Blog

Centralized Whole House Ventilation Systems versus Decentralized Spot Balanced Ventilation

10/15/2015

When you are building or renovating a house, you want to install the best possible ventilation system to ensure the healthiest, most comfortable, and most energy efficient home. Investing in an ERV is a great way to ensure that your ventilation system won’t throw money away in the form of heated or cooled air. However, there are many types of ERVs. One major consideration when selecting an ERV is whether to choose a centralized or decentralized ventilation system. Consideration 1: Ventilation Effectiveness Centralized

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How a Zehnder HRV Helped This Amherst, Massachusetts Home Meet the Passive House Standard

9/23/2015

An assistant physics professor in Amherst, Massachusetts, Alexi Arango, decided to apply his love of physics to his home and create a home that followed the Passive house standards, or PassivHaus, as it is known outside of the U.S. He had been interested in a house in Maine that was so efficient it did not require a furnace to heat it. Arango purchased an HRV from Zehnder America to help bring fresh air into the “Potwine Passive House” without losing

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First Building in NYC Receives Both Net Zero Capable Rating and Passive House Certifications

9/16/2015

The R-951 Residence, located at 951 Pacific Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, is the first New York City building to receive both a Net Zero Capable Rating and a Passive House certification. While Passive Houses have become increasingly mainstream in countries like Germany, the United States has been slow to follow the worldwide trend of making homes more energy efficient. The introduction of R-951 Residence to the nation’s largest city shows that the U.S. is beginning to adopt these standards,

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6 Reasons Why Good Home Ventilation is Important

9/8/2015

On average, people in the United States spend about 90 percent of their time indoors. Since the majority of people’s daily activities take place inside, the atmosphere inside of homes has a major impact on the health and safety of the majority of the population. Research has shown that indoor air pollution can actually have more damaging effects on health than pollution in the air outside. Good home ventilation can help to mitigate these health risks while also protecting the home. Ventilation Can

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Why Ventilation Should Be Separate From Heating and Cooling Systems

8/17/2015

We often get asked if our HRVs and ERVs can be coupled with a building’s heating and cooling system.  It makes sense, right?  If there is already a system of ducts in place for the furnace and or air conditioning system, why have a second parallel system?  While it may be less expensive to combine the two systems together and it may save a little space, the project is better served by having independent systems that each focus on their

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Proud Green Home Senenbe: Near Net-Zero Living

8/15/2015

In the American Southeast, electricity bills skyrocket during the hot, humid summers. Air conditioners are cranked up to maintain indoor comfort, making a near net-zero home a difficult achievement. A state-of-the-art single family near net-zero home was recently constructed outside of Atlanta, Georgia in Senenbe, in what is an experiment in New Urbanism, where farmland and open space are preserved around clustered homes. The architects designed the Proud Green Home in Senenbe as an integrated system, with advanced building techniques– producing

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120 Year Old Brownstone Becomes New York’s 1st Passive House Project

8/14/2015

Many historic neighborhoods across the United States are being renovated and revived. When done effectively, both charm and history can be captured, while making the homes more energy efficient. Retrofits of existing housing stock have inherent sustainability advantages, especially if deep energy retrofits dramatically boost performance. In the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, a 120-year old brownstone was recently retrofitted to become the first Passive House-certified project in New York City. This international standard results in a 90% reduction in heating

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Kuentz Family’s Proud Green Home in St. Louis

8/12/2015

With hot, humid summers and frigid winters, the lower Midwest is known for having four distinct seasons. Most homes are heated for several months of the year and cooled for several months, resulting in significant energy use. When the Kuentz family prepared to move to St. Louis, they decided to build a high-performance green home. Their new house has exceptional indoor air quality and comfort, with low energy bills, making it a model of sustainability. “The home was designed as a system

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Lubberland’s Edge Dream Home Contains Dynamic Energy Efficiency Features Under One Roof

8/11/2015

When Norbert and Robin were envisioning a retirement home, they aspired to live in a high-performance home, powered by renewable energy. This would help protect them from unpredictable energy costs in the future. Their retirement dream home is now being built, thanks to FUTURO Construction, and contains numerous innovative green building features. They decided to build a new 1,900 square foot home to the Passive House standard in Newmarket, New Hampshire, overlooking Lubberland Creek. New homes built to the Passive House

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Belfast Ecovillage Homes Achieve High Indoor Air Quality and Energy Efficiency

8/10/2015

When members of Belfast Ecovillage broke ground on their 36-unit community in 2011, they had a vision of creating a community of homes that use 90% less energy to heat and cool than the average code built home. Although the homes are located in Midcoast Maine, they are heated primarily from the sun and heat from occupants and appliances. Now that construction is complete, many of the homes have solar systems that produce all or a majority of their own energy, with a

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