Last week, we talked about South Portland’s newly adopted energy stretch code, IECC 2021, which will increase the efficiency of South Portland’s commercial and residential buildings. In addition to state or city mandated codes, there are several alternate third-party standards developers can comply with to reduce a building’s greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency and building comfort, and can save businesses and homeowners money.

Today, we are going to highlight one standard that in the building sector is often referred to as the gold standard. The passive house standard was developed by the Passive House Institute in Germany and is a voluntary third-party building standard that requires thick insulation, air-tight construction, durable, well-placed windows, moisture prevention and a steady fresh air supply to restructure the way that homes utilize energy.

Passive houses do not solely rely on HVAC systems, rather they utilize passive energy. Passive energy has many different sources, such as sunlight warming your home through windows or even heat radiating off homeowners and guests.

Maine architect Matthew O’Malia shared that one of his clients heats their passive house after dark simply by making cookies in the oven. Although these homes do have heating systems, the amount they are used is very low, and equivalent to running a hair dryer through the night. As a result of this alternative energy use, passive houses need 90 percent less energy than traditionally built homes, demonstrably lowering a building’s utility costs and negative impact on the environment.

In addition to the environmental and cost benefits, passive houses are skillfully designed to be comfortable all year round. As a result, buildings built to passive house standards are much more resilient during periods of hot weather than conventionally built buildings and consistently comfortable during Maine winters due to their utilization of passive energy sources. This will be especially important in keeping Mainers safe, healthy and comfortable as we begin to experience more extreme weather as a result of climate change.

The building or retrofitting of passive houses has exploded in Maine as of late. While previously homes built to passive house standards were few and far between, there is now over 400,000 square feet of planned or built passive house construction across Maine. The nonprofit organization, passivhausMAINE, supports Maine’s passive house industry, utilizes trainings, events, education and policy to build efficient, comfortable passive houses and reduce carbon in our built environment. The implementation of passive houses and advocacy and education surrounding high-performance buildings makes Maine’s building sector —  which is almost one-third of Maine’s greenhouse gas emissions— cost-, comfort- and climate-friendly.

To learn more about passive house buildings across the state, visit passivhausMAINEs interactive map at passivhausmaine.org/passivhausmapofmaine.

Our Sustainable City is a recurring column in the Sentry intended to provide residents with news and information about sustainability initiatives in South Portland. Follow the Sustainability Office on Instagram and Facebook @soposustainability. Mia Ambroiggio is a Greater Portland Council of Governments Resilience Corps Fellow serving with the Sustainability Office. She can be reached at mambroiggio@southportland.org.

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.