USGBC award

Belfast, Maine–October 7, 2011–The GO Home, built by architecture and construction firm G•O Logic LLC, received the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) 2011 LEED for Homes Project of the Year Award, presented at the 2011 Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in Toronto yesterday. According to Nate Kredich, VP of Residential Market Development for USGBC, the award recognizes dedicated leaders for their important contribution to the residential green building community.

The GO Home is rated LEED platinum (USGBC’s highest designation), and is Maine’s first Passive-House-Certified home, a 1500-square-foot elegant and functional model of the German Passive House Standard. The Passive House standard requires 86% improvement on a home’s space heating loads compared to the typically constructed home, which translates into significant financial and environmental savings. Annual heating costs for The GO Home will amount to approximately $300.

The GO Home is rated LEED platinum (USGBC’s highest designation), and is Maine’s first Passive-House-Certified home, a 1500-square-foot elegant and functional model of the German Passive House Standard. The Passive House standard requires 86% improvement on a home’s space heating loads compared to the typically constructed home, which translates into significant financial and environmental savings. Annual heating costs for The GO Home will amount to approximately $300.

“Our aim is to revolutionize home construction standards in North America,” said Matthew O’Malia, Principal of G•O Logic LLC. “The USGBC Project of the Year Award affirms the level of energy performance we’re pursuing, and that is demonstrated by The GO Home: the next generation of housing that maximizes comfort, energy efficiency and cost while providing all of the amenities of a standard home.”

The GO Home combines a broad range of winning features that set the bar for affordable green building, including: a heat-recovery ventilation system rated at 95% efficiency that provides consistent fresh air to the interior; an open floor plan with large, German-built triple-glazed windows; and affordable construction costs of $160 per square foot. For more information, visit: http://www.gologichomes.com.

Lloyd Alter recently blogged on Tree Hugger about Unity College’s most recent student residence hall, TerraHaus, on target to be North America’s first Passive House Certified student residence hall.

He writes: “Unity College says “we’re leaders in the environmental movement, focused on sustainability in the classroom and in the real world.” When it comes to their buildings, they practice what they teach; their latest accomplishment is TerraHaus, a student residence built to Passivhaus standards and designed by architect Matthew O’Malia and builder Alan Gibson, who also did the GO Home that we admired recently.”

To read more: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/09/unity-college-terrahaus.php

Preston, the founder/Chief Editor of Jetson Green recently blogged about the TerraHaus, Unity College’s most recent student residence hall that is on target to be passive house certified.

He writes: “The hottest building standard on the block, Passive House, moves to the realm of student housing in a new residence hall at Unity College called TerraHaus. TerraHaus is expected to be the first student residence in the country with Passive House certification and will house 10 students.”

To read more, please visit:
http://www.jetsongreen.com/2011/09/terrahaus-passive-house-unity-college.html

The TerraHaus was recently featured on the Green Building Adviser in a well written article by Richard Defendorf. The article describes the strict energy requirements of the Passive House standard, as well as the design and the construction necessities to achieve certification. In addition to describing the Passive House energy efficiency requirements, Mr. Defendorf also articulated the other design features of the building:
1. Careful attention to acoustical separation to provide privacy in bedrooms and bathrooms
2. Open design for the kitchen, dining area, and living area
3. Generous mudroom space with “cubbies” for outdoor gear
4. Use of white paint and large windows to increase the feeling of spaciousness
5. Separated shower and toilet facilities for efficient privacy
6. Individual thermostats in each bedroom
7. Good connection to outdoor spaces

To read more: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/unity-college-s-terrahaus-debut

Bruce Irving, who knows the building business from renovations to new construction, wrote an amusing and insightful article about the pros and cons of German windows, and their use in American buildings. The exceptional craftsmanship and passive house level of energy performance are well know about German windows. Bruce has done a very good job of describing why German windows are amazing, and also what appropriate applications for them might be in this country… If I may quote the article: “They come across the water at a cost, of course– at least double that of typical high-quality American units—and are therefore not for everyone or every house. Just as one wouldn’t want to put Ferrari wheels on a Dodge Dart, and expect the old girl to act like a racer, the windows should match the performance level of the building they’re going into.” An Amusing and accurate comment.

To read the rest of the article please visit page 40 on the following link:

http://perspectivenewengland.com/magazines/perspective-new-england-summer-2011-issue

GO Logic is an architecture, design and construction firm building Passive Houses designed for cold climates. As a design-build firm, the efficiency of project delivery from concept to completion is improved over standard project delivery systems. The result of these efficiencies is a shorter planning and construction period, and a finished product with improved long-term energy performance. These improvements in process and product result in both first-cost and lifecycle savings for the home buyer, saving money on construction and the long-term operating costs for the home.

To demonstrate the investment value in a GO Logic home, we have compared the construction cost and lifetime energy savings of a Passive House vs. a standard built home in today’s dollars. The calculation compares the typical lifetime (30 year) costs of each construction method, taking into account inflation and operating costs.

A Passive House uses only 10% of the energy for space heating of a standard built, code-compliant home. Given The Northeast’s cold climate, this level of energy performance has a significant impact on the life-time energy costs of the home. In standard built construction, the cost of space heating is typically 75% of the total energy used by a home, with the remaining energy balance divided roughly evenly between the domestic hot-water and plug loads. Reducing the space heating demand therefore has the greatest impact on reducing a home’s total energy consumption and related energy costs. In terms of the actual cost savings of space heating on an annual basis, comparing a 1,500 square feet standard built home with a Passive House, the savings for space heating is estimated to be $1,400 per year.

Reducing the space heating demand of new construction in a cold climate has a significant environmental benefit, and if properly designed, a critical first-cost and life-cycle cost savings as well. Because a Passive House’s energy demand for space heating has been reduced by 90%, the resulting heat required to keep the build at 70 degrees is very low (2000 watt peak demand), which allows a Passive House’s traditional heating system to be drastically simplified to a small amount of electric baseboard controlled by a thermostat in each room. The cost to install this simplified heating system is about $500, replacing the standard heating system consisting of a boiler, radiant slab, pumps, fuel tanks, chimney and manifolds, saving around $15,000. The significant financial savings resulting from minimizing the heating systems is reinvested in the building shell improvements, including: walls at R49, foundation at R70, roof at R80 and triple glazed R8 windows and doors. The cost of these improvements is about $30,000. When the cost of the heating systems is subtracted from the building shell improvements, the first cost increase for building a passive house about $15,000, or 7% of the total construction cost. The combination of these improvements, in conjunction with heat recovery ventilation, results in a home with energy costs for space heating at less than $300 per year, with energy costs savings over 30 years of $170,000 (including inflation) which is about 70% of the original cost of construction. Furthermore, on account of the minimized heat load, a 2.8 KW solar electric system and a separate evacuated-tube solar thermal system mounted on the roof will cover the building’s space heating and hot water needs, resulting in a grid tied near zero energy building on an annual basis.

Martin Holladay, writer for the Green Building Adviser, recently visited a small house we are building in Maine. He also visited other projects around the state and weighed in on energy efficient buildings in Maine.

The house on a knoll will be a near passive house level, 1000SF home. The simple roof form and detailing are a great fit for the wooded knoll that it sits on. The primary facade faces east, with large windows overlooking a horse pasture. On the south facade, a large group of three windows faces the entry pathway, providing views of approaching visitors as well as allowing for passive solar gain.

near passive house level home on a hill

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/job-sites-maine-part-three#comment-31205

A recent article on BuildingGreen.com supports our long held belief that reducing a building’s energy consumption is the first and most important step in building sustainably. Buildings account for the largest sector of energy consumption in the US, even more than transportation or industry, yet buildings are the most realistic candidates to be converted to near zero energy consumers.

The Passive House Standard, developed 30 years ago in Germany, has led the way in developing near zero energy building technology, and now has a proven track record of buildings that use 90% less energy than standard construction. In fact, Passive House has been so successful in promoting and implementing their standard, that the European Union has ratified a binding agreement requiring all new construction to be a near zero energy standard by 2020. And why not? The Passive House standard is well documented to not only save an exceptional amount of energy over the lifetime of a building, but also provides enormous financial savings as well.

It makes sense that building energy consumption should be the focus of the green building movement. To read more about the the energy issues as they are playing out today and in the future, visit www.buildingGreen.com

GO Logic has recently received certification for its Passive House, the first in Maine and the 13th in the US. We feel the best way to demonstrate sustainability is to build it! To learn more visit our prototype blog.

The GO Home

Today an article in the Colby Echo written by Devin O’Brien describes our Residence Hall project at Unity College:

“Unity College, located not far from the Hill in Unity, Maine, has recently begun designing a one-of-a-kind solar powered residence hall that they project to be completed by Autumn 2011. G.O. Logic Homes of Belfast, Maine was awarded the contract for construction. They will work closely with both students and administrators at Unity at every stage of the building process.”

To read more: www.thecolbyecho.com/local/941

Gearing Up for a Passive House Residence at Unity College
G•O Logic Homes of Belfast, Maine, will lead the way in designing and building what could become the first college student residence in the U.S. to earn Passive House certification

To learn more:
www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/gearing-passive-house-residence-unity-college