• HERS/Energy Star 5+

This scheme was submitted as part of the City of Chicago’s 1999 ‘Green Homes for Chicago’ program, a national competition recently held for energy and resource efficient affordable housing. The house is a 1725 sq. ft. single family home, which has three bedrooms and one full bath.

Utilizing techniques developed in the Northeast and in Canada, the home’s primary feature is its passive solar design, which picks up an average of between 20% and 50% solar gain in the winter based on Chicago’s climate while requiring no special ‘work’ by the user. The form and materials of the house are structured to utilize the natural movements of prevailing air patterns and the changes in the suns path to reduce energy usage. High insulation values in the wall, roof and window construction ensure that the collected solar gain is retained. An air-to-air heat exchanger provides a high interior air quality while limiting thermal losses.

The design also reduces resource and total project energy consumption by using building products that are from renewable resources, are recycled and/or have a low energy content.