When it comes to energy-efficient design, there’s a wide gap between what building code requires and what a certified Passive House demands. Most of our projects land somewhere in between, and we think that’s usually the right place to be.
Passive House is impressive. It’s also a lot.
Passive House is the gold standard for energy performance, and we have a great deal of respect for it. But the targets are strict. A certified house has to be almost perfectly airtight, at no more than 0.6 air changes per hour when it’s pressure-tested. Heating demand has to stay under a fixed limit that takes extremely thick insulation and high-end windows to meet in our climate. Hitting those numbers means specialized consultants, energy modeling, careful detailing at every penetration, and testing to prove it all worked.
For the right client, that’s money well spent. For most of the people we work with, especially on renovations of older Chicago-area homes, the last few steps toward certification cost far more than they’ll ever save.
“Pretty Good” is a better target for most projects
The Pretty Good House idea came out of a group of builders and designers in Maine about a decade ago. They were asking a question we ask on every project: how far can you push performance before the cost stops making sense? The answer they landed on isn’t a certification or a checklist. It’s a set of priorities:
- Build a tight, well-insulated envelope first, because it lasts the life of the house and is the hardest thing to fix later.
- Bring in fresh air on purpose with mechanical ventilation, since a tight house needs it.
- Keep the house simple in shape. Every bump and dormer is another place to lose heat.
- Choose durable, low-toxicity materials.
- Spend money where it does the most good, and don’t overspend where it doesn’t.
A rule of thumb you’ll often see for cold climates like ours is “5-10-20-40-60”: roughly R-5 windows, R-10 under the slab, R-20 on foundation walls, R-40 in above-grade walls and R-60 in the roof. Those aren’t hard rules, but they’re a good place to start the conversation, and a long way beyond what code requires.
What that looks like in practice
Our Urban Prototype homes are a good example of how we think about this. The first prototype uses structural insulated panels for the walls and roof over an insulated concrete form foundation. That gives a tight, well-insulated shell that goes up quickly with very little job-site waste. A central stair tower works as a chimney, pulling warm air up and out through the house in summer without any fans.
None of that requires Passive House certification. It’s just making good decisions at the points where they matter most.
Where we’d still push for more
Sometimes going further is worth it, such as for a client who plans to stay in a home for decades, or a new build where the extra investment has years to pay back. In those cases we’ll be the first to suggest it. But we’d rather start every project by asking what you actually need, then design to that, than start from a standard and work backwards.
If you’re planning a new home or a renovation and want to talk through what “pretty good” could look like for you, get in touch. We’re happy to have that conversation.
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