Dear Readers,

Admittedly, this blog is for William and I’s own justification of our impending financial commitment in this home, as well as it is for all funders who look at us and say we are nuts. We are. And we hope that this breakdown of some essential building materials and their worth (financially and environmentally) will convince your financial institutions to join us in the insanity and fund our venture in sustainable living.

The home or building you may or may not be currently sitting in as you read this blog, was hopefully built to, and still meets, ‘code.’ When an architect says ‘building to code,’ they are referring to the minimum required building standards set by the International Building Council (IBC). The intentions of codes are to create safety, health, and energy efficiency standards for homes and buildings. The IBC creates a variety of codes that cover all aspects of construction regarding commercial and residential buildings which can be adopted by local governments. For the purpose of this article, we will be talking about the IBC’s International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) which sets minimum R-values and other measures according to a home or building’s climate zone.

William and I don’t want to build our home to just meet code. We want to thoroughly exceed it. We want to build to Passive House (PHIUS) standards, meet air quality set by RESET, be net positive, and maybe even meet Living Building Challenge standards. We want this home to be bonkers efficient and holistically healthy~ for our family, our builders, and our environment. 

While we sit on our pedestal and ask for a bonkers amount of money for our bonkers efficient home, we might as well provide some sass. In a particularly snarky way to put it, ‘building to code’ is synonymous with ‘the quickest/cheapest way to build a home or building that is legally condoned.’ If it just meets code, then the home has the minimum amount of insulation required, the minimum R value for its windows…while minimum still makes code, it could always be better. And, in the US, not all states are meeting the same code. Maine, for example, still adheres to IECC from 2009. That’s eleven years ago. Pennsylvania adheres to IECC 2015, and Maryland follows IECC 2018. The more recent the code, the ‘tougher’ the standards. 

It must be mentioned that some local governments are setting their own building emission laws in addition to IECC. This has a great impact on the energy efficiency and quality of built homes and buildings. Local Law 97 set by New York City is one incredible example…the local law aims to reduce New York City’s overall carbon emissions by 80% by 2050…and buildings encompass about 70% of those total emissions.¹ This heralds the requirement for indoor spaces over 25,000 sq/ft to be less leaky, have an increase in insulation, a lack of thermal bridging, and the installation of advanced ventilation systems. Passive building design is certainly professed to help achieve the ambitious reduction of building emissions! 

Despite honorable advancements, recent IECC still does not meet the standards set by the Passive House Institute of the United States (PHIUS) or the Passive House Institute (PHI). Nor does IECC encompass the holistic sustainable health of the home. Hence, why we want to build our home to PHIUS, and perhaps even to Living Building Challenge standards~ thereby exceeding code. This can lead to a healthier, more energy efficient, environmentally conscious, superior quality…and expensive…home. 

So, let’s do this.

There are many different elements that go into building a low carbon, small footprint, Passive House: insulation, air barriers, a quality ventilation system, strategically placed windows…all of which can be evaluated upon their ‘cradle to cradle’ effects on the inhabitants and overall environment. To keep things relatively simple in an already lengthy blog, we are solely going to compare a few window and insulation costs required to build a house in Pennsylvania (climate zone 5, A moist)²  to IECC 2015, to a few window and insulation costs of a home which hopefully will meet PHIUS standards. Do keep in mind that our home is not in the final stages of design, and we are intentionally overdoing it with (particularly…) the insulation at the moment. If our home looks like it will surpass PHIUS standards, and we could afford to cut down on the amount of insulation, then we certainly will.

Fighting climate change is a group project. Homeowners, architects, engineers, financial lenders, insurance agencies, non-profits, health advocates…it takes everyone to bring about a healthier environment. Just as it is the homeowner’s responsibility to seek out a home with low embodied and operational carbon,⁵ it is the financial institution’s responsibility to support environmentally conscious endeavors. Am I saying that as a financial institution, if you are reading this, you should fund us? Ha, Yes. Am I also admitting a perceived sad reality that true sustainability can only be achieved by those who can afford it? Heck yes. 

William and I are fortunate to even have the opportunity to dream about such a sustainable home. We have an education which has instilled a sense of critical thought and confident vocalization of our opinions, we have the resources to look up environmentally conscious materials and methods, and, most importantly, we have a supportive network that cheers us on in these endeavors. We may not have the physical funds to make our dream happen now, but we do have the financial security, familial love, and hope to dream for such a home in the future.

For individuals and families who find themselves entangled in an entrenching snare of socio-economic constraints…who face regular eviction and homelessness…who are stuck renting ‘living’ spaces that greatly fail code because that is all they can afford⁶…who feel on the outskirts of society and disconnected and disgusted and disinvested in the failing communities they are a part of…’sustainability’ does not include them. It is a high strung word for the elite. ‘Sustainability’ is a hope for those who have steady incomes, a dependable roof over their head, and a future they feel worth investing in.

That, being said, please do recall some of the costs mentioned for the home William and I want to build. They are rather titanic. And we are privileged. While sustainability is a group project, there are members of our society who we need to help instill a hope in the now, before they can ever have hope in a future. 

With one last “hurrah!” for Passive House: We believe that home security, inhabitants’ overall mental and physical health, and a resulting community (and environmental) embetterment, can be achieved through well ventilated, energy efficient, holistically sustainable, structurally sound, affordable, homes that exceed code. The ‘affordable’ is just the part we as a building community have yet to finesse.

We sincerely thank you for reading. Do take care!

Sincerely,

Shelby Aldrich