Green Homes
-
A Prefab Passive House in Michigan
This single-family home, nicknamed the “A-Haus,” is the first house in Michigan to be certified by the Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS). The striking building is situated on nearly three…
-
A Pretty Good House in Southern California
A few years into the housing bust, I started shopping around for a cabin to use as a getaway and vacation rental. I live in San Diego and I set…
-
Making an Old Tract House Sunnier and More Efficient
In 1983, the Heron was one of five cookie-cutter models offered in Bay Country, a tract housing development in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. Perhaps a little ahead of its…
-
Large Connecticut Home is ‘Zero-Energy-Ready’
Builder Mark Nuzzolo of Brookside Development has energy savings all sewn up at his new development, Singer Village in Derby, Connecticut. The high-performance homes are located on land surrounding the…
-
Denver Developer Focuses on Zero-Energy Homes
A Denver-area developer, New Town Builders, is aiming to make all of its new homes zero-energy-ready by the end of 2015. “Our goal is to be 100% U.S. Department of…
-
Modern Dream Home is Energy-Positive
A Seattle couple spent two years searching for their dream home before deciding to build a new custom home. They turned to zero-energy-home builder Ted Clifton, Jr., who built them…
-
New California Home Meets the Passivhaus Standard
This energy-efficient house in San Jose, California, not only produces enough solar electricity to meet its annual energy needs, it also complies with the stringent Passivhaus standard. The design-build team…
-
High-End Green in the Hamptons
By Richard Stott The Hamptons are flush with poorly built, energy hog spec homes on an acre or two. Many of these homes have huge lawns, pools, tennis courts, and…
-
A Passive Solar Home from the 1980s
Back in the early 1980s, I built a 1,480-square-foot passive solar home in Boulder, Colorado. There have been substantial improvements in active solar equipment since then. But today’s passive solar…
-
A Net-Zero Home in Massachusetts
Before we met, my clients had spent considerable time researching how to build a net-zero home. They read product literature, studied the economics, understood the benefits, and had a pretty…
