Spray foam releases more CO2 than it saves over its lifetime, is a pain to work with for subcontractors, and is also toxic and will most likely be looked at like we do asbestos now in a couple decades.

And I haven’t even mentioned how it traps moisture against your framing causing rot after only a few years.

No. They dig through that stuff too. Sealing the holes, bait stations around the area, cats, etc.. Those things keep em out.

Spray foam is environmentally horrific. The expansion agent used in it is really freaking bad. White foam uses a different expansion agent that is exponentially less damaging.

Was this the home that had the basement full of sand or something that stores the heat from the summer in some way?

Hi, I know horselifter very well, we live in the same house and have the same child. We used a LUNOS e2 HRV system. They work great, I like that they are not centralized, easy to maintain, easy to install.

I’m a big advocate of net zero. Its basic goal is to have a house that’s net energy input is zero. This is achieved by building a tight envelope, being realistic with size requirements and using efficient heating where the energy can be generated on-site. Site generated energy is usually solar with possibly a small woodstove to cover below zero days.

This allows you to look at energy consumption over a year not day or week as with passivehaus. Because you’re actively heating the house you drastically lower then envelope requirements but at the same time on a yearly basis you’re a net zero consumer of energy.

The solar/minisplit/woodstove/tight envelope compliment each other very well while still being reasonably priced.

For envelope I’m a big proponent of simple rectangular houses and double 2x4 walls with dense pack cellulose. With a little planning it’s easy to air seal effectively and costs much less than foam for the same r value. Im also a fan of still foaming rim boards as it’s just so much more consistent.

Ventilation is easy as sizing an erv based on house volume. If you want to splurge the zehnder system is a very elegant way to get even balanced air exchange.

Edit: spelling

The US has a Passive House standard, the above commenter used the German spelling, that is much better aligned with US climate zones. Getting your home Passive House Certified is likely a bit over rated, like many certifications unless they open up funding.

You can absolutely build a Passive House without getting it certified which is totally worth is.

That being said, there are freaking excellent green building experts in Vermont with loads of experience who can guide you on what approach is right for you.

So does that mean I would have to go a month without doing laundry?

What if im at work for the 3 hours its sunny.

Certainly you’re correct that you can do things to make it work. Do it more, do it better, and do it with less.

You would not in any way pay for that much insulation and windows in 10 years, not even close. My home is significantly larger than theirs and I maybe pay about $2000 a winter to heat it and next to nothing in the summer to cool it because I’m stubborn and just use a fan or two. And that’s heating with propane and electricity Mostly leaving the thermostat at 70 since I don’t have a smart thermostat, I could get that cost down by more than half if I used wood. They’re paying around $40,000 premium on tons of insulation and high end windows. They also bought solar panels to run the heat pump. But even excluding the solar panels it would take at least 20 years to get back their investment and then that time they could’ve turned that $40,000 into more like $100,000 in a high-yield mutual fund. Since they have solar panels they could off and heat their house with free electricity if it was of traditional construction instead of sealed up like a bank fault meaning they’d probably spend a lot less and not even recoup their money in 30 years let alone the opportunity cost of investing that money.

Also just the value of being comfortable and knowing what your bills will be!

So I just ran the numbers and the majority of their expenses are on the insulation and construction, not the windows. I think it’s safe to assume they’re spending about $30,000 on insulation and thicker walls, that’s about $83 a month added to their mortgage over a traditional home. If you invested $83 a month in a high-yield mutual fund averaging 10% which really isn’t even that high and it’s over 30 years you’d have $172,000. The savings from not paying to heat your home barely breakeven especially since they’re “cheating” in this case by having solar panels. it sounds great and if you’re well to do you can get away with it but for most blue-collar folk they’re doing something to help the environment which is great but they’re spending well over $100,000 more just on insulation then they would’ve spent to heat the home. Some decent windows and some decent insulation is more than enough, I pay maybe $500 a month four months out of the year to heat a significantly larger house and I just leave the thermostat at 70f.

If you understand how the sun moves across the earth and how things like eaves are used in passive homes, this is specifically designed for. It is used beneficially by designing appropriately.

See they are running a heat pump and it cost them nothing but that’s because they’ve invested in solar so between the at least $30,000-40,000 for extra insulation and whatever they paid for solar panels they are spending significantly more over the next 30 years that if they were just heating a house with good windows and reasonable insulation.

I’m not being anti-environmentalism, no lol if you can afford it go right ahead. These are just the thoughts of a blue collar guy that does what they can to help the environment but couldn’t justify spending that much to never get the money back when I could put the equivalent money in high yield mutual funds. Let’s say the extra insulation cost $30,000, that works out to about $83 per mortgage payment over 30 years. If instead that $83 was put directly into a high-yield mutual fund monthly doing an average of 10% over 30 years you have $172,000. These two look like money having been a poor kid that grew up around rich kids, that’s great for them not good for blue-collar people.

Sounds about right, my point was not to be anti-environmental it’s that people should know what they’re spending their money on. The savings from that much insulation don’t actually pay for themselves if you were able to put the equivalent money into a high yield mutual fund or slightly lower yielding retirement funds. judging by the age of that couple they’re probably 30 years from retirement. Some people would prioritize lower emissions but they’re already getting that in part by having solar panels.