green architecture

How cool is this? Berthold Kaufmann’s home in Darmstadt, Germany,
is warm and dry despite the freezing rain — and it has no furnace. No geothermal heat. No big electric cord snaking out the back door. In fact, the house gets its heat and hot water from no more juice than it takes to run a hair dryer. So what’s the energy source? Sunlight, along with heat from home appliances and body heat from Kaufmann, his wife, and their two kids. Why is that enough? Because superinsulation and sophisticated windows encase the home in a shell that’s practically airtight. Heat-recovery ventilation systems recycle almost all of the building’s warmth, and little cold seeps in.

In Germany passive houses cost only a bit more to build because the commercial infrastructure’s already in place. That’s not the case in the United States, and American houses tend to sprawl, making them harder to insulate. Maybe by the time the mortgage crisis wanes, more American homeowners will be considering the “Passivhaus” option. How would you feel about an airtight home sweet home?