Passive House

Advanced building science
Unparalleled comfort & health
90% reduction in energy use
Buildings at the leading edge of sustainability

Extraordinary performance, affordable cost.

A Passive House combines straight-forward building technologies with advanced building modeling to achieve revolutionary energy efficiency. And it does so without relying on expensive gadgetry or strange building design. In fact, Passive House buildings' beauty rival that of any other project: see the Karuna House.

Passive House buildings offer practical, local solutions to big, global energy problems. But even more important, they're the most comfortable, peaceful, and healthy living spaces available anywhere.

To achieve this, the Passive House building standard employs 7 principles:

   1. superinsulate.
   2. eliminate "thermal bridges".
   3. build airtight.
   4. ventilate with energy recovery.
   5. use good windows & doors.
   6. optimize solar & heat gains.
   7. model with advanced software.

The result? All heating needs in a typical Passive House can be met by a single 1000-watt heater. Heat from people, lights, appliances and the sun does the rest. Our Certified Passive House Consultants can optimize the right design for you.

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News and Updates

Karuna Passive House construction: phase one complete!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

We review Karuna House progress in this video essay about the Passive House, Minergie, and LEED Platinum project. more...

Comments (4)

Comments

Jay commented on 05-Jan-2012 10:22 AM

How do you protect your EPS foam from any petroleum products that are in the soil or accidently get in the soil in the future? Won't petroleum eat up the EPS and compromise the foundation?

Skylar Swinford commented on 24-Jan-2012 10:46 AM

Jay, Good question. The project is located near the top of the watershed in a rural location. Contamination from petroleum is not likely. If we were building on a brownfield site with the potential for petroleum contamination, we would have no choice but
to install the EPS foam over a chemical resistant vapor barrier or other appropriate geotextile system. I do not think a traditional polyethylene vapor barrier would be up to the task of protecting the EPS from groundwater or soil contaminated with petroleum
hydrocarbons or solvents. -Skylar

Jay commented on 27-Jan-2012 09:17 AM

Thanks for the response Skylar I think most fuel and oil containers are made from polyethylene. My reason for asking is I live in an area that was developed in the 1940's and 1950's with most homes using oil for heat. As I was buying my house in 2009,
I actively went looking for oil tank and had the tank located even though the house was switched over to natural gas in 1980. After the tank was removed, contamination was found underneath it but just below the threshhold for manditory state ecology clean
up. So the contaminated soil is still there about 5 feet underground. I am planning to protect my future passive house slab on grade foundation by using three layers of 15 to 20 mil polyethylene. One layer on the bottom of the excavation, one layer on the
top of the fill and one layer on the top of the EPS Foam. All of this will be seamless pieces and brough up above ground level. I can't imaging how you would fix a sink foundation caused by the EPS foam eroding from petroleum contamination. I enjoy read your
blog. Jay

Cory commented on 01-Feb-2012 05:49 PM

You should check out Liquid Boot, a product made specifically for sealing over contaminated soil. http://www.radata.com/pdfs/CETCO%20Liquid%20Boot%20Brochure.pdf