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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>December
27, 2008<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:#666666;text-transform:uppercase'>The Energy Challenge</span></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";color:#666666;
text-transform:uppercase'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<h1><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>No
Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’ <o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif"'>By <a
href="http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=ELISABETH%20ROSENTHAL&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=ELISABETH%20ROSENTHAL&inline=nyt-per"
title="More Articles by Elisabeth Rosenthal">ELISABETH ROSENTHAL</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";color:black'>DARMSTADT,
Germany — From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish
new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on
the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these
houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no
cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There
is, in fact, no furnace. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'>In Berthold Kaufmann’s home, there is, to be fair, one
radiator for emergency backup in the living room — but it is not in use.
Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann’s new
“passive house” and others of this design get all the heat and hot
water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair
dryer. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'>“You don’t think about temperature — the house
just adjusts,” said Mr. Kaufmann, watching his 2-year-old daughter,
dressed in a T-shirt, tuck into her sausage in the spacious living room, whose
glass doors open to a patio. His new home uses about one-twentieth the heating
energy of his parents’ home of roughly the same size, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'>Architects in many countries, in attempts to meet new energy
efficiency standards like the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
standard in the United States, are designing homes with better insulation and
high-efficiency appliances, as well as tapping into alternative sources of
power, like solar panels and wind turbines. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'>The concept of the passive house, pioneered in this city of
140,000 outside Frankfurt, approaches the challenge from a different angle.
Using ultrathick insulation and complex doors and windows, the architect
engineers a home encased in an airtight shell, so that barely any heat escapes
and barely any cold seeps in. That means a passive house can be warmed not only
by the sun, but also by the heat from appliances and even from occupants’
bodies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'>And in Germany, passive houses cost only about 5 to 7 percent more
to build than conventional houses. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'>Decades ago, attempts at creating sealed solar-heated homes
failed, because of stagnant air and mold. But new passive houses use an
ingenious central ventilation system. The warm air going out passes side by
side with clean, cold air coming in, exchanging heat with 90 percent
efficiency. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:14.4pt'><span style='font-family:"Corbel","sans-serif";
color:black'>More here ::: <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?em=&pagewanted=all">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?em=&pagewanted=all</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Malgun Gothic","sans-serif";color:black'>:::
shauna </span></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:
"Malgun Gothic","sans-serif";color:#913200'>lawyer</span></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Malgun Gothic","sans-serif";
color:black'> struby</span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;
font-family:"Malgun Gothic","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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color:#913200'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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