Passive House certification is perhaps the most rigorous and thorough building energy performance standard in the world. Though thousands of buildings have been built to this standard in Europe,  there are less than 10 certified Passive House buildings in the US. We have designed the Nauhaus prototype to Passive House standards and are in the process of seeking certification.

Okay, yes, it’s a major hassle. Why do it? Oh, let me count the ways:

1. Climate Change. Unless all the climate science eggheads are oxygen starved from too much time in high altitude weather balloons, it seems clear that we need to drastically cut climate change linked carbon emissions to prevent a climate change rollercoaster that we will be helpless to control. Since our buildings are responsible for 50% of our carbon footprint, the best approach would be to make them carbon neutral, in other words, design, build, and run them so that they are responsible for no carbon emissions.  Since carbon is emitted through combustion of fossil fuels, the best thing to do would be to burn no fuels to heat, cool, or power a house. The only way to do that is to drastically reduce building energy requirements so that expensive “clean” renewable energy (solar electric, wind, and hydro) systems can be made small enough to be affordable. The Passive House approach reduces heating and cooling loads in our climate by 90% and overall energy requirements by 70%. With this level of performance, carbon neutrality comes within reach.

2. Indoor Air Quality. Since most buildings loose heat quickly through their envelope (exterior walls, floor, and roof), heating equipment needs to warm air to high temperatures to make up for this quick loss. Often, this means that the air is heated to a temperature that will burn dust. Do you want to breathe burnt dust? I don’t. In a Passive House, we dont’ need much heat, so we don’t need to burn dust to create comfortable temperatures. This fact in combination with air-tight construction and very efficient energy recovery ventilation allows a Passive House to create the best indoor air you’ll ever experience.

3. Money. Okay, enough flowery stuff about saving the world and breathing better. What’s the cost? Yes, a Passive House will cost more up front, but that’s the price for the speculator, flipper, and sub-prime mortgage weilding sleeze ball. If you actually intend to live there, you know make it a home, then the cost equation is more complicated. Since Passive Houses cost almost nothing to run and make renewable energy much cheaper by reducing system size, they are without a doubt less expensive for the owner. Save all of your “What’s the payback period” and “How much more do they cost up front” questions for the time being. We don’t know because we are designing our first Passive House now. There’s a lot of info out there on costs, but it is all tied to the European market so we can’t draw clear conclusions from it. Those people eat Bratwurst and have health care for god’s sake! It’s like a whole different planet. Rest assured that cost is of paramount concern for us, so we’ll keep you posted.