Passive Homes Take Sustainable Design to its Limits

Sustainable building is all the rage these days - and a few pioneers of the industry are taking it to its logical extreme, crafting buildings that don't require conventional heating at all.

A new report in USA Today highlights some of these new "passive homes." By combining super-tight insulation technologies like spray foam insulation with solar-powered electrical systems and water heaters, a passive home is free from the need to burn oil, gas or wood.

An organization called the Passive House Institute U.S. rates homes that are deemed to be truely "passive" - according to USA Today's report, there are only a handful of structures in the U.S. with this certification. In order to meet the standard, a home must have a total heating or cooling thermal load of less than 4,755 British thermal units per square foot. Most homes in the U.S. have a load 10 times higher than that level.

"You can't greenwash this. You have to be a terrific builder to do this," Dennis Wedlick, the architect and designer of New York's first passive home, told the publication.

It will be a long time before passive homes can even come close to being a standard option for homebuilders, and the higher cost of technologies like solar panels and spray foam insulation prevent some from implementing them. However, the trend is clear - in the future, greener will be better for homebuilders and owners alike.