{"id":14998,"date":"2012-10-16T10:05:52","date_gmt":"2012-10-16T16:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=14998"},"modified":"2012-10-16T10:05:52","modified_gmt":"2012-10-16T16:05:52","slug":"active-house-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/active-house-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look Inside Active House USA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/active-house-usa-webster-groves.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14999\" title=\"active house usa webster groves\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/active-house-usa-webster-groves.jpg\" alt=\"active house usa under construction in webster groves missouri\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/active-house-usa-webster-groves.jpg 500w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/active-house-usa-webster-groves-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last Spring, I got to witness a first not only for the St. Louis area, but also the United States: the groundbreaking on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sundancechannel.com\/sunfiltered\/2012\/05\/active-house-prototype-breaks-ground-in-missouri\/\">the country&#8217;s first home built to Active House standards<\/a>. Active House isn&#8217;t well-known beyond Denmark (where it was created), but the team involved in <a href=\"http:\/\/activehouseusa.com\/\">Active House USA<\/a> (led by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/hibbshomes.com\/\">Hibbs Homes<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.verdateksolutions.com\/\">Verdatek Solutions<\/a>) hopes to change that with this prototype family home in Webster Groves.<\/p>\n<p>This past weekend, the contractors opened the partially-finished building to both the media, others in the building business, and the general public. I managed to get a few minutes with Kim Hibbs, and he showed me some of the unique elements of this home. Among them:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The use of <a href=\"http:\/\/greenbuildingelements.com\/2008\/12\/27\/green-building-elements-structural-insulated-panels-sips\/\">structural insulated panels<\/a> for exterior walls.<\/strong> These composite panels will provide an insulating factor of R-45 for the home.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lots of skylights &#8211; eleven total.<\/strong> They&#8217;re arranged so that some of the natural light from them will work its way to the first floor and basement of this two-story home. They&#8217;re also designed to help with indoor temperature and humidity: automated systems will open or close certain skylights in order to maintain optimal conditions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A super-efficient HVAC system.<\/strong> Space limitations meant a conventional gas heating and cooling system (vs. a <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2011\/06\/geothermal-power-heating-up-worldwide\/\">geothermal<\/a> system), but I use the word &#8220;conventional&#8221; loosely. The installed system reaches up to 97% efficiency, and provides zoned temperature control with a single system through creative dampering.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A 4.8 kW capacity solar system.<\/strong> With the ability to produce 5000 kWh of electricity per year, this home should have no problem achieving the desired net zero status.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition to all of these cool features, the team will make sure that the home, once completed, is performing up to standards. The University of Missouri&#8217;s Center for Sustainable Energy will monitor the house for a full year after the homeowners have moved in, which should create a very useful data set for other home builders, architects, and vendors.<\/p>\n<p>Want to get a sense of what the finished home will look like? The Active House USA blog has several sets of artist renderings of both the <a href=\"http:\/\/activehouseusa.com\/active-house-usas-first-images\/\">exterior<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/activehouseusa.com\/new-interior-renderings-of-active-house-usa\/\">interior<\/a>. Check them out, and let us know what you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first home in the US built to Active House standards is well underway in Webster Groves, Missouri. The builders and contractors took a break from their work this past weekend to show off what they&#8217;ve accomplished so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":14999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,7],"tags":[6118,15,6119,6120,6,12,6121,6122],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Active House USA: Taking a Look Inside<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The builders of the the first US Active House in Webster Groves, MO, offered a look inside this unique building.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/active-house-usa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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