LEED versus Passive House Standards Commentary

Check out the commentary by Jacob Gordon. He reviews LEED versus Passive House standards on The Good 100 blog. Titled "Follow or Get out of the Way: The household name in green construction needs to innovate in order to keep up with the competition." Imagine if teachers gave out grades on the first day of school based on students’ promises of how hard they each plan to study. Oddly, we use this backward system to grade green buildings in the United States.

Passive House Standard Imports High Expectations

Alex Wilson writes about the aggressively energy-efficient Passive House program, imported from Germany. PHUS is a quantitative, performance-based standard for ultra-low-energy buildings—both residential and commercial. A recent Passive House Institute US event in Olympia, Washington, was sold-out, well-organized and informative - who could ask for more? We learned from experts about window placement within the wall (centered - not at outer edge), and how builders in the Pacific Northwest are achieving Passive House, along with many other useful bits of information. Wilson does a good job of distilling and comparing PH.   http://www.solaripedia.com/13/221/passive_house_us_imported_from_germany.html

Umbrella House Reborn into Solar

Pugh+Scarpa Architects of Santa Monica adapted architect Paul Rudolph’s 1953 Umbrella House idea into a renovated California solar home. Rudolph's design used a trellis to shade the home from the hot Florida sun. P+S borrowed the idea of the trellis but installed solar panels into a steel-beam canopy that shades their new house, while providing electricity. The canopy is part of a 4.5-kilowatt solar system that powers almost the entire 1,900-square-foot house and the pool. There are 89 BP Solar amorphous photovoltaic solar panels mounted in the steel-beamed structures, on the roof, and atop the carport. “It’s not rocket science,” says project architect Angela Brooks. “Our system is simple. We used normal electricity. We did the wiring diagrams. It could all be done by a nonprofessional.”

Poland Embraces CO2 Saver Home

The CO2 Saver House in Lake Laka Poland weathers subzero winter winds and 90-degree summer heat. The home uses a solar water heater above the atrium for hot water that provides 30 to 40 percent in winter and 100 percent in summer. The orientation of the house is specifically designed to expose 80 percent of the structure to light and warmth through the sun’s daily arc. (The total surface area in a conventional building available for solar gain is typically about 65 percent.) The long side of the wedge on the CO2 Saver means there is more surface area to absorb solar energy, plus most of the roof slopes north to south, and all sides of the house have the potential to harvest power.

Lighthouse Zero Energy Home (UK)

The Lighthouse Zero Energy home in the UK has a simple, “barn-like” form with a 40 degree pitched roof that includes solar panels and rainwater harvesting. It boasts high levels of thermal insulation, passive cooling and ventilation and biomass boilers. Biomass boilers run on organic fuels such as wood pellets and count as zero-emission because the amount of carbon dioxide they give off when they are burned is offset by the amount that was absorbed when the crop was grown. The house also has a waste separation system that allows combustible waste to be burned to help provide power.

LEED versus Passive House Standard

Check out this article that compares LEED versus the Passive House standard. Titled "Follow or Get out of the Way: The household name in green construction needs to innovate in order to keep up with the competition".
Writes the author, "Imagine if teachers gave out grades on the first day of school based on students’ promises of how hard they each plan to study. Oddly, we use this backward system to grade green buildings in the United States." Commentary is by Jacob Gordon on The Good 100 blog.