Studio RMA's Pasadena EcoHouse

I'm more of a Hobbit School of Architecture fan. This is an eco-house built for a family of four in Wales. It was built by hand (many hands), has an living roof and runs with various forms of alternative energy:

And here's one that really interests me..

THE ENERGY CHALLENGE
link - No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’
by Elisabeth Rosenthal in the NYT (12/26/08)


Rolf Oeser for The New York Times

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DARMSTADT, Germany " From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace.

In Berthold Kaufmann’s home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for emergency backup in the living room " but it is not in use. Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann’s new “passive house” and others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer.

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