Exploring Passive House Design - 90% Energy Savings!

[@UndecidedMF]

I don't know about you, but I'd love to build a Passive House or Net Zero home. What do you think? Also, be sure to check out the very related video I did a while back: Exploring Green Building and the Future of Construction - kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZ7SqmVter9rr5I

[@GirardNicolas]

How about taking your viewer's architectural project and make vlogs about how you would help people build their house efficiently using your deep knowledge of those topics ? I'd definitely be a taker. Thanks for all this huge work, your videos are extremely interesting everytime.

[@ErikBartlow]

I just went through the freeze here in Houston, TX. I have two words for your question.....YES PLEASE!!!!!!!

[@justingriffiths6931]

Over the past year I have been thinking about saving up to build a net zero home that is also multi-generational so my parents can live close by as they age. It will take us a few years to save for it, but there is an architecture firm in my area that is experienced in net zero design and is open to helping us make this work.

[@irvingabbott6]

I love this vlog!!! I live in Minnesota and these are the ideas I was trying to explain to my wife on why we should build our house from the ground up. This is one of my top 5 vlog from you. Thank you

[@michaeldanko8987]

Check out Matt Risinger and the Build Show, he loves passive house and is always building something neat!

[@SlayerBG93]

Ok my 2 cents as an architect that has actually made passive houses. All of the things said here are true with a couple of caveats. First and most importantly the 5-13% cost increase is very optimistic. That is probably made by comparing expensive construction in an area with very high labor costs and high insulation standards allready. Still if you run the 30year money back callculation its worth it and it provides a higher level of comfort so I still recommend it. Secondly people underestimate how important a good solar gain is, you absolutely need a very sunny plot of land for an European climate so a lot of spots are not good for it. Also the walls are insanely thick to the point of sometimes creating a space issue. 2 foot thick walls are not uncommon. And lastly if you are doing a retrofit to anything resembling a passive house get ready to get your wallet gutted. I have had cases where demolishing the building and building a new passive one is cheaper. Despite all that I have said here I recommend them to all my clients. They are not only green and slightly cheaper in the long run but they are the next level in living comfort so anyone who can afford them should get them.

[@Craig6844]

the thing is how many people do you know planning on staying in a house 30 years? most just want a cheap house for a year or 2 and hope to sell it for a better price when they move to their next job.

[@jessicac4751]

@@dominicm2175 I'll take the efficient house, please! These days, it's all about keeping up with the Joneses and trying to look like you've got money. There's literally massive sticker things you can buy and put on your counter to make it look like you have freaking marble. It's so depressing! It's all about looks and how Instagram worthy your space is. I honestly can't stand it. This is a major factor in why I have very little hope in society, especially American society, doing anything productive and causing major changes in climate change. American society is simply too screwed up. Big trucks and SUVs everywhere.... Just for show. It's like excuse me sir, you have a white collar job in the city or wealthy, live in an expensive condo, and have never hauled anything in your life..... Please tell me again why you need a brand new Ford f250??? Or even f150! It's all just maddening. Consumerism is the absolute worst in America and it's so damn depressing.

[@seansimpson4472]

Good to know thanks

[@artemaung5274]

​ @Jessica C All my life I've been tech guy all about efficiencies and logic and completely disregarded the beauty and style aspect of things. I was a guy who would get the most ugly PC case, but it was large and cheap and and easy to work in so that's why I would get it. I was the guy who would get 5-year old used Prius over a nice Lexus because "it's much cheaper per mile" But as I learned later thanks to my wife and artist hobby, beauty is an important part of us as human beings. I too share with you disgusts for people who drive raised up f250s for no reason whatsoever. I share with you disgusts for unhinged consumerism wanting to get more and more for hardly any reason. But driving a small SUV? Why not? It's typically cheaper in insurance and significantly safer, therefore saving lives which is tremendously underappreciated. Traffic accident deaths and injuries is one of the biggest threats to human life! Sure SUV is 10-15% less fuel efficient, sometimes 20% less efficient, but has 2-3 times more space available, so you don't have to hire people or rent trucks when you need anything bulky. And if you consider cost per mile, sometimes it might surprise you, because fuel costs are just 1/8 of cost per mile for modern vehicles. In many cases it's almost identical or within just 5-10% difference. Granted we shouldn't really be talking about gas vehicles right now when we can get Tesla Model Y which we can realistically charge with solar panels from home. Finally American society has it's flaws, but it's dwarfed by flaws of dictatorship societies such as Russia or China or even relatively benign hybrid regimes like India or Brazil. Trust me - you would be disgusted far more with those if you truly knew them.

[@rbettsx]

Interested in the view of an architect.... people have been building energy-efficient housing for ever.. e.g. cooling towers in Tabriz, Iran, ducted houses in old Sana'a, Yemen, the deep-verandahs and rooms around static water in southern India. All thick-walled, no need for high technology or air-conditioning in any of them. The costs may be higher, but distributed over the centuries these buildings have served with virtually no adaptation, it's nothing. And (form following function,) they are beautiful. What moves would have to be made to re-establish proper architectural practices? How could we get to building for future hundreds, rather than tens, of years? In the UK, when talking about our housing crisis, it's always 'number of units'. Architecture is never even mentioned. It's exasperating.

[@Saraseeksthompson0211]

This is why I love our 16th and 17th century homes in the uk. The walls are nearly two feet thick and thatched roofs also act as insulation. With modern construction and engineering knowledge we could make homes that are charming while still providing more energy efficient homes.

[@DaveDugdaleColorado]

Before last winter I air sealed my attic, I have not add more insulation in the attic yet, just air sealing. This winter my gas usage has been 15%-20% less. Years ago I upgraded my gas furnace from an 80% unit to a 98% efficient unit, I didn't see any difference to my usage. Air sealing my attic cost me about 10 large cans of spray foam (cheap), the furnace cost me $7,000.

[@TheMaevian]

next is insulating outside walls, gives the biggest saving after insulating the roof

[@teslafudge1585]

100% Well done.

[@scottmohrman]

Yep. Air sealing is very important.

[@DaveDugdaleColorado]

@@TheMaevian I would like to try that but I think that opens other issues. If I add 2 or perhaps 4 inches of foam boards on the outside and then reinstall the siding (that probably will not fit back on) now my roof overhang is 4" shorter which might mean my HOA would not like that.

[@Sekir80]

@@DaveDugdaleColorado I strongly suggest is you go that way and you have to redo roof overhangs then consider 6" of EPS! Of course I say this without the knowledge of your winter temperatures, but stating you saved 15-20% with air sealing suggest it IS cold. The more the better.

[@BCTKBJ48]

Building a passive tiny house for a four person family was a goal of mine for eight years. Did not come to fruition, but would love to see more contractors and architects out there who could do this work. Also thought about combining passivehaus with a permanent, easy maintenance idea-- like building a passivehaus that would last 1000 years. I think that’s the level of design we need to get to if we want to be honest about real sustainability.

[@BCTKBJ48]

Been looking for any long term design ideas without any luck. Found a publicity stunt in GA, but that was it. Think it would be a great topic for an episode.

[@lisacarey4951]

I built a passive solar tiny house. When I had it in a place that the house was faced south it was great. Now I am in a place where the south side is faced west, with little windows that get south sun in the winter, it isn't as good. So it's important to be able to have a house faced in the right direction for it to work. Deciduous trees are a must except on the north side. I agree it's worth it to build passive solar houses!

[@dallastaylor5479]

Finding a contractor that can build a passive house is the hard part. Houses, at least in my area, are going down in quality and up in price. The work is shockingly shoddy.

[@KuriusOranj]

Too true. I've seen a lot million-dollar homes with abysmal quality and materials.

[@thomasschafer7268]

Buy a book. Look for tji joint!

[@davidmccarthy6061]

And the developer just wants to pack in as many has possible in the space, so no concern of best placement. Only a customer builder of a home with a higher than normal price, so another great idea for only the rich.

[@mariusdufour9186]

In Brussels every single new building has to meet passive standards (below 15kWh/m^2 per year). The way they prepared architects, contractors, etc. for this was that the government offered cash incentives for passive projects, offsetting the additional cost due to a lot of people having to figure out how to construct buildings in the most thermally efficient way. The programme started in 2007 and ended in 2015, when legislation was passed making passive the new standard. Moreover, they announced that this legislation was coming years in advance, meaning that contractors had an incentive to jump into the incentivised 'experimental' projects. Now, most contractors in Brussels can build a passive house to a relatively high standards. It's even trickling down to the rest of the country, especially Flanders. So, a good strategy to build up the knowhow in contractors and designers is to start with a dense area with relatively high land values, and use both the carrot of subsidies for early adopters, and the stick of coming legislation to push everyone in the desired direction. As an individual in an area where passive construction isn't the norm, you'll likely pay a hefty premium for the work to be done right. And that's if you work with an architect and/or engineer who has practical experience with passive construction. It is possible, if you look at the new Belgian Embassy in Kinshasa, to build a passive building using mostly unskilled local labour, but you need the right people to supervise the project.

[@Noble909]

I inspect modern tract developments and the quality of construction is embarrassing.

[@Texzor]

We live in a passive house for 20 years, it's very comfy and the energy use is ridiculously low. No cold or mold spots, not even steam on the windows. If we like, we open the windows and when not we still have fresh air 24/7.

[@dwftube]

Do you have to use any form of heating?

[@Texzor]

@@dwftube yes we use a very efficent mini-split heatpump, it needs about 900kWh a year

[@dwftube]

@@TexzorThanks - does the house ever get too hot in the summer?

[@Texzor]

@@dwftube without air con it whould get to hot

[@Thickmustard]

Fire would not be my first concern living in a house made of straw. A big bad wolf on the other hand...

[@geeeee8268]

Modern wolf use wall breachers and drive black armored trucks with word "SWAT" on the side. I wouldn't worry about straw.

[@mikurec]

Those straw panels are certified for 2 hour fire resistance. That should be enough time to escape

[@dieabsolutegluckskuche5174]

Straw with Clay is actually really good against fire if you do it right, if you want I can link you a Video from Germany how it's done correctly and how fireproof it is:)

[@dzhiurgis]

@@dieabsolutegluckskuche5174 All sort of critters, mice, bugs love straw...

[@dieabsolutegluckskuche5174]

@@dzhiurgis if it's lose I absolutely agree, but if it is compressed and sealed with clay, you won't have a problem with mice and bugs.

[@PlugInCaroo]

*Passive-houses are really awesome!* 👍👍👍 Governments should support such energy efficient buildings.

[@liamgriffith]

One of the most clear and succinct passive house explanations on KZbin. Plus, you included footage from the fist passive house built in Sydney Australia, nice work Matt.

[@gregchambers6100]

I like the guy posing in the attic, standing on the dry wall lid, as if he were actually installing fiberglass insulation without protection, also the guy posing in the attic with a 4 point harness.

[@MrMorgsan]

I must say your pacing is much better now. The short pauses lets the viewer take in the information and reflect for a moment. Keep up the good work! BTW passive houses is almost industry standard in Sweden.

[@Dan-pm4hd]

Here I am watching this at x3 speed.

[@aries6776]

I remember visiting friends in Sweden going back 30 years and I was amazed at how well insulated their homes were back then! The UK is terrible by comparison.

[@richriley5832]

When I built my shop/garage I wanted it to be totally passively/solar heated. After several years of using the shop, I haven’t needed to use any fossil fuel to heat it. It can be 20 deg. F. outside and will still be 60 to 65 inside. Plenty warm enough for a wood working shop. If you would like to know more, I’d love to share the details with you.

[@sumathisumathi5435]

I would like to know more so can you give some details please.

[@taniafari7737]

Can you tell me more about passive heating

[@joecrv]

I’d like to know more, do you have a blog or video ?

[@illiiilli24601]

I'm interested in the details

[@DataSmithy]

Conservation of energy should always be the first option, when considering how to make your home and life greener.

[@syndicalistspeedsolver]

It would still be more expensive tho and it would never pay for itself right?

[@ThunderDraws]

@@syndicalistspeedsolver saving energy means you have to spend less on heating/cooling. it does pay for itself.

[@syndicalistspeedsolver]

@@ThunderDraws that would still be way less that you save than you spend

[@OOobstkuchenOO]

@@syndicalistspeedsolver assuming the numbers in the video are correct, a (typical?) passive house saves ~450€/yr in costs, that makes roughly 10.000 every 20 years. With additional building costs of 5-10%, that would mean your house can cost 400.000 and the difference pays itself off in 40 years (at 5% extra cost) or 200.000 at 10%. Not quite 'never pays for itself' but obviously going towards climate/environmentally neutral building shouldn't be viewed as an investment strategy anyways

[@syndicalistspeedsolver]

@@OOobstkuchenOO yeah 40 years is way too long imo. Think that money could be put to better use like solar pannels or a tesla or what-not

[@jonathanchristopher7873]

I’m a contractor in the PNW and i find most people don’t want to spend the extra money to build Passive Homes. Ive been pushing ICF(insulated concrete form) construction for years and very few people want to build because of the extra cost involved. They would rather have a larger budget for granite or flooring. Please keep producing videos like this to help make people aware and educate them. Thank you, JC

[@stephenveerasammy3074]

Is ICF better to use? How is it better?

[@zaknefain100]

What I tend to notice is people building much larger than they actually need, especially in the US. They'll build a 4k sq-ft home and spend 90+% of their time using less than half of it. The land of excess.

[@aries6776]

I feel like this will change dramatically if energy prices stay high or keep increasing. When it starts to make economic sense people will start getting on board.

[@alanagnew3451]

@@zaknefain100 There is a paper on The Path of Truth website called "Back to Basics." Here's a quote to address people's excess: "Wasn’t it Henry Thoreau who determined to find out how much we really need to live comfortably and discovered it to be very little?"

[@JHorvathCinema]

Devil is in the details, we’re currently in the middle of a massive renovation of a 130yo brick home. It’s probably the leakiest house I’ve ever seen, but the structure is in incredible shape, mainly because it can dry. Adding Triple pane windows would have had a 13 year break even point, and numerous other efficiency options were not feasible because of the style of construction used in the 1890s. In the end, we did a combination of solar and heat pumps that basically gives us free cooling and cut heating costs by about 1/3. Getting your builder to correctly install conventional products would go a long way towards having an efficient home without going all the way in on a new construction project with unproven longevity. I would definitely recommend picking up an inexpensive thermal camera and doing a little sleuthing around your current home, you may be able to find some low hanging fruit that can be remedied cheaply and give a great roi

[@ajaysachdeva9068]

U made me go to net zero solar system in my house Matt, Thank you. Big fan.

[@5greatwaters]

I've always wanted to build a mini house in my backyard and you've just inspired me to make it passive. Great content as usual, Matt. Btw, I know you hear this a lot but I can't stop praising your video quality, man! From the graphics to your narration to the content itself and the overall video production, you never fail to blow me away. Real professional grade stuff. I'm waiting for you to get the recognition you deserve.

[@KJSvitko]

Saving energy saves money on utilities year after year. Passive House buildings are a more comfortable and energy efficient home.

[@impulsesystems]

Fascinating subject. I was interested to learn when the passive house movement started. I tried to modify a new house construction, to use more insulation and sun exposure passive heating, in Massachusetts in 1999. The architect and builders were just not interested, even though I was buying a bigger house than they had planned on the site. In the end, we got 6 inch cavity walls and I put more insulation in the attic. They still shorted us on insulating a room over a garage, which was fcking freezing in MA winters! Solar was still way too expensive in those days. Fast forward 20 years and I have a 6kW solar array on the flat roof of a very old building in México, with 1meter thick walls, shaded passageways and smaller windows not exposed to high sun. I have a passive house that needs no heat or cooling. I'm using about 16kWh per day and generating about 30kWh, with all electric appliances [and no guests]. I am looking for battery storage as we do have brown/black-outs in the rainy season. They seem to be difficult to import right now!

[@agps4418]

How exciting!

[@heythave]

How about a Tesla power wall?

[@GregFurtman]

I was a carpenter back in the 1980's in Duluth, MN and the co-op I belonged to specialized in energy efficient houses. The Canadian government had spent a fair amount of money on researching best practices for cold climate houses. And one of the things they found was that it you use 2x6 studs with fiberglass insulation and 2" of closed cell foamboard on the outside of the wall it moves the condensation point into the foam so the fiberglass stays dry and remains its full effectiveness. Insulation is a big +.

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks for sharing!

[@rjphoto66]

I am a retired HERS and GreenPoint Rated Rater (California Residential BuildItGreen standards) and knew many colleagues who were involved in Passive House building - great design- wish there was more people doing them - Your explanation is a great primer for folks interested in the design or those who are not aware of it. Getting buy in from the building community is tough even in California but lets keep trying. Thanks for going this video

[@garrygballard8914]

✊ Right on Matt, saw my first passive house in the mid 60’s. I’ve been a big believe since. I’ve even done it with a balcony I had on a apartment I had in the 70’s, enclosing it with glass facing south, had a hot tube on the balcony. 👍 it was great during the Michigan winters.

[@UndecidedMF]

That's pretty cool!

[@robertlee8805]

@@UndecidedMF Matt. What do you think about the High-Speed Rail in Amtraks NorthEast Corridor and Virgin Hyperloop replacing that? I like trains but they're so 20th Century. HyperLoop is so 21st Century.

[@davidmccoomb7214]

Passive solar envelope houses have been around before 1991 .Fine homebuilding had examples of them through the eighties.There’s one around the corner from me built in the mid eighties.I also have a friend who built one back then.Both are a system where the air circulates continuously through an insulated storage mass below the house.In the evening the air from the heated storage is vented into the living areas.Such a wonderful straight forward principle.

[@guilhermepinho8997]

Matt thank you for making this video about passive design, it is great that you are making people aware of passive house and the impact it can make on the world and people's lives. As an architect that has designed his own passive home, people need to be aware that designing a passive house can get very tricky and if not done correctly can be a big problem for the home and owner. If anyone is interested in having a passive home they should find an architect that is certified to design to passive standards.

[@jubelet]

Superb video, Matt! We built our house in 2005, using the most basic components of the passive house theory, and that was to purposely search for and buy a suitable south-facing lot. We then located the house in a north-south orientation. And finally, the design included features that enabled solar gain in winter, and shaded walls in summer. It could have been much better, of course, but according to our utility company, our house is consistently among the most energy efficient in our area compared to our neighbors.

[@danielcapson9842]

I've dreamed passive/low energy since I was a kid... I would love to build a passive house from the ground up. Keep the content coming. :)

[@nicpadilla9836]

I'm a carpenter and going to be building my passive home in a year. Anyone thinking about it should look at combining concrete floors with in floor heating. This allows you to heat using thermal mass which stabilizes heat loss and run your home at a lower temperature because lower air movement. Stay away from sliding windows and doors. For the most part they do not create a good seal creating a lots of heat loss. T-studs also prevent most thermal bridging so you don't have to do an external insulation coat on the outside of the walls.

[@aj7058]

Can you add floor coverings like wood/carpet/lino over the concrete or does that reduce/defeat the effect?

[@nicpadilla9836]

@@aj7058 Will effect toe feel but not ability to heat. Only thing you really need to pay attention to is making sure whatever covering isn't using an anchoring system that punctures deep enough to hit the heated water lines. I'm choosing for my home just the straight concrete because you can have incredible looks using colored finishing stones and then grinding smooth. Also cleanup and cost make us just want concrete.

[@aj7058]

@@nicpadilla9836 thanks! I hope your build goes well!

[@ExxonMobilCompany]

I’m closing in on my retirement and I’d like to move from Minnesota to a warmer climate, but the prices on homes are stupidly ridiculous and Mortgage prices has been skyrocketing on a roll(currently over 7%) do I just invest my spare cash into stock and wait for a housing crash or should I go ahead to buy a home anyways

[@marcelrobert9569]

Most people are unable to handle a fall since they are accustomed to bull markets, but if you know where to look and how to get around, you can profit handsomely. It depends on your entry and exit strategy.

[@charlotteflair1043]

One of the primary reasons I utilise a portfolio coach to oversee my daily investing decisions is that their whole skill set is cantered on trading long and short at the same time, utilising profit-oriented techniques and minimising risk as a hedge against unforeseen events.

[@charlotteflair1043]

@@henryCliffordJames Yeah, I have total faith in a financial advisor who is certified by the US SEC. In fact, I'm not sure whether I'm allowed to disclose this, but I'd suggest checking up "Julie Anne Hoover" because she was a huge issue in 2020. She is my mentor in addition to managing my investments.

[@robertlucas8288]

@@charlotteflair1043 She has excellent credentials and an outstanding occupation. Hence, I swiftly copied whole name and typed it into my browser. I'm curious to discover why she is so busy, and despite the fact that she has unquestionably good credentials, I nevertheless schedule a meeting with her.

[@heythave]

Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia. Rent is $200 to $500 per month and it’s warm all year long.

[@JMPM1]

wow its my dream house, a eco friendly fully, solar powered, strong, small, smooth and clean house. It is going to be difficult but i want to make it happen when i buy my first house

[@sydneyrose6455]

Oh my freaking God, YES! We NEED more of these passive houses! I hope companies such as apartment builders and trailer makers can find someway to make more passive houses!

[@giszTube]

How could you not mention earthship homes? They take efficiency to the next level! I don't have one, but I love the concept. They don't only cover being energy efficient using much cheaper technology but also water efficient. They typically also add growing food. Basically, it makes it possible to be very self sufficient. Worth looking into... They exist in both very hot and cold climates.

[@UndecidedMF]

Earthships, rammed earth, etc. all deserve their own deep dive videos.

[@treydonovan4856]

I live in a 1994-built Earthship. It's amazing.

[@GreyDeathVaccine]

​@@treydonovan4856 Did you plaster all tires? Off-gassing is serious issue with not covered tires.

[@terrycarter8929]

I have been planning my retirement home for 20 years. I recently bought the land to build it on. I have been gathering all the passive ideas I can find to incorporate into my build. One idea is to have indoor garden on the south side of the house. Instead of a roof that is solid or translucent I want to put a slatted one with a translucent covering to keep the dust out. The slats will be angled so in the winter the sun shines right through them and the summer they block all direct sunlight to keep the temperature down. Ialso want to put an indoor pool so the space has moisture for the plants. I will put a dehumidifier that will remove excess moisture from the air and drain it into a tank that can water the plants. The pool can help keep a constant temperature in the area and can also be used as a heat exchanger for the rest of the house.

[@dillon4060]

I lived in a passive solar home for a year and my conclusion is that, in this particular home, The heat loss from the massive Southern facing glass wall was much greater than the heat gained from the solar. Sure, it was pleasant on a nice sunny day, but on overcast days and definitely at night those big glass windows are a liability.

[@rachelmccrone9381]

I have a very old pre first world war army barracks that I live in. It is wooden, old and very leaky. My kids cannot afford a house here in the UK so we are hoping to build on the current site. Fortunately I have nearly 2 acres of land that I can build on but even so it's going to be pricey. These videos have been invaluable. Thank you Matt. Makes me realise what I can send on into the future.

[@ericmcquisten]

The single best method of improving efficiency on a pre-existing home, is to "add" a 'continuous' layer of insulation to the exterior of the walls, and added to the inside of the roof (not the ceiling). This is typically a layer of 'rigid foam' (ideally XPS foam). Doing this, and using a system like 'AeroBarrier" will dramatically reduce your energy costs, as well as preventing most types of mold/mildew growth (assuming you have an air-exchange system). This is also assuming you have energy-efficient doors & windows that have been properly installed. The savings are immense!

[@ryanwelsch9384]

In 2004 I purchased my 3,400 sq. ft. home with a full basement. Within a year I started improving the insulation witn expanding spray foam. I also invested in solar and switched from oil to a 5 ton 2 stage geo thermal heating system. I now have a 18.6 Kw solar PV system that provides a little more energy than my home consumes on an annual basis. I had a blower door test done and they told me that my house was tighter than an Energy Start Home. I also had an HRV installed with my geo system.

[@aaronvallejo8220]

My 107 year old house was an energy hog with only R15 insulation in the attic, heated with natural gas and 2 air conditioners using huge amounts of electricity in the summer. Over the last 10 years, I installed R60 insulation in the attic. I dug out the basement crawl space for R25 batts and foam board insulation under the whole house. I hired a foam injection crew for R20 insulation in the perimeter brick walls. I disconnected the natural gas line. I had 10 335 watt SunPower panels installed on my garage. I refurbished all the original double hung windows and use them every night to cool the house in the spring, summer and fall. I built and installed a 160 F solar air heater for winter heating. I also installed an electric floor heating slab under my desk. My house is now far more comfortable, warm and net zero energy.

[@christianchellis7954]

I like how he says, "Hit the like button, subscribe, or the notification bell if you think I've earned it", He absolutely has earned it, even without saying "if you think I've earned it."

[@sk1ppman]

I'm actually in the process of specing out a Passive House now. I'm planning to build in Florida where the heating demands won't be great, but the cooling demands will. I'm looking to geothermal to hopefully provide all the HVAC I need for the project.

[@jakoblacher2313]

i like, that you used meters instead of feet. the european metric system just makes way more sense

[@UndecidedMF]

Yes, yes it does. I'm trying to get better about always including it in one way or another. I wish the US would just make the switch.

[@marcvivori1561]

I’m 68 and building a new house this year. I’ll stick w/ feet and inches thanks anyway. Haha, too old to change.

[@robertlee8805]

@@UndecidedMF Them it would most things cheaper.

[@movingamerica5534]

I love the idea of passive homes. Not for the climate but for the fact the less you depend on others the more self reliant you will be.

[@TheNewAccount2008]

Passive house standards are great, and over here in Europe where I live there is actually already another standard on the horizon: The "plus energy house". That's what I would love to have... Something that generates more energy than it needs... I am currently looking at building a house, so maybe this is what I will end up with.

[@PostImperfect]

This sounds fascinating! I'm off to Google it :)

[@eskii2]

Man, you are doing humanity a huge service

[@Sekir80]

Oh, yes! This is a great topic! Acheiving net zero is my goal, I can hardly wait to experience the results.

[@jonasnaderer6101]

Awesome video! My Patents built 2003, one of the first Passiv houses in Austria. It is realy nice to live in, the funny thing is that even in the winter months we have an inside temperature of 24 to 28°C when the sun is shining and without sun 23°C with a small pellet stove.

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks! Glad you liked it. Thanks for sharing ... love hearing from folks that have experienced it first hand.

[@enriquecomemierda4745]

Hey Matt, those of us in tropical regions would greatly benefit from another video focusing on the challenge of cooling in south Florida and the Caribbean Islands.

[@lyamainu]

Agreed! The focus always seems to be in keeping homes warm, and not enough on keeping homes cool.

[@jessicafeinleib8363]

Great job putting it all together. Currently we have a house from 1835 in New Haven CT. When we bought it in 2003 it had single paned windows, no insulation and used 1000 gallons of oil a year to heat it and also used 12 Mwh electricity for everything else ... Since then we got all energy star appliance, added cellulose insulation, changed to double paned low e windows, converted to a 96% efficiency gas heater, and a on demand gas water heater. Now we use 1000$ per year in gas. Then 2y ago we installed a new roof with massive insulation and added 13kW solar system. Now we make enough electricity to power our house, Tesla M3, and Pacifica PHEV and are still have 2000kwh extra. I oversized the solar intentionally so that we can now convert our now 17y gas cooktop, dryer and water heater to electric as they meet the end of their lifespan. The next big project is to get a Air Source Heat pump for HVAC. We have a long term goal of building a passive net positive house with Bright Built home on land in New Hampshire for a vacation home and future retirement home. We love your show!!

[@UndecidedMF]

That’s awesome, Jessica! Thanks for sharing ... and my wife and I are seriously looking at Bright Built for ourselves here in MA. Just have to find the land. If you end up pulling the trigger on a passive/net zero home, let me know how it goes.

[@badhrihari1705]

I'm moving to a new house *Coincidence? I THINK NOT*

[@UndecidedMF]

🤣

[@teslapower18]

Matt, basically pretty good video about passive houses. As been building residential houses on four continents in past 20 years one can claim to have rather good understanding of your topic. One clear challenge in the very beginning is the design. Firstly it is vital to understand the most dominating climate factor of the passive house i.e. is the main energy need for cooling or primarily for heating and less for cooling. For example my own passive house from 2015 in Helsinki, northern Europe, is located in environment of 90F peaks in summer, -20F lows in winter. Still, mostly of the energy is needed for heating. But for example the houses I have been developing in southern Spain or in greater Miami area, cooling is the main issue. So if the heating is the primary need, then large windows towards south are to recommend. In other cases canopies, roof overhangs and other shading methods should be considered on south sides. Secondly, the traditional stick build method, like the 2x4’s in US, is problematic beacause of thermal bridges as you correctly pointed out. Maybe you have a closer look on CLT? My friend Hardy is running the Structurlam company in Vancouver. Main benefit with CLT is the possibility in positioning the thermal insulation completely outside of the structural ”frame” without any breaking points, only connections are with doors and windows. I have done few hundred homes in Bavaria, southern Germany, where CLT homes have seamless external insulation of polyurethan, strypor etc. plus rendering on the top. This method has been there in use now for 30 years. Thirdly, the entire ventilation and heating shall be planned very thoroughly as you correctly mentioned too. The choise of primary heating method has naturally enormous impact in energy need. I am personally heating and cooling my own passive house, some 2,800sqf. with only two Panasonic air-to-air heat pumps and mechanical ventilation unit has heat recovery function. I am able to run that rather large house by some 17-18kWh per sq. meter per year. So next investment will be solar panels to cover at least 65% of energy needs.

[@goomar9537]

Have you ever considered doing a video about liquid metal batteries for large scale energy storage? Batteries like those talked about by Donald Sadoway.

[@jan_franzke]

My old school constructed a new building as a passive house. In the calculations for the heating and ventilation requirements they were using each student as a 200W heat source.

[@garycooper4512]

I'm guessing this will be a very popular video in Texas right now ...

[@KJSvitko]

A little insulation goes a long way in providing safety and comfort.

[@thoreberlin]

Well without battery storage and a power outage you would have to open windows to survive and negate many of the passive house effects. The heat exchanger saves 70-90% of the heat that would otherwise be lost to exhausted air. If you want to go full prepper you need at least a managed battery pack and solar panels.

[@CL-gq3no]

@@thoreberlin, There is no reason that one would "have to open windows to survive" in a passive home. They are much better sealed than normal homes, but they aren't submarines. The ERV/HRV part of passive homes is for long term air quality concerns. For a handful of days or even months it isn't really needed and many passive homes don't have them.

[@seanmurphy4465]

Boooo

[@xxwookey]

@@CL-gq3no most passive houses _do_ have MVHR. Some have other ventilation systems. But you are quite right that no-one is going to suffocate with the power off for 3 days. It'll just get stuffy. Also my MVHR uses 11watts in background mode. It would run off a car battery for 2-3 days.

[@christophermcnair1541]

WE NEED MORE PEOPLE TO GET ON BOARD WITH THIS !!!

[@birdrocket]

Another thing that we can do to reduce energy usage is just build housing with shared surfaces. Multifamily homes like townhouses, rowhouses, quadplexes, etc have lower energy costs per housing unit than detached single family homes. They also have the benefit of creating denser cities, so if coupled with more relaxed zoning laws to allow small commercial and offices in and near residential areas as well as a robust public transportation system, fewer people would need to drive, which would further reduce the total energy used, and have a beneficial impact on the local environment, even if all cars were EVs due to the tire and brake dust inherent in cars.

[@r2dxhate]

My 3 bedroom house had no cooling when I moved in, so I bought a cheap portable AC unit, and it struggled to keep even 1 room bearable. Then I put a box fan into the attic access hole in my garage, with the garage door cracked open, and it vents the whole attic with fresh air, and keeps the heat from slowly radiating from the ceiling. My attack was like 130-150 when it was 90 out, so forcing 90 degree air through was actually helping to cool it a lot. I plant to install an attic fan at the eve as a permanent solution. Now my tiny AC can cool the entire house, and sometimes I just don't even need it at all the whole day.

[@adamcox124]

Another way to help prevent thermal bridges is to use T stud. Basically it's an insulated miniature truss that replace conventional 2x studs so the path for heat to escape is much smaller

[@BuildingABetterWay]

Thanks for bringing Passive House mainstream Matt. We have been building Green homes forever and we are just new to PH over the last 5 years. We will never go back because the benefits are so amazing. I am just finishing rebuilding a 100 year old cottage near the beach to be my own little PH and the quiet and sense of refuge I have when I am in the house is just amazing. Plus, we put in great air cleaning systems so when the skies turn orange again, my family and I will be safe from breathing the outside air. Your videos are great and I am glad you are educating people on all of these great topics. We have our own KZbin channel to try and educated people on better building but your reach is far larger. Keep it up.

[@IronmanV5]

That would have been great for down here in Texas last week combined with home energy storage and solar.

[@UndecidedMF]

Yep.

[@PhotonHerald]

Yeah. The "It's Texas" factor is big. No frostline codes. So pipes freeze. Mounting instant hot water devices on the outside of a building. Insufficient insulation (most homes down there don't even meet code). Pipes in uninsulated exterior walls. I can SORT OF see the "It's Texas" argument. Most cold snaps down there are 1-2 day events, so even if crippled, the grid can JUST keep up. Stuff like this year are once in a century events. So, should we expect Texas to spend millions or billions on winterizing infrastructure that'll mostly sit idle? Or do we take that money and pour it into other things?

[@crusherven]

@@PhotonHerald I live in Austin, Texas. Just this past Friday it was still getting below freezing at night (22F). Today it is 78, and I'm wearing shorts/tshirt. Very surreal, but also it's why so many people, both private citizens and government, were unprepared. Fortunately a lot of newer construction uses pex pipes which don't tend to burst.

[@PhotonHerald]

@@crusherven Yeah. Decent PEX installs with bulge, but return to shape. But SHODDY PEX installs...

[@solarissv777]

@@PhotonHerald well, properly insulated houses can also save a lot on AC Electric bills in summer.

[@tomsmith3216]

My wife and I are looking at building a new house sometime in the next 5 years. This passive home idea is exactly what I'd be looking at, along with a solar roof. I'd switch to induction cooking and get an electric car and look to get to zero costs on electricity and no gas.

[@BlueFlyer83]

I've heard it said best, "you will always achieve the opposite of your goal when to do so with force." If you hope to get more people to adopt this life style, you NEED to appeal to them through their wallets. If they knew the cost savings in the long run, they'll be more likely to adopt a passive house like this. And they can do it with little sacrifice to their lifestyle. But that's just my opinion. I'm a cheap ass who tries his best to stretch his little income as far as possible.

[@BigMacMatt3020]

This is basically how our house was built but 20 years ago, its a north facing (southern hemisphere) house with a veranda all around the east, north and west side of the house. allowing sun to enter the windows in winter and to block the sun in summer. glass wool insulation from top to bottom. and recently we installed roller shutters on all the windows in the house, because 20 years ago double glazing was way to expensive. the roller shutters are fantastic and i highly recommend people install them if you can afford it, the last winter we had we saved so much firewood just purely because after lighting the fire to heat the house you wouldn't need to maintain the fire to say warm, and the same for summer, turn the A/C on for a few hours to cool the house then turn it off for the rest of the day.

[@TealCheetah]

I pet-sat at an earth ship house. It was fantastic. All the amenities you need/want, and stayed comfortably cool year round.

[@UndecidedMF]

👍

[@mheitchue]

Tesla is not a "solution" but a luxury panacea for the rich.

[@stephenholford5220]

I live in a passive house in the United Kingdom. This is the best video I have seen that explains the principles of the passive house design. For the record we have no heating at all. We light a few tea lights in the living room on cold days and this seems to do the trick.

[@aries6776]

This has got much more important due to the sky-rocketing cost of energy. As someone who lives in the UK and has friends in Sweden I alway marvelled at their tremendously well insulated homes (this is going back 30 years!). Rather than focusing on mostly on cheaper energy I think we should be doing just as much to reduce our energy use.

[@kendrickpi]

Be interested in learning more about ‘retrofitting’ the standard to an existing house - given I am not beginning with the opportunity to build new!

[@Gogowitsch]

That is certainly possible, just requires expertise in planning and excellent building materials. I am lucky to live in a house from the late 70s. It used to be a prefabricated concrete building, but 8 years ago, all outer walls were removed and replaced by air-tight well-insulated wood walls. Given that it was meant to be a bomb shelter, there is still a large amount of heavily reinforced concrete in the roof, ceiling and the inner walls. The air quality is excellent and we rarely need to heat it and never need to cool it, mostly thanks to the heat exchanger. We paid 220'000 € for 125 m² here in Germany. Feel free to ask me anything at kzbin.infodiscussion.

[@TheEpicLifeOfJacob]

I get a huge Practical Engineering vibe from this channel! You've earned yourself a new subscriber!

[@myentertainment55]

Do video about passive aggressive next week :D

[@nou4898]

hola

[@evanking6329]

Thumbs up just for the cooper foundation… 👍👍 Thank you from someone who cares.

[@graemecollin]

Personally, I wasn't initiall thinking "Straw and Fire", I was thinking "Straw and Mice" ...

[@UndecidedMF]

Ha! Hadn't thought of that.

[@toddbellows5282]

I was thinking The Three Little Pigs.

[@AlRoderick]

The answer in both cases is the same, the density of the compressed material is so high that there isn't enough oxygen for either fire or mice to really deal with it. I suspect it's also possible to treat straw with a bitterant that would make them not want to chew on it, but honestly I can't think of too many things that a mouse won't chew on, you find them living in fiberglass insulation all the time and that is not a terribly comfortable place to be.

[@glenndennis6801]

The insulating materials have a sealed air barrier and siding on the outside and a vapour barrier and drywall (or similar) on the inside so rodents shouldn't be a problem unless they get in during construction.

[@mikeyazel8725]

Living in the country near a woods I can tell you there is no place a mouse or squirrel will not try and live and the only siding they can not get through is steel any other sheathing or siding up to and including fiber cement is not a barrier in any way to them. Also as a fireman for 40 years you would be surprised how building materials overtime change like blown cellulose and lose there there fire retardant over time and heat cycles near a recessed light fixture or bad wire connection.

[@markahart45]

My mother and built a mostly passive house in Northern California back in the mid 1970's. She used a partial open basement, vents between floors, solar efficient windows, building orientation, overhanging eaves and a "plant room" a room with dark tiles and plenty of tropical plants. Winter time she would open the plant room to the home and close the upper floors. We only used a floor furnice 10 or 20 minutes each morning and a fireplace in the evenings. we burned less than 2 cords of wood each winter. Summer time we opened the upper floor windows, opened vents between floors and closed the plant room. home was never real hot as the cool air from the basement was drawn up by the rising warm air flowing out the upper windows. Home was sold, new owner did not understand the important use of the vents, blocked them. His first winter he burned 12 cords of wood, and next summer the home was unbearably hot. Passive homes have been around a while, but not many people understand them.

[@watchthe1369]

Those houses in Germany probably did more to reduce their carbon footprint than the solar panels they installed. They are currently burning Lignite Coal to make up their generation shortfalls, so PROPER use of solar is what it is all about.

[@VincentAndre_HK]

You are on point, we never say it enough : Reducing 50% of our power consumption is already solving half of the energy transition problem!!

[@jeremychristensen2875]

“Thermal Bridges” great band name

[@UndecidedMF]

Yes, yes it is.

[@dodopson3211]

Would their first album be "crossing the cold"?

[@huejanus5505]

They built two identical houses in Ontario, in the same development. One house had fibreglass insulation installed, the other used spray foam. The spray foam house used less than half the energy for heating/cooling. Costs more upfront but quickly pays for itself, especially seeing how resource prices are going through the roof (pun intended).

[@greatwavefan397]

Very fascinating

[@StillOnTrack]

Cool stuff. I'd love to see how some advanced cob homes could be designed with these principles and in conjuction with tech.

[@MoppelMat]

I own a relative new house, that is not exactly a passive house, but a low energy house (38kWh / m2). So its more than double that was advertised here, but its quite good. I can open doors as much as I want, and I can run an wood oven in the living room in the winter without need to think about air pressure. I own a PV on my roof and we drive 2 electric cars. We run our heating from an electric heat pump and do not pay more than 600€ per year on total power costs for living, heating and warm water. Its a dream of mine came true.

[@McSlobo]

Thanks. Finally someone talks about the most important thing!

[@FallLineJP]

Why would you quote “energy savings over 30 years” in “euros/year”? Either one or the other would be clearer.

[@ge2719]

maybe its averaged over 30 years. if you have different weather patterns the energy savings will be different, so over 30 years worth of data the average saving per year was the specified amount.

[@FallLineJP]

@@ge2719 Yeah I see your point, but you can still call that an annual average without specifying any time-span. Most people seeing "over 30 years" will assume that's a cumulative total - and when they see it's so low they might tune out without realizing. It took me a bit to realize what they were saying.

[@dbc105]

I learned about passive houses about 2 years after I built my house, 24 years ago. I've since seen homes in Colorado that will amazing you in how they are able to use sunlight to move air around the house to heat and cool a house. It cost a little more at construction but over the years it is a small amount.

[@DarkMoonDroid]

Not only would I like to build one of these houses, but I believe that building one's own home should be a basic human right. And we should be allowed to build to the highest quality we can afford - be that high or low. Everyone should be taught these skills in public high school.

[@ps3301]

Human spend way more money on decoration than green tech

[@mv80401]

Don't get me started on granite countertops...

[@nickbailey202]

Duuuuuude, about the winter dry skin issue. I agree! I'm 41 this year and it's been getting worse. This past winter was so miserable I couldn't sleep. Started taking early showers and only quickly washing the essentials. Haha!

[@leffew152]

I am fascinated with the idea of building my own sustainable, smart, and passive home. A home with sustainability built into the design rather than a costly afterthought.

[@GreyDeathVaccine]

Then learn about Annualized Geo Solar 🙂

[@bartmannn6717]

Btw, you don't necesarily need a fancy ventilation system, if you're ok with just opening your windows for 5 minutes, 3-5x a day. Even in winter you actually don't lose heat that way, because the heat energy stored in the walls/materials replenishes the heat of the air afterwards in no time.

[@odw32]

For small houses -- and honestly, if you want to be energy efficient, house size should be the first consideration -- there are also single-room heat recovery ventilation systems. Those consist of "punch through" hole in an outer wall with a tube installed. Costs about $200 excluding installation, and makes the room "breathe" in and out while recovering 85-90% of the ventilated heat. This also saves you from running thick ventilation pipes through your ceiling.

[@MrBrianDuga]

Excellent job. And the other factor a lot of people don't talk about is that the high efficiency wall mounted boilers (for example), don't last as long as their big cast iron predecessors. They're more expensive and have to replaced more often. Passive house not only saves on yearly energy bills, they save on those big hits when it's time to replace expensive equipment and you were trying to plan for the kid's college.

[@shanesmith3091]

Thanks Matt. I am building an energy-efficient home in Australia. I estimate it will cost me a couple of hundred dollars a year to operate it when completed (that includes the cost of wood for fuel). It will rarely need to access the town water supply (and will utilise all grey water for a garden), and should be able to be off-grid electrically on one Tesla Powerwall 2, although at present my block is connected to the grid and town water. It will have an efficient slow-combustion stove in the kitchen producing heat for cooking, DHW, and a hydronic heating system but will not have an air-conditioner for summer. The slow combustion stove should only need to operate for 8 weeks of the year (June and July), because the heating will be supplemented by a thermodynamic heater (plus another untried system), which should be able to heat the house on its own during the shoulder months (half May & August). The walls will be built out of stabilised interlocking compressed earth block (CEB's or ISSB's). They will be laid in a double block exterior wall with 100 mm cavity which will have an 80 mm closed cell polyisocyanurate insulation board inside. It will have double-glazed aluminium framed windows with a rubber insulator in the frame. It has other energy-efficient features as well. The house is situated in a mild Mediterranean climate where summer temperatures reach 45°C in summer, and sometimes over 40°C every day for 2 weeks running. Winter temperatures go to -4°C occassionally during the night, but are usually over 12°C during the day. It is a reasonably large house at 224 sq.mts. living area.

[@scottpope514]

There is another benefit to passive house design that is infrequently discussed. Power outages and HVAC failures can quickly make a traditional house unlivable. Other long tail risks such as water pipe freezing and ruptures are less likely. Long tail risk should be figured into the NPV.

[@certiPHIer]

Nice job Will! just one thing - the ventilator you showed is a less efficient cross-flow core (identifiable by square shape). Meeting the Passive House standard needs a more efficient counterflow core (hexagonal in shape), and there are still very few such ventilators made in the USA, which is why most folks with PHI certified passive houses are using Zehnder ventilators, which are made in Europe. To those looking for a passive house, make sure it has a PHI certified ventilator.

[@paul49777]

Being one that is a passive house advocate, there are plenty of builders that will take the time to do it right. You need to start with the architect, the site plan, the builder, and each phase of the testing procedure to be certified. Even if you can’t meet the strict passive home standards to be certified (passive house compliant), building to their model will get you well above current building practices throughout the industry. It is even possible to build the home yourself and achieve passive house standards.

[@matthewprather7386]

I totally support this concept since whatever energy we don't consume is energy we don't have to figure out how to produce cleanly! As to whether it saves money ("What's the payback time?") there's a potential interesting conundrum where energy efficiency raises property value, and that can raise property taxes. For this reason, municipalities should provide a means for property tax relief for energy savings features on a house - on top of the one time incentives many utility companies provide.

[@james2042]

Well designed houses that use passive heating/cooling systems, thick insulation, using highly efficient AC and heating systems (heat pumps especially), using wood burning stoves as a backup for places that get extremely cold, Highly efficient hot water heaters, all LED lights, dynamic thermostats using slightly larger washers and dryers so you can do more clothes per load, and probably more I'm not thinking of. You combine that with solar panels with solar tracking and a healthy amount of batteries and you have a house that really has little to no operating cost. Of course if you're heavily using an EV you're gonna need a lot more solar

[@CrimWorld9]

LOL Passive Houses cost upto 10-15% more hahahahahaahhahahahahahaha What a joke, It's closer to around 50-100% more

[@keliaaineteleri1419]

Underground ❤️

[@chrismcknight7164]

I love the idea of adding solar or wind power generation and then using that to also charge an EV

[@Tamaresque]

I designed and built a passive solar home in 1995/96 in Victoria, Australia for my youngest brother & I to share. It used conventional building materials, only had single-thickness glass, but was correctly oriented, had no east or west windows, and relatively small south windows. We did have a glass wall to the north with a 900mm overhang at the correct height over the windows to prevent the sun coming in during summer, but that also allowed full penetration of sunlight in winter. The house was on an edge-insulated concrete slab, was open plan to allow easy circulation of the heat / coolness, and had greater-than-normal insulation in the walls and ceiling. We also had ceiling fans and no other form of heating or cooling for the first 18 months. In that time, it never got above 27 degrees C indoors in summer - not bad when it was 41 degrees outside! - or below 14 degrees in winter. When we could afford it, we later put in a central reverse-cycle heater/air-conditioner. The thermal mass of the slab worked really well. We had no carpets, just ceramic tiles, which allowed the slab to absorb and release the heat and then when the money for tiles ran out, we just used cement paint in the bedrooms. 🙂 It was a lovely house to live in and I'm looking forward to building something similar but smaller just for myself in Tasmania. This time, with double-glazed windows as a required standard, I'm sure it will work much better.

[@Tamaresque]

The most satisfying part of the build came right at the very end. The builder kept trying to change my plans and I kept disagreeing with him because what he proposed didn't fit into the passive-solar mould. I asked him why he kept trying to change things (I assumed it was because a woman designed it - and a non-professional, at that!) and he said it was because passive-solar was bullshit and it didn't work. The majority of the build took place over winter, and at the end of it his crew told me what a pleasure it had been to work in the house because "it's the warmest house we've ever worked in over a winter". 🙂 And the the sceptical builder copyrighted my design! 😀

[@keithsnow]

Yes I totally agree and want to use this standard for our next build.. I’ve been in the 1st passive house in CO, was 32 outside and 74 in , it has no heat source and the air quality was fantastic.. passive house is the best way to go and I have studied about all the sustainable methods and IMO, passive is the way to go.. great video!

[@brandonanderson1057]

We are doing an owner-builder icf passive house in the future. Your video is what I use to explain to people just what the heck I'm talking about. Thank you.

[@megmagruder7124]

We visited a couple in Colorado, staying there with the Boondockers Welcome app. They built a passive house. It was so cool to see what was described here in “real life”. If I get to build a 3rd home, net zero will be a focus. Now heating is not the issue, but cooling is in TX. Well except for last February… enjoying your videos. Thank you for sharing.