High Performance Building

Passive House

Passive House is the world’s leading standard in energy efficient building construction. Developed in Germany in the early 1990s, a Passive House uses up to 90% less energy for heating and cooling than a standard building. The approach’s appeal is in its simplicity: Exploit the sun’s energy, employ continuous insulation, seal out any leaks, and ventilate with heat recovery. The performance is meant to aggressively meet the climate crisis carbon reduction imperative while making a comfortable, healthy and affordable built environment.

Net Zero Energy Homes

A Home That Makes as Much Energy as It Uses

The basic principle of net zero energy homes is that they produce as much energy as they consume over the course of a year. There are two steps in achieving net zero energy: The structure must have at least one way to generate renewable energy (solar panels are the most common), and the building must be extremely efficient so that it consumes as little energy as possible.