The Green Builder

Information may not be reliable

In evaluating building costs be careful to compare apples to apples in pricing. Price conventional homes with a wall R-value of 35-50 and see what your builder says.

Bruce, thank you very much, you clarified my design concerns, about my passive & active solar designed home. You have reaffirmed my confidence to build a solar home here in Washington.
David Kreps, Builder WA
Did you know that the vapor barrier installed by code attributes to mold growth?
The United Building Code (UBC or the new RIC) has the same design for all climates & weather patterns? Is this logical?
The true insulation factor for a 2x6 fiberglass batten wall system with is R- 12.7 not R-19.
Testing by Oak Ridge Libratory

Builder Kent Taylor's two story greenhouse built in 1980's Port Townsend, Washington. Kent has built 15 greenhouse designed homes and sunroom additions in Port Townsend.

A solar passion
Ever since reading my first Adobe Journal Magazine in the early 70s, along with Ed Mazrias book Passive Solar Energy Book, I have had a passion for passive solar homes and an energy-efficient lifestyle.
Passive solar really got me excited about designing with the suns cycles in the midst of the first energy crisis.
In the past 30 years Ive designed and built many different types of healthy, passive solar home structures in different climates, with the goal of reducing the heating and cooling expense by using the suns radiation.

Our clients are environmental consciousness people, interested in living in homes which are "health & energy efficient.

By using nature's inherent laws, the sun's pathway, earth's natural cycles topography & climate of the building site. We design passive solar homes tailored to your location & life style.
Some examples of using different wall systems include:

* super insulated double wall systems (R-40)
* post and beam & timber framed with straw bale as an insulation infill R-50
* passive annual heat storage PAHS (a concrete dome that uses the earth as a storage bank for the suns radiation, similar to earth bermed homes)
* rammed earth & adobe
* ICF (insulated concrete forms) for foundations and structure
I have also built using traditional earth materials such as clay, sand and straw called "Cob" is a mixture of heavy clay and straw rolled into a large roll like a loaf of bread and parged onto itself forming an earthen wall. Light straw clay is a mixture of clay slip & loose straw packed in 12 forms between a timber-framed structure, then finished with an clay plaster. Both natural systems offer the owner-builder creative opportunities to build their homes with lower material cost with sweat equity & the joy of building your own home. Phone consultation available for owner-builders interested in learning more about natural building systems.
About 18 years ago I started designing homes in Durango, Colo. because I was frustrated and tired of seeing the same Mac Mansions built without any consideration to how the house interacts with its environment. I wasnt interested in designing and building those kinds of monstrous homes that I felt wasted our resources with excessive construction and the expensive overhead in heating and cooling them.
Sustainable building in part is a conscious study into the materials life cycle. What is the true cost from cradle to grave of the products I select. How much embodied energy is incorporated in the building product through their manufacture process & productive life cycle.
(Rt. Builder: David & Sheryl Kreps Active Passive Solar Home Port Angeles, WA)
Living in the Pacific Northwest exemplifies the importance of maximizing southern orientation of the home in order to capture every bit of sunshine available.
In Port Townsend winter means a darker, damp environment, time to start a fire and warm up. A common misperception is that passive solar design does not work in the Pacific Northwest cloud winters. We do get minimal solar insolation November through February when our heating & natural lighting requirements are needed the most. The gain we see is in the fall & spring time where we have more solar gain no need to turn on the heat. It's the classic question is the cup half full or half empty. Why waste the sunnier days when we get them?
And because of our grey cloudy days through out the Northwest & Northeast, my experience is that it's even more necessary to design with passive solar gain in order to supplementing our annual heating requirements with positive side benefit of maximizing the natural day lighting throughout the home.
That occasional sunny day or afternoon during the long winter is a welcome sight for us all but more enjoy able when you have a solar home, greenhouse, or sunroom to warm away those winter blues.
We live in a clouded maritime coastal climate & are required to heat our homes during the winter season but we can store that heat in thermal mass to warm the house. I love wood heat because that type of dry heat is perfect in our humid wet climate. Depending on your life style & budget, the more sustainable solution in wood burning are the European masonry heaters were designed for zero ash out put, maximum combustion & heat retention. A soapstone brand Tulukivi & the Masonry Heater Association of North America are great resources.