A year in Our Connecticut Passive House

  

Autumn through the screen porch

We moved into OCPH in October of 2012. It's hard to believe that a year has already passed. We had a wild weather autumn and winter with several major storms followed by a wet spring with some late frost, then a humid but beautiful summer. It's autumn again and the cool nights and gorgeous New England foliage make this one of my favorite times of the year. I know I have mentioned this before but living in a Passive House makes you feel more connected to the weather conditions as they dictate how you "drive" your house. The heat exchange ventilation system, the lungs of the house, allowed us to keep the windows closed on the hot humid days of summer. We had the thermostat set to 76 degrees and even in daily 80+ degree weather, Due to great insulation and shading, the AC only kicked in occasionally. The engineered overhangs on the south side of the house shaded the windows beautifully to prevent unintended solar heat gains while keeping the windows unobstructed by curtains maintaining a bright open living space.

Now the sun's angle is becoming lower in the sky and the sunlight is once again streaming into the house in the cooling weather. The night temperatures have been in the 40s and the house stays comfortably in the 70s with the heat pump turned off.

Diane's Fire Pit

Energy wise, we are still on track to be Net Positive for the year. Paul the graph master will post some data on this soon.

On October 5th OCPH will be participating in the NESEA Green Buildings Open House tour organized by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. This is the 14th year of the event and there are 373 participant sights throughout the northeast. We are proud to join the tour and share what we have learned and lived.