Passive House

While Stuart and Marcella set out to get Passive House certification, they achieved LEED Platinum in the end, as well. Click through to learn about these certifications and resources to earn them yourself.

The Difference Between High-Performance Home Certifications

When combined with day lighting, heat pumps for HVAC and domestic hot water, and superefficient appliances and fixtures, total energy use in high performance buildings can readily hit 75% less than that of conventional buildings.

The Basics of Green Building and Energy Efficiency [Podcast]

On the House Planning Help Podcast, Ben Adam-Smith and his guests talk about building homes that are comfortable for us, but also kind to our environment. Like many of us, he is educating himself before he builds his own home. He’s exploring how we can build better homes and he’s passionate about educating people to build more sustainably and with greater energy efficiency.

What is a High Performance Home?

The construction industry has been cautious about change. Rules of thumb and decades-old conventional wisdom tend to rule the day. This innate conservatism makes sense given the high stakes of construction. Buildings are a big investment with big health and safety implications. Why risk something new when we can just follow the well-worn path, the tried and true?

Method Homes LEED Eligible Prefabs

Method Homes is a custom manufacturer of precision–engineered, prefabricated, modern structures. Their homes can be built to obtain LEED, ENERGY STAR, Living Building Challenge, Passive House, and other environmental certification standards. Building off-site inside their custom facility eliminates exposure to the elements and minimizes construction waste to less than 10 percent.

Crossway Passive House: An Unbelievable “Eco-Arch” in the Countryside

Architect Richard Hawkes of Hawkes Architecture, renowned for his sustainable designs, built his family home in the English countryside using Passivhaus (passive house) techniques. The iconic feature of this pioneering house is a scarily thin soaring arched roof. Watch this video to see inside and learn more about this magnificent home.