"What if you could heat a small house with about as much energy as it takes to run a hair dryer-even during a cold winter?"This is how the article starts out. It touches on a building spec that has seen 13 others like in the U.S. In Europe some 25,000 buildings have achieved Passive House certification. Or should I say "passiv haus" as it was created in Germany.
The challenge is, you'll not soon find developers or builders putting these up on spec in large quantities any time soon. The mortgage industry isn't there yet on financing such high-performance homes that don't necessarily have granite countertops (as opposed to 14" thick walls). It's hard enough to get an appraiser to valuate a tankless water heater. They just don't get it yet.
What's enlightening is that this home is MODULAR. Coach mentioned recently that if you want to survive as a small builder you have to find a niche and get good at it. Any home that gets you closer to going off-grid (or completely via solar or wind power) could be a very attractive offering to someone in your market. Even better, the affordable housing industry - Habitat for Humanity - did this one.
Don’t forget to support Home Star. You just might get somebody hired.
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Harris Woodward is a Principal of Finish Werks Green Builders, a central Maryland based design/build firm focused on high performance modular construction. He is a Board Member of the Maryland Residential Green Building Council and speaker on home energy efficiency initiatives.
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