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Team Germany (Technische Universität Darmstadt)
Great news for those interested in Passive House
building here in the US! We have a newly certified
Passive House built in Maine by
G٭O Logic
Homes, a design-build firm consisting of Matthew
O'Malia, an architect and Alan Gibson, the builder.
The project was completed this summer and the
house has been just recently certified as a 12th Passive House in the
US.
This cheerfully red house is designed and built to
perform extremely well in northern US cold climates
while showcasing a clean, but modern design
reminiscent of vernacular New England barns. When
you look more closely at the house, you'll see that
Passive House tenets were considered very carefully.
The house is oriented along an east-west axis,
showcases ultra-high performing triple glazed German
windows with large windows on the
south side, for solar gain, features modular SIP
construction and an extremely well sealed building
envelope. In addition, it sports two sets of solar
panels on the south roof, one for hot water heating,
the other for electricity creation.
Friends
First Certified Passive House in
the North East, Belfast, Maine
According to
design calculations and early data on the home performance, this
results in an extremely energy efficient home, using up to 90%
less energy then a conventionally built home, or if translated
in currency, about $300 per year for space heating! With
the renewable energy system on the roof, the house is aiming to reach a
Net Zero status - use as much, or less energy then it produces.
As Matt says in his video, "energy needed to heat this home in
the dead of Maine winter night, at 20 deg F outside, you'll need only as much energy as one hair dryer can
produce!"
Dining room area with a view
through a large German Passive House spec window
On
G٭O Logic Homes
website, you can see few different home designs that are offered
through their services. The homes are not particularly large by
some American 'Mc Mansion' standards and further emphasize that
moderate size of a home is another of the Passive House
principles. The completed featured home is 1500 sqft in size,
has 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, open kitchen, dining and living room
areas.
The tight
building envelope does not allow for any uncontrolled loss of
energy through air infiltration and requires a controlled
ventilation system in order to provide fresh air for the
inhabitants. Stale indoor air is regularly replaced by fresh
outside air. The heat from the indoor air is transferred during
the air exchange process in an Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV)
system.
Video featuring Matt O'Malia taking
you on a tour of a newly completed Maine Passive House. (courtesy
G٭O Logic Homes)
Dining room, kitchen area featuring
a concrete floor that is used as a heat sink to store energy
captured by the low winter sun and release it slowly over night.
According to Matt, the construction cost for the
building was $160/SF. (That square foot cost does
not include appliances, solar panels, well, septic,
driveway or landscaping - as those costs vary from
site to site). This figure is extremely competitive
considering the quality of the home and energy independence you
can achieve through this approach to home building.
More
information about the whole project and how to
contact G٭O
Logic Homes can be found on their website.
