First things first: What's a Passive House? They're well insulated, virtually airtight buildings who must meet strict energy efficiency requirements. The benefit is that building passive can decrease home heating consumption by an astounding 90% and decrease overall energy consumption up to 75%. Here, a mixed-use building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with a single-family home atop a retail space, all designed by Loadingdock5. Photo by: Raimund Koch.
Brooklyn-based architectural designer Julie Torres Moskovitz completed New York's first certified Passive House last year in Park Slope, which Dwell highlighted in our April 2013 issue. Also in 2013, Torres Moskovitz published her first book, The Greenest Home, with Princeton Architectural Press. The book profiles 18 of the world's greenest houses by the likes of Architectural Research Office, Bernheimer Architecture (one half of the former Della Valle Bernheimer), Olson Kundig Architects, Onion Flats, and more. Here are three homes highlighted in the book, from Brooklyn to Rhode Island.
