated across the Atlantic. To date, about a dozen...

Brooklyn Cohousing Project-Passive House...

Another well written Passive House article worthy of a post. This article is written by Ken Levenson who is an architect in Brooklyn, NY. His client, the Brooklyn Cohousing group,  chose Passive House design over other ‘green’ building standards for their project. The entire article can be read here. Below is an excerpt to whet your appetite: Passive House Retrofit Characteristics: Brooklyn Cohousing August 21st, 2009 “I recently have undertaken a building project with Brooklyn Cohousing following Passive House standards. My clients decided to...

Passive House-Letter to the Editor...

A few weeks ago John Dodge of the Olympian wrote a great article introducing the concepts of Passive House. I subsequently noticed a few comments on-line that prompted this ‘letter to the editor’ as a way to clarify a few points about the Passive House Standard. Dear Editor- It was strikingly dramatic for me to read John Dodge’s recent article about the Passive House movement, and even more poignant to consider that The Olympian’s readership is becoming more keenly aware of this amazing approach to energy efficient homes.  I am Tessa Smith, Certified...

Home Energy Efficiency Program...

reprinted from the Olympian Incentives to repair that leaky home Resources: Program examines house’s efficiency JOHN DODGE; Staff writer | • Published June 01, 2010 Olympia – Eli and Molly Levitt were among the first homeowners in Thurston County to sign up for a program to help area residents and businesses use energy wisely. When the couple bought a 1913 home nearly two years ago on Wilson Street in Olympia, they knew it wasn’t the most energy-efficient home around. They insulated the attic and basement, installed compact fluorescent ...

Passive House Fine Home Building Article...

For those of you that want a snap shot of what it means when someone says “Passive House Design“, this is the article to read. Authored by Jefferson Kolle, in the March edition, Fine Homebuilding did a great job featuring two new Passive House projects, one  in Massachusetts and one in Minnesota. The Minnesota project employed the use of other renewable resources, such as a photovoltaic system, to get the Passive House in a net-zero mode. Both of these projects are aesthetically beautiful homes. The article is really a superb summary of the Passive House...

Passive House-Olympian Article...

John Dodge, of The Olympian, wrote an article about us that appeared on the front page of last Sunday’s paper. You can read the online article here. This is reposted. Passive homes for those committed to the environment THE OLYMPIAN | • Published May 16, 2010 The next generation of energy-efficient homes is about to make its debut in South Sound. Passive homes is an architectural design that eliminates the need for a central heating and cooling system in a building through super insulation, airtight construction that wipes out thermal bridges, and ...

Architectural Styles...

Want to test your architectural style knowledge? The Oregonian has a down and dirty list of important architectural styles throughout the ages, from native long houses up to Contemporary. The list is comprehensive, but the information is simple, and concise and each style has sweet little illustrations. Each style features: The date range of popularity, the roots or origin of design, style characteristics, building materials commonly used and location in the country where the design is most often found. For those of you who have seen our building, it was loosely...

Passive House New Construction...

This is a link to a short article in USA Today. It’s about a recently certified Passive House in Salt Lake City. Passive House design can take on many architectural styles to suit the varied tastes out there, (note the Portland Remodel post), this Salt Lake house embodies a clean simplicity that ‘feels’ good to look at. The homeowners started a project blog that is fun to look at, especially the performance numbers if you are into that sort of thing. One of the primary numbers Passive House nerds like to discuss is ‘how many ACH?’ which...

Passive House Remodel Portland Oregon...

I wrote a few days ago California’s first certified Passive House remodel coming on board in July. As Passive House design picks up momentum, I thought you might enjoy reading about other projects around the nation. Here is an article about a 1997 Portland based home that was remodeled to Passive stands in 2009. Coincidentally, the owner of this home was at our regional Passive House meeting a few weeks ago as a speaker, talking about the process of remodeling his relatively new home to a high performance Passive House. In closing, he was asked what it’s like...

Passive House Remodel California...

I was snooping around this morning to see what’s happening out in the world with Passive House remodels. With housing stock being what it is with a big chunk of the pie dedicated to existing homes and as energy/life costs rise, Passive House remodels will quickly gain a foothold as Americans start to realize the inherent value in energy savings, comfort, and air quality. It’s true, a new Passive House would be easier to build, but, the fact remains that many of us REALLY like our current inefficient,  leaky homes. The only way to super-improve the performance...