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The 'Passive Housing' Trend is Booming (yahoo.com) 145

The Washington Post reports that a former Etsy CEO remodeled their home into what's known as a passive house. It's "designed to be as energy efficient as possible, typically with top-notch insulation and a perfect seal that prevents outside air from penetrating the home; air flows in and out through filtration and exhaust systems only."

Their benefits include protection from pollution and pollen, noise insulation and a stable indoor temperature that minimizes energy needs. That translates to long-term savings on heating and cooling.

While the concept has been around for about 50 years, experts say that the United States is on the cusp of a passive house boom, driven by lowered costs, state-level energy code changes and a general greater awareness of — and desire for — more sustainable housing... Massachusetts — which alongside New York and Pennsylvania is one of the leading states in passive house adoption — has 272 passive house projects underway thanks to an incentive program, says Zack Semke [the director of the Passive House Accelerator, a group of industry professionals who aim to spread lessons in passive house building]. Consumer demand for passive houses is also increasing, says Michael Ingui, an architect in New York City and the founder of the Passive House Accelerator... The need to lower our energy footprint is so much more top-of-mind today than it was 10 years ago, Ingui says, and covid taught us about the importance of good ventilation and filtered fresh air. "People are searching for the healthiest house," he says, "and that's a passive house...."

These days, new passive houses are usually large, multifamily apartment buildings or high-end single-family homes. But that leaves out a large swath of homeowners in the middle. To widen passive house accessibility to include all types of people and their housing needs, we need better energy codes and even more policies and incentives, says In Cho, a sustainability architect, educator and a co-founder of the nonprofit Passive House for Everyone! Passive houses "can and should serve folks from all socioeconomic backgrounds," she says. Using a one-two punch of mandates for energy efficient buildings and greater awareness to the public, that increased demand for passive houses will lead to more supply, Cho says. And we're already seeing those changes in the market.

Take triple-pane windows, for example, which are higher performing and more insulating than their double-pane counterparts. Even just 10 to 20 years ago, the difference in price between the two was high enough to make triple-pane windows cost-prohibitive for a lot of people, Cho says. Over the years, as the benefits of higher performing windows became more well-known, and as cities and states changed their energy codes, more companies began producing better windows. Now they're basically at price parity, she says. If we keep pushing for greater awareness and further policy changes, it's possible that all of the components of passive house buildings could follow that trend.

"For large multifamily projects, we're already seeing price parity in some cases, Semke says...

"But as it stands, single-family passive houses are still likely to cost a margin more than non-passive houses, he says. This is because price parity is easier to achieve when working at larger scales, but also because many of the housing policies and incentives encouraging passive house buildings are geared toward these larger projects."
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The 'Passive Housing' Trend is Booming

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  • Passive houses. Slightly more efficient than efficient houses. https://www.energy.gov/energys... [energy.gov]
  • by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Saturday November 02, 2024 @08:45PM (#64915403)

    a perfect seal that prevents outside air from penetrating the home; air flows in and out through filtration and exhaust systems only.

    I'm presuming this means never opening windows which in turn means no getting fresh, cool, free air in the spring and fall. Instead, something electical is always running to keep the air flowing. Doesn't sound efficient or cost-effective. But then, that's the American way. Why get something for free when you can spend money?

    • a perfect seal that prevents outside air from penetrating the home; air flows in and out through filtration and exhaust systems only.

      I'm presuming this means never opening windows which in turn means no getting fresh, cool, free air in the spring and fall. Instead, something electical is always running to keep the air flowing. Doesn't sound efficient or cost-effective. But then, that's the American way. Why get something for free when you can spend money?

      Passive housing windows in Europe often tilt outward, but they definitely open. Also, it was pioneered in Germany and Northern Europe...where heating fuel is a lot more expensive....not "the American Way." Folks there, usually comment how we're too dependant on AC, so they definitely rely on opening windows in the summer.

      Finally, sorry folks...AC is essential for work. If you're sweating, you're not concentrating. Europeans can scoff at Americans all they want, but we are leading the software world,

    • > I'm presuming this means never opening windows which in turn means no getting fresh, cool, free air in the spring and fall. Instead, something electical is always running to keep the air flowing. Doesn't sound efficient or cost-effective.

      It is extremely efficient, especially several years on when the seals on operable windows wear out and start leaking. It's about controlling the flow of energy in and out of the house, and if it only takes 100-200 watts to optimize that it's a win year over year. Havin

      • Having your windows open all spring brings in a lot more dust and pollen than you might realize which reduces indoor air qualit

        I have my windows open as much as I can throughout the year and have no problems. Then again, I don't live in the middle of a heat island city with all the consequent pollution. Yes, pollen will come in during the spring, but I don't have a weak immune system so it's never an issue. Having a free breeze blow through the house is far better than living in a cave.

    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      air flows in and out through filtration and exhaust systems only

      I have a dog, a cat and kids. Air is going to be flowing in and out the doors almost constantly.

    • No. It means you open the windows when ever you want/feel like it.

      And when the windows are closed the house is "running" on its own, with out any energy usage.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      You get plenty of fresh, cool air. It's just that it comes in through a filtration and heat exchange system. You can open the windows but it's not really necessary unless you need to rapidly clear a room of some pollutant.

      It is very cost effective because the house doesn't lose or gain so much heat constantly, meaning you have a much smaller volume of fresh air that needs conditioning. And that conditioning is done in a more efficient manner. Your bills will be extremely low and with a decent amount of sola

    • I'm presuming

      Stop it. You read it wrong/didn't read enough of it and confused yourself. Try reading it instead of presuming.

      You have lots of company, as lots of other people who can't read and don't know anything about this are also commenting. Pretty sad what this site has become, just legions of people proving they're unqualified to comment.

    • Nope, you control air circulation mechanically. Air that is vented preheats the air entering the building. Windows can open in various ways, but when you close them, they are pressed against rubber seals. Lived in such house for ten years now. Central heating runs only for three months a year. A bit of sun in winter is enough to heat it up. Too hot? Open the windows!
    • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      "Why get something for free when you can spend money?"

      Or not get it at all, like the education you didn't bother with.

    • >> I'm presuming this means never opening windows
      You're presuming wrong.
      You can open windows in a passive house any time you want.
      You'll get fresh, cool, free air any time of the year without opening the windows.

      We live in this kind of house since 10 Years, and yes, we open windows in the spring and fall.

  • by marcle ( 1575627 ) on Saturday November 02, 2024 @08:46PM (#64915407)

    When I was a hippy back in the 60s there was a magazine called Mother Earth News that was full of DIY homesteading ideas. This was one of them. It was called an 'envelope house' due to the wrap-around air circulation.

  • Health (Score:2, Insightful)

    by dskoll ( 99328 )

    Hermetically sealing a house sounds like a great way to make the inside air pretty unhealthy.

    • An air to air heat exchanger is a good idea for sure.

      Super-insulated makes sense in new construction up north. For existing housing there isn't much you can do after the attic is insulated and the windows upgraded.

    • Hermetically sealing a house sounds like a great way to make the inside air pretty unhealthy.

      That is a reasonable point, but consider that windows open. If it's a nice day, open the windows. However, most of us Americans live in areas with cold winters and hot summers. In cold winters, it's worth relying on moderately priced air filters to keep the air clean and your heating bills down. In summers?...well...if you don't want to run the AC, that's your choice. For some regions, that's a death sentence for toddlers, the elderly, or infirmed. However, I lived without AC for a few years when I wa

    • by Temkin ( 112574 )

      Hermetically sealing a house sounds like a great way to make the inside air pretty unhealthy.

      I own an "Energy Star 2016" rated house in the US southwest. It's built with chemically expanded rigid foam insulation applied to the space in the exterior 2x6 stud walls, including the attic & garage. When we bought it, it was sealed quite tightly. It has a heat pump that can extract heat from outside air down to at least 0 deg/F (-17/C), and it has an outside air induction system that has a "minutes per hour" adjustment controller that forces the air-handler to turn on and pull filtered air in from

      • Glorious Texas weather and construction: in childhood in two different towns (central and NE, small houses, one pre-electric 1900s, individual room gas heaters, retrofitted with electric lighting and an attic fan; other was early 1950s vintage), there were occasions when it was necessary to boil a pot of water on the stove to pour into the frozen toilet bowl.

    • by stooo ( 2202012 )

      >> Hermetically sealing a house
      You did not understand.
      The house is sealed so all the air coming in and out is controlled and goes through a heat exchanger.

  • by silentbozo ( 542534 ) on Saturday November 02, 2024 @09:35PM (#64915457) Journal

    https://commercialobserver.com... [commercialobserver.com]

    "By lowering utility and energy costs — which make up 30 percent of operating expenses for multifamily buildings, and can be a pathway to more profitability, especially in rent-capped affordable housing — passive house construction can make buildings more productive assets over time. The lower energy load also makes electrification more cost competitive. Traditionally, though, most financing options for construction don’t incorporate those savings into underwriting loans. That’s a lost incentive for sustainable building. "

    In other words, passive home construction dramatically lowers the total cost of ownership over the lifetime of the building/home, but the lender won't credit that towards your financing. The reason for this is the same reason most homes in the US build the cheapest homes that pass code - people aren't willing to pay up front for the benefit, so it isn't reflected in the pricing. If it isn't reflected in the pricing, it can't be reflected in the valuation. If it isn't reflected in the valuation... then they won't credit that value when determining how much to lend you.

    It doesn't help that a lot of this also depends on how long someone plans on staying in the home. The value I've been told, as a rule of thumb historically, is 7 years on average. Post great recession that number has apparently gone up: https://www.nar.realtor/blogs/... [www.nar.realtor] . I have no idea what it is now... but if you're not going to stay in home long enough to fully recoup the additional upfront cost, then you're probably not going to pay extra for it. Then there's the bonus problem... if a passive home is more expensive to build... it will be more expensive to insure in the event of a total loss.

    So your alternatives are to pay out of pocket (if you're building the home for yourself), or rely on state/federal grants if there's a gap. And you really have to do your math to figure out (and taking into account trends for energy costs) whether it will pencil out in the end.

    I personally think that houses should be built to better standards, using better construction methods (mass manufactured modular components built inside of factories with more automation, instead of having people in the field doing bespoke framing, wiring, drywalling, etc.) Maybe someone will put in a big enough order of housing over time to make such a passive house assembly line economical to run long-term in a way that will drop housing costs, compared to traditional construction.

    Examples of panelized/prefab passive house construction:

    https://www.tooketree.com/ [tooketree.com]
    https://bensonwood.com/why-us/... [bensonwood.com]
    https://www.gologic.us/ [gologic.us]
    https://ecoprefabs.com/kit-hom... [ecoprefabs.com]

    Reference for passive house / passivhaus certification definitions:

    https://www.finehomebuilding.c... [finehomebuilding.com]

    • by dargaud ( 518470 )

      mass manufactured modular components built inside of factories with more automation

      My parents did that during COVID. They build a new, modern house. It was finished 3 months after the first digger showed up. They then showed up with large truck carrying the walls, large parts of the roof, etc... But overall it was more expensive that the traditional method. Nice modern house and well insulated though (not totally passive).

  • by mattb47 ( 85083 ) on Saturday November 02, 2024 @09:52PM (#64915469)

    You get one big problem with hermetically sealed houses: mold and mildew can get really, really bad. You can get wood rot as well. There are good reasons why homes have soffit vents. (https://roofinginsights.com/what-is-a-soffit-vent/)

    But having a highly energy efficient home can make economic sense and not have this problem. (Depending how much it costs to get there.) It's also a heck of a lot easier to do on new construction vs. remediation on old construction.

    • That's why they install HVAC systems, they are quite smart
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      These homes are not hermetically sealed, and in fact in Europe most (all?) countries have minimum airflow requirements. Air flow is necessary for healthy living, to prevent CO2 build up.

      Rather than just let air come in via leakage or open windows, you use a heat exchanger. They are very efficient because instead of actively heating or cooling the air, they mostly just exchange the heat with the outside, be that to heat or cool the fresh air being taken in.

      They typically have a humidity sensor, and there wil

  • Living in a hermetically sealed structure sounds scary as fuck. I kinda need a steady supply of oxygen to breathe, unless my 3rd grade science teacher lied to me.

  • Not price parity. What are the combined mortgage and utility costs? For passive houses, expect the total to be lower than the alternative.

    But the mortgage industry is not set up to accept this calculation and home builders are not particularly interested.

    Builders do what code requires, no more, with rare exceptions.

    Giving them a reasonable argument that banks accept will make the transition _much_ faster.

    PS. The parity link is paywalled.

  • The Saskatchewan Conservation House (211 Rink Ave, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada) is an early exemplar of energy-efficient building construction that introduced best practices for addressing air leakage in houses. It was designed in response to the energy crisis of the 1970s at the request of the Government of Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Conservation House pioneered the use of superinsulation and airtightness in passive design and included one of the earliest heat recovery systems. The house did not requi

  • If you want to learn more about the Passive House standard, I strongly recommend going straight to the source:

    https://passivehouse.com/02_in... [passivehouse.com]

    Unlike LEED or the vast majority of other green standards, the Passive House standard is entirely focused on exactly two things:
    - Energy efficiency of the building envelope (aka keeping indoors comfortable year round in both heating and cooling seasons with extremely high energy efficiency)
    - Internal air quality (Ensuring all living spaces have clean, fresh, and filt

  • Mood (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fluffernutter ( 1411889 ) on Sunday November 03, 2024 @08:16AM (#64915937)
    Being constantly worried about energy use all the time seems like just a horrible way to live. New homes around me look like coffins because it can't have too many windows, etc. I want to let all the light in, especially in winter. My mood requires it.
    • Passive homes can have entire walls of windows. You just need the right kind of windows.

    • Isn't the whole point of building better that you won't have to constantly worry about energy use? If it's built energy-efficient, you can just... live comfortably in it.

      It's the leaky old houses where you have to make trade-offs that degrade your quality of life.. Like not keeping the house at a comfortable temperature because it'll cost too much. Or you put up with stuffy air in the winter because the only way to ventilate is by opening windows. And all those air leaks are growing mold in the walls...

      • I know he was making a political statement, but yeah, it seems to me that handling something passively decreases the necessity of worrying about it.

      • But in that case you pay for it up front and you need to build a new house. So the cost is worrisome.
    • by jezwel ( 2451108 )
      I'd much rather have a 200w steady load heat exchanger on 24/7 than our multi-kW heaters in winter and multi-kW AC split systems in summer, thankfully with fall and spring running little of either. Our solar covers the day and a predictable load at night makes it much easier to right-size a battery.
    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Being constantly worried about energy use all the time seems like just a horrible way to live. New homes around me look like coffins because it can't have too many windows, etc. I want to let all the light in, especially in winter. My mood requires it.

      That is really just down to cheap design, with companies producing cookie cutter McMansions. Using the same size window regardless of the size of the room saves money. You can have large windows and an energy efficient home. One of the things that has perplexed me about homes in some US states is that they seem to build them as cheaply as possible. timber framed, cladded, no or poor insulation seems the worst as I've lived in a very hot climate (Australia) and a rather cold one (UK) and you're only robbing

  • Sealed houses require significantly more complicated and expensive ventilation system with air exchanges, scrubbers, etc. If you just seal a regular house with tin ducts that were haphazardly installed during construction you will have mold, dust, humidity and air quality issues. Energy efficiency is a great goal, but not when it comes at a cost to your personal health.

    I am old school in keeping windows open whenever possible.
    • Passive homes are definitely more money up front. But they are cheaper in the long run in most cases. Unless you live somewhere like coastal Southern California or the Mediterranean, where you never need heat or AC, passive homes are generally gonna be cheaper.

      • by sinij ( 911942 )
        My house was built more than 50 years ago, while some minor efficency updates were completed, it is nowhere near, and could not be near such sealed home. At most, it cost $250/mo to heat or cool, with spring and fall seasons significantly less. If we take $3000 as absolute maximum HVAC costs, how long do you think upfront costs (easily $100K more to build) would take to pay off?
        • Some estimates are up to 90% energy savings. So that would be $136k in savings over the 50 years for your simple example. But there are other savings too, like overall maintenance tends to run a bit cheaper due to the sealed envelope leading to less wear on the house.

  • Especially if you live where it actually has a winter climate. I don't mean a cave, I mean most of the house is below grade. If you build it on a hill the front can still be all fancy like an 'above ground' house.

    Little house on the prairie is the worst house you can build efficiency wise. Anyone with a basement understands this, although I can see most would not want only one or two sides exposed enough to have windows and doors.
    • Having half the house "submerged" is actually part of the design of the house I've been planning to build. That side of the house is for things like the study and media room, where sunlight isn't a desirable characteristic and for maintenance areas, like the laundry, HVAC access, etc. The living spaces are all on the side with giant floor to ceiling windows, while the bedrooms are up on a split level above the "submerged" area.

  • I recently got quotes on replacing my single pane windows and the quote for triple pane windows was twice what double pane windows cost. So the cost difference is still pretty high.
    • If you're not doing a passive home, it's probably not worth it. But if you are, then that extra sealing is important, especially if you want large windows.

      Passive homes are expensive up front and cheap in the long run.

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