since i have completed my studies for passive house design, i have been eager to test my skills. a great competition came up at designbymany.com for a house design in new orleans which has proven to be quite fun and educational as the climate differs quite dramatically from what we are used to here on the ‘wet coast”.

please vote for my passive house design!

here is the web-link for my design:

http://www.designbymany.com/project/lagniappe-house

you will have to register on the website in order to vote/make comments:

http://www.designbymany.com/user/register : to register, you only need to create an account id, password and provide an email address

here is a short description : (please go to http://www.designbymany.com/challenge/passive-house-for-new-orleans to read more)

passive house for new orleans

according to architecture 2030 and the u.s. energy information administration, the building sector consumes two-thirds (77%) of all electricity produced in the u.s. and is responsible for producing nearly half (46.9%) of u.s. co2 emissions in 2009.

the technologies necessary to achieve significant energy reductions in buildings are cheap and readily available: no exotic mechanical systems or costly renewable energy sources are needed. these technologies have already been successfully applied to achieve dramatic reductions in tens of thousands of buildings across europe and north america using the passive house standard, the world’s most rigorous building energy standard. by combining an airtight, thermal-bridge free and super-insulated building enclosure, with passive internal and solar gains with balanced energy recovery ventilation, buildings built to the passive house standard have shown measured reductions in space heating and cooling energy consumption up to 90% compared to standard energy code requirements.

this challenge … seeks to address this issue directly by engaging the design community in developing a series of affordable, low-energy, single-family homes for the communities in new orleans … the homes that are rebuilt in these communities will need to be … affordable to build and purchase, long-lasting, with minimal impact on the local environment, and affordable to heat and cool throughout the life of the building.

thanks so much for voting and please pass on this blog post to anyone else to help me get as any votes as possible.

please note that the deadline for voting is may 8th, 2011!