San Mateo County Menlo Park, California – Clarum Homes
Year built: 2011
Passive Home (PassivHaus) is a design and build exercise that delivers an extremely comfortable, healthy, economical and sustainable home. Passive homes offer numerous benefits over conventional building including up to a 90% reduction in energy consumption at very little additional cost,.And while some passive homes are deliberately designed to look ‘outside the square’, visually they can be as conventional as yesteryear as this home shows.
The lot for not much more…
Named Menlo Passive – derived from its location in Menlo Park, it is claimed to be the “first passive home” in San Mateo County. The builder, Clarum Homes says it is “extremely comfortable, healthy, economical, and sustainable”.
Sustainable? Menlo Passive has the lot – solar tubes, satellite-controlled irrigation, induction cooking, a condensing dryer, formaldehyde-free cabinets, bamboo and reclaimed wood floors, low-VOC paints, a Zehnder heat recovery ventilator, dual-flush toilets, drought-tolerant landscaping, permeable pavers, garage exhaust fans and even an electric car plug in that garage.
Insulation is the key to a passive design. In this home, the floor rates R11, The SIPs walls R30 and the roof delivers R44, Energy
Clarum expects Menlo Passive to use up to 90% less energy than a traditional home. Additionally, the home has a three-panel solar thermal system from Velux that could provide up to 90% of domestic hot water energy and up to 40% of space heating energy. A 4 kW solar system powers the residence with energy from the sun.
The home has roots in it’s ‘mission style’ heritage, but once you look deeper than the stucco, Menlo Passive – in common with the passive philosophy, is all about tomorrow.
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Don’t miss the video link below the gallery as it explains the concept in considerable detail including a discussion on the ‘cost’ of being passive.
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