Passive House Building Materials...

People often ask about and are surprised to find out that the building materials to build a super-energy efficient Passive House are the same as what may be used in a typical or traditional home. Tessa, our designer, wrote a little editorial on the subject: “Are the materials to build a Passive House the same as a traditional house?” Emphatically yes!  That is the beauty of the approach, it is open to developing technologies, but entirely achievable with common place American building materials.  The simple answer is we just end up using a bit more of those...

April 17 & 18 South Sound Green Tou...

The South Sound ECO-Builders-Guild Hosts: The South Sound Green Tour Innovation – Education – Inspiration April 17th and 18th, 2010 A community event to celebrate green innovations through education in sustainable building and inspired living. This year’s tour will showcase the greenest homes and buildings in our area that incorporate significant use of solar or other renewable energies, new and reclaimed materials, low energy consumption and water conservation technologies, and sustainable design techniques. Educational sessions will be held at various...

Our Own Passive House Consultant...

We received notice yesterday of news we’ve longed to hear… our  lead building designer, Tessa Smith, passed her grueling exams to achieve status as a Passive House consultant! Tessa is one of fewer than 300 certified Passive House Consultants in the United States. Tessa has been with The Artisans Group for 4 years; she’s been consistently producing award-winning remodel and new construction designs for us.  Her designs speak for themselves. Tessa has a deep background in sustainable design, and is very much a part of the new generation of designers that...

Recycled Glass Countertops...

Okay! Countertops are blossoming before us. Building green has been great in so many wholesome ways and has been the genesis of some very very cool products! May I introduce the extraordinary recycled glass countertops by ThinkGlass. ThinkGlass is aggressively pursuing a green standing in their manufacturing processes and end products; they have a nice pitch on their environmental position. Below is a piece off of their website which gives you an idea of what goes on behind the scenes at ThinkGlass. By the way, I recommend going to their site to look at all the images in...

Passivhaus (Passive House) II...

This blog follows on from our previous post – Passivhaus (Passive House I). It’s a whole new playing field for construction these days. Designing and building with the environment is becoming the standard in new home building and remodeling projects. It’s an exciting time and fun for us to keep our eyes peeled for exceptional projects out there. We’ll post those often as we discover the nuggets, but for now, here is a couple that we think are worthy of note. 1.Passivhaus (Passive House) -Whistler, BC This is an interesting project that is taking place just...

Passivhaus (Passive House) I...

With concerns about rising energy costs and detrimental climate changes, it’s no wonder uber energy efficiency is finally starting to catch on. The Passivhaus Institute has created the highest energy standards to date in our country. Imagine heating your house with the btu’s generated by repeatedly throwing a squeaky toy down the hallway for your royal indoor Retriever. The concept of the Passive House (Passivhaus in German) – PHIUS for short in the United States — was first developed by Professor Bo Adamson and Doctor Wolfgang Feist. The first...