Inspired By: The Passive House in the Woods
Back in 2010, when UIC was starting the Botanical Grove development, I spent a considerable amount of time researching and evaluating various green building techniques.
My goal was to offer a home that not only would be affordable and a fantastic investment, but also had innovative designs that reduce the homeowner’s impact on the environment. The “Passive House in the Woods” was wrapping up construction, just as we were starting.
The “Passive House” blog inspired many conversations about building green and how some of these practices could be incorporated into the houses we were building.
The following are a few of the green building practices that you will see, both, in “The Passive House in the Woods” and select Botanical Grove houses:
- Superior Quality, energy efficient Windows
- Smart Design to get the most out of the building environment
- Energy Recovery Ventilation System
- Solar Panel Arrays
- Blower Door Testing
- Advanced Framing for waste reduction and energy efficiency
- Insulation, Insulation and more Insulation
- Native Plantings on the exteriors
- Design considering Solar Heat Gain, and reducing its effects
- Insulated Concrete Forms
- Green Roofing – live roofing elements, solar/heat reflection, insulated systems
— Dean