How to Build a House That Uses 90% Less Energy!

Matt walks us through Passive House, which is a high-performance building standard developed to reduce building-related emissions. These buildings are super insulated (continuous, continuous, continuous!), have little to no thermal bridges, well insulated windows, are airtight, utilize an HRV/ERV, and have minimal conditioning systems. They are not only energy efficient, but crazy comfortable and healthy! Is there a better way to build?

Check out these links below as a good starting point for learning more about this standard.

A Practical Approach to Passive House - Steve Baczek, FineHomeBuilding

What is PAssive House - PHIUS

What is a Passive House? - RockWool

Positive Energy

Canadian Passive House Video

Boston Passive House designed by Steve Baczek: Top 10 Most Efficient Homes in America

Build Show Network! News Letter Signup


Huge thanks to our Show sponsors Polywall, Huber, Dorken Delta, Prosoco, Rockwool & Viewrail for helping to make these videos possible! These are all trusted companies that Matt has worked with for years and trusts their products in the homes he builds. We would highly encourage you to check out their websites for more info.

[Mark-cqnq]

I'm 60 years old now, but back when I was 23 we built a super insulated house. Two 2x4 walls separated 24 in on center each. The overall wall is 12 in thick filled with blown cellulose. Full vapor barrier on the warm side, that's what they instructed back in that day. R60 blown insulation in the ceiling. Lots of caulking and tape. The best Anderson Windows and doors we could get at the time. Our heating and cooling bill was almost non-existent. Back then you would have thought we were building Noah's ark based on the looks we were getting from contractors. Used the smallest AC and heating central system made, even that was overkill. It's a lot easier to save energy than to create it some way new.

[blue_beephang-glider]

I built my house "Passive" 25 years ago, I have saved who knows how much money because of it, SO why did I not hear you talk about the sun and the orientation of the windows or thermal mass??? Our house uses the sun big windows face the low sun in winter. The opposite side has few windows and lots of brick for thermal storing hot and cold. Grape vines cover and shade the big windows in summer and I prune them right back to let in the sun for winter. In winter with any 60% sunny day we use ZERO hearing! For 20 years we had people asking us about air conditioning we did not have, On 95F days the house was 75F inside. We got a small A/C a few years back to knock off the edge of this.

[roBLINDhood]

As a former Home Performance Contractor I have never heard such a thorough yet concise explanation of all these great building science principles.

[jonathancrump]

Great video! So very true. In 1998 my wife and I built a 2300 sf house. We either subbed or did everything ourselves. We were not really thinking at that time about efficiency but since we lived about 20 miles from the rockwool insulation plant in Leeds Alabama. Guess you see were this is going. My two sons live in that house now. I asked the oldest just the other day how much their power bill was and he said around $120 a month. The house is also pretty close to a very busy road and when your inside, you cannot hear the outside traffic. The rockwool plant at that time would charge maybe $40 for a dump truck load of insulation. My wife insulated the whole house mostly by herself cutting it with a bread knife.

[bhami]

Next I'd like to see you do a video on how you could apply similar techniques to a remodel: interior only, exterior only, or both.

[aldavison]

At the university, we studied a project made from all wood construction. No materials for the structure was synthetic; the decking, siding and etc. was wood. The all wood construction was the most efficient home to build and the wood was a sound barrier. We were amazed because it was so quiet and very cool during the summer heat.

[HighGear]

There was a passive house builder a county over from me that built a passive house for a MIT guy with every trick in the book applied to it. The MIT guy studied passive in Europe and had ideas of his own to try also.
I got to talk with them both and tour the house under construction.
That guy was planning on selling these type houses and nothing came of it. That was 15 years ago when energy was far cheaper. People would pay extra for a nicer kitchen ect vs energy efficiency . Things may change now.

[callmeswivelhips]

I'm glad this standard exists. Now I have an even better idea of why I _definitely_ prefer natural building techniques.

[superspark]

Could you make a video break down on the cost benefit of all this extra money you're spending... How long do you see a return on your investment? How does it compare to a traditional house and cost?

[raybozzer]

Hi Matt. I see that technology has improved over the years. Back in 1985 I was living in Edmonton Alberta Canada where the winters can be bitter. I had a four-level split built to the R2000 standard, which was the best standard at the time. It had a lot of the passive items that you mentioned. The insulation values were R60 in the ceiling, R40 in the walls and R20 on all walls below grade. What I noticed when looking at the show homes, most had two furnaces, one furnace for the bedrooms which was 100, 000 BTU and another furnace for the rest of the house 150, 000 BTU. My house had a 50, 000 BTU furnace. In the summer, the house was a lot cooler than outside, and I was asked many times if the house was air conditioned. We need to keep improving on how houses and buildings in general are built. Keep up the good work.

[brunovanclemen]

I live in Flanders (Europe), I built my house in 2011 with this air pump heat recovery system. It is fantastic! It gives a very nice climate in the house.

[cayamoen]

Matt, absolutely love your channel. There is such a wealth of knowledge and information and beautiful presentation. I also love how you seek out and share the latest and greatest technology and pass it on to your viewers.

My wife and I reside just outside of Savannah, Georgia in a small apple pie and blue ribbon Town. A town that resembles how America used to be in the golden era of the 1950's. I am in my late 40's and my wife in her early 40's....we just recently had our first child (daughter - 10 months old) and have purchased 10 acres of land that contains 50 to 70 year old pine growth. We are in the process of smartly clearing out some of the trees for a long winding driveway that will lead to a build site under the pine and Magnolia tree canopy. We are going for more of an estate feel rather than just building a home on a 1/4 acre build site. We call it our own botanical gardens in the wild flowers and vegetation lining the driveway as you approach the home, a thinned out and healthy forest floor to attract wildlife and a home that seamlessly builds a partnership with the land and surrounding environment.

To achieve all of this, we are intending to hire Mrs Jane Frederick of Frederick and Frederick Architechts and the current President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). She and her team are located in the Hilton Head / Beaufort, South Carolina region just across the border from us and they specialize in building luxury homes in hot and humid climates like we have here in the low country (Southeastern. Georgia).

My question to you is are seeking to build the most advanced home to date when it comes to energy efficiency, acoustics or sound dampening technology, solar technology, advanced electrical and wiring grid and air quality. I would love your input on product lines and or new cutting edge technology that the public may not be aware of. Also, what windows would you recommend? We are not worried about cost and are looking for the highest of high end windows that can take on this ruthless Georgia sun and beat it. We would love to pick your brain and hear your ideas.

Thank you for this outstanding channel and the wonderful content you put out. Keep up the great work sir!

[willywonka]

High School Physics - once I applied it saved me over $1000/year AND provided me with my most comfortable summer EVER in Phoenix. I used the principle of thermal mass to cool my house down to 70 degrees F. Then I shut down my refrigerated air conditioning during peak load hours (3PM to 8PM) using a programmable thermostat. My house never got above 80 degrees during that time. The cooling that I had stored in the walls, floors and ceilings the night before provided me with comfort during those blazing hot 112-117 Degree summers we are noted for. My summer bills dropped below $200/month from nearly $400. My house is block and stucco sitting on a slab foundation with a flat foam roof and double pane windows and sky lights.
Another tip If your flat screen TV is warm to the touch and you live in southern climes - get ride of it. The new ones are far more efficient and the new one will pay for itself in a year.

[bahopik]

You should do a video that goes along with this one, doing cost analysis how much the old house costed to heat and cool over its life span of 50 years, versus how much it would have costed if it was built to passive standard considering that solar panels weren't a thing back then or efficient later on, to show how much money better built houses can save.

[instanoodles]

Its amazing how much you can save. I have a house built in the 70 in Eastern Canada that I have been slowly working at. Air sealing to 1 ACH50, foam on the house, R60 in the attic with triple pane windows. Completely heated with heat pumps even during the winter, has cut my energy consumption by 60% and CO2 emission by almost 80%.

[Firestorm]

Love your videos with good information. I live in Hawaii where electricity is 37 cents/kWh. I installed solar panels, powerwall battery storage and an EV car. I save $600/month on gas and home electricity. Plus I have power with power outages and sell extra energy to the Grid.

[migy]

Hi Matt. Thanks for the useful information about passive technologies, but I’m surprised you didn’t mention the importance of solar considerations. Proper building orientation and window placement to capture the sun’s energy in colder months and minimize heat gain in warmer months costs nearly nothing.

[janiskyynarpuu]

i have build houses like this for years in europe(estonia, sweden, finland)...and your friend steve tolds all that what we have use/done meny years... i thoguht long time ago..when americans will start building like that!... And now you have made it. AWESOME

[armandonunez]

Best building info on the internet. Period!
Thanks Matt

[StevenBuchanan]

I am in Northern Illinois and when I watch them build a new home they never add exterior insulation to the house or the basement. Those are such easy cost effective ways to improve the building envelope. We get crazy cold here and crazy hot. You want a well insulated house.