It's certainly nice that this former hedge fund manager living in Sonoma, California could afford to rebuild her house. What about the rest of us without the bucks??
Other than some arbitrary Passive House label, none of the technologies shown is new, regardless of what you call it. The "energy recovery ventilator" also goes by the name "air exchanger". It does NOT replace the heating/air conditioning systems in the house. As the contractor explains, it's main job is to control the flow of air into and out of the house, as the house "breathes", transferring any heat from one stream to the other.
Passive House: A new metric for 'green' homes
March 28, 2011 | Length: 00:02:55
Sonoma, Calif., homeowner Catherine O'Neill decided last year to "green" her home, so she called on Rick Milburn, owner of Solar Knights Construction, to look at Passive House--a sustainable solution that focuses on energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and super-thick insulation. SmartPlanet takes a peek at the first Passive House retrofit in the United States.
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RE: Passive House: A new metric for 'green' homes
Posted by jimmy37
29th Mar 2011
Just
In
In
You CAN open windows and doors!
Posted by passivworks
11th Oct 2011
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RE: Passive House: A new metric for 'green' homes
Posted by jimmy37
29th Mar 2011
+1
Vote
Not a new metric, just a new label
I completely agree with @jimmy37. There is nothing new here, other than maybe the consolidated report card on a laptop. What can this do for an existing home and what did the article leave out that deserved the term "new"?
Posted by Suncat2000
30th Mar 2011
+1
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Green
This is really some innovative idea that has been worked out all over the house. I think Catherine O???Neill have done an incredibly appreciable job in making our planet Earth greener as she made her home greener first. Like they always say, the beginning of all revolutionary changes begins in small scale. Catherine???s idea can actually be a great inspiration for a lot of people willing to do the same. I was searching for Volvo page, would you please help me with that.
Posted by planet666
10th Oct 2011
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RE: Passive House: A new metric for 'green' homes
I live on the central coast Ca. I couldn't stand living inside a sealed box. usually all the windows in our house are open during the day and we spend much of the time outside. we don't have AC and use the heater just in the middle of winter. our gas bill isn't too big.
Posted by Jeff Cardinal
11th Apr 2011
+1
Vote
You CAN open windows and doors!
Jeff, there is nothing permanently sealed about Passive Houses. Although the envelope is air-tight, in mild weather you can leave your windows open without affecting the temperature all that much. Everyone loves fresh air and it's always an option. In a cold winter, if you do open the windows (not sure why you'd want to) you would simply lose your efficiency. The indoor air quality in a Passive House is much better, however, than the external air quality. Fresh air is constantly introduced from outside, run through the ERV, filtered through a Merv 15 air filter and is warmed or cooled through the heat exchanger with 95% efficiency. Throughout the house there is never more than a 3?? delta in temperature. It's perfect for people with allergies and any PH occupant will tell you it's the freshest air they've ever breathed in a home.
Posted by passivworks
11th Oct 2011
+1
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Spelling error.
You misspelled or misused the word peak. In the meaning and context of your article that should be "takes a peek" not "takes a peak" unless SmartPlanet took the top of a mountain.
Posted by tstone@...
20th Apr 2011
+1
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Not as Green as you Think
This building has some great concepts, I like the building envelope design without those last exterior finishes. This building is going to be more energy efficient than others but the exterior of the building will be radiated by solar exposure and generate atmospheric heat without emissions produced. That contributes to climate change and that weather severity killing many while flooding others. Here is an example of what it looks like in the infrared spectrum. http://www.thermoguy.com/blog/index.php?itemid=56
Posted by Thermoguy
5th May 2011
Transcript
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>>Sumi Das: Catherine O'Neal assumed spelling is a retired hedge fund manager living in Sonoma, California with her dog Max. Last year she decided to green her home but she didn't want to sacrifice design esthetics.
>>Catherine O'Neal: It has to be a house and a home that isn't ugly and doesn't look like a giant green experiment. I wanted a clean, elegant, simple solution.
>>Sumi Das: That solution was Passive House a Green Building Standard developed by two German physicists in 1988. The idea is simple enough; create an airtight house that minimizes both heating and cooling losses while also providing optimal indoor air quality. One of the keys to having a Passive House is lining the building with super thick insulation from the walls to the windows. Rick Milburn is the owner of Solar Knights and helped O'Neal with the renovation.
>>Rick Milburn: This is a cross section of the wall. So this is what is actually behind this siding. If you look to the side over here, you'll see this is clear and we have a dense-pack fiber insulation. We have our air and vapor barrier. This system is expanded polystyrene, it helps thermally inaudible the entire building. The entire envelope of this building is wrapped in it. We get to the outside and we have this rain screen and it increases the longevity of the building.
>>Sumi Das: Also important is this device. It's what is known as an "energy recovery ventilator" and it replaces the traditional heating and air conditioning systems that are in most houses today.
>>Rick Milburn: It's basically the lungs of the house and what it does is we bring in fresh air from the outside, we filter that air, and we also capture the heat that's in the outgoing airstream, thus keeping the heat inside the building.
>>Sumi Das: After the house goes through its green retrofit, a set of tests are performed to make sure it meets the Passive House standard. One such test is called the "blower door test" which determines whether the house is airtight. The numbers are then entered into a software program and voila, you'll find out if you have a passive house. The standard is different than the green standard "LEED." While LEED uses a point and tiered grading system, Passive House focuses strictly on pass or fail. Green advocates say both standards have strong merits, but passive house is gaining popularity for its emphasis on energy efficiency and O'Neal couldn't be happier.
>>Catherine O'Neal: They understood my vision. They got it and they executed beautifully.
>>Sumi Das: For smart planet, I'm Sumi Das.
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==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====