Project Green Home

…followed by International Passive House Northern CA tour, Sunday 11/11

Lawrence Li — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:04:55 +0000

We are 1 of 7 houses selected for the Sunday Nov 11th International Passive House Northern CA tour. We will be open 10:30-1:30 Sunday. . . . → Read More: …followed by International Passive House Northern CA tour, Sunday 11/11

tour Palo Alto’s 1st Beyond Platinum LEED, Net Zero Energy, Passive House, Saturday 11/10

Lawrence Li — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:16:00 +0000

As a warm-up to 350.org’s “Do The Math Tour” presentation on Saturday, November 10, tour Palo Alto’s 1st “Beyond Platinum LEED, Net Zero Energy, Passive House,” and potentially shake hands with our surprise guest at 3pm for the ribbon cutting ceremony of the nation’s 1st curbside residential electric car charging station, plus the opportunity to meet electric vehicle owners and take drives in their cars.

Further, at 2pm, Vanessa Warheit, with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, will give a short Climate Change presentation followed by Sandra Slater who will discuss Palo Alto’s Cool City Challenge.

When: Saturday, November 10, 1:30-4:30pm.

Where: 314 Stanford Ave. Palo Alto

Cost: Free, $10 (or more) donation requested at the door, to your pick of: 350.org, Acterra and/or Sierra Club.

And if you have in season home-grown fruit (lemons, persimmons, figs, apples etc), feel free to bring to share with the crowd.

Parking is available in the residential neighborhood, the home is 4 blocks from Caltrain’s California Avenue station and 1 block from El Camino’s bus lines. Cycling and walking is, of course, encouraged!

Co–Sponsored by: 350.org, Plug In America, CalCars, Acterra, The Loma Prieta Sierra Club, the Clean Coalition, College Terrace Green Team and the Bay Area Climate Collaborative

Environmental First: Palo Alto First to Permit Residential Kitchen Sink Graywater System – Thanks for Your Environmental and Fiscal Leadership

Lawrence Li — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:46:04 +0000

This week, the city of Palo Alto issued our home a permit to construct and operate a pilot kitchen sink graywater system. In essence, wastewater from our kitchen sink will flow into a filter box and then percolate into the ground just outside our kitchen rather than going to the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The benefits of this system are multiple, by reducing the loading (volume & contaminants) on Palo Alto’s wastewater treatment plant we reduce costs for all residents. Further, once the graywater is integrated into an irrigation system, we will reduce our demand for potable irrigation water. The net results are overall lower water, energy and carbon footprints with the associated fiscal savings. Palo Alto, by being the first to issue a permit for this pilot system, has again taken the environmental leadership position.

Project Green Home is California’s and potentially the nation’s first “Beyond Platinum LEED, Zero Net Energy Passive House. In celebration of Earth Day, the home, located at 314 Stanford Ave is open to the pubic for touring 3-5pm Sunday April 22^nd. View graywater permit

Three Cheers – Final Construction Inspection Passed

Shannon — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:31:13 +0000

Wednesday, September 21st 2011, ProjectGreenHome passed the City of Palo Alto’s final construction inspection.

We are now fully “legal” including the ultra low flow toilets, the electric car charging spot at the driveway, roofing insulation and all those other things we had to apply for special permits. Thanks to all who made this possible particularly Josh Moore the Project Manager and builder extraordinaire and Dan, Annie and David from Arkin Tilt Architects.

Three Cheers!

-Sven & Kate

Live June 26: Passive House CA Presents “Case Study of Project Green Home Palo Alto” & House Tour

Shannon — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:10:06 +0000

On Sunday, June 26, 2011 at the Tied House Brewery, Passive House California will launch their new South Bay Chapter with an event that showcases a real-world example of passive house and zero-net energy building. Architect Dan Johnson and builder Josh Moore will discuss how passive house concepts were implemented in“Project Green Home,” the newly constructed home of clean energy leader Sven Thesen and family based on the European Passive House design, which is projected to exceed LEED Platinum rating by at least 20% and use zero net energy.

Concurrent to this event, the Thesen family is generously opening up their home for tours as a learning platform for others interested in passive house design, zero-net energy construction, water conservation, electric vehicles and sustainable living. Plug-In America will also have electric vehicles on-site for test-driving and hold a discussion on same!

See the full announcement with link to registration in our News & Events section.

Take a look at some of our photos from Project Green Home’s most recent open house & EV drive on June 4th here

Updated Booklet June 2011

Shannon — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:43:01 +0000

Download Booklet

The latest Project Green Home booklet, updated June 2011, is now available for download. For a high-resolution version, please contact us

Rural Builder Green | PGH Press

Shannon — Tue, 31 May 2011 01:34:48 +0000

Great coverage of Project Green Home in this summer’s issue of Rural Builder Green. Click on image below to link directly to site.

Project Green Home is going live June 4th with our Zero-Net Energy Open House

Shannon — Thu, 12 May 2011 01:18:12 +0000

On Saturday June 4th, clean energy leader and Palo Alto resident Sven Thesen and family will open their new ultra energy-efficient home to the public and, through partnership with Plug In America, provide the opportunity to ride and drive the latest electric vehicles.

See the full announcement with link to invite in our News & . . . → Read More: Project Green Home is going live June 4th with our Zero-Net Energy Open House

Updated booklet

Lawrence Li — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:21:45 +0000

Click here to download our . . . → Read More: Updated booklet

Dr. Wolfgang Feist’s Tour of the Project Green Home

Shannon — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 19:26:00 +0000

Dr.Wolfgang Feist at Project Green Home

On Tuesday 2 November 2010, Dr. Wolfgang Feist founder and director of the Passive House Institute in Darmstadt, Germany toured Project Green Home.

In summary, he had only good things to say and was quite pleased with our efforts. He was particularly interested in a number of items including the 2×8 framing with 24” separation and the resulting need for extremely accurate framing; future planning with the senior suite; and the efforts taken to keep the house cool in summer. He took at copy of the house booklet and we hope to receive additional feedback on the home.

As a result of the discussions, we are particularly interested in conducting energy/ temperature studies (beginning with determining a monitoring protocol) and are looking for some students that might be interested in assisting.

Dr Feist, left, touring the site with the PGH Crew

Dr. Feist is a physicist who has spent his career essentially studying building energy flows. Together with Prof. Bo Adamson of Lund University, Sweden, they developed the passive house standard in the early 1990s. Dr. Friest is the recipient of the 2001 German Environmental Award, and the 2003 Göteborg International Environment Prize together with architect Hans Eek.

See more photos from Dr Feist’s Tour of PGH

To read more on some of the features mentioned, see our Unique Design Features