About Michael
About Michael
About Michael
EXPERIENCE: over 20 years in all aspects of custom design/build homes
PASSION: creating unique, handsome and functional spaces that nurture and inspire
DESIGN VALUES: Health and comfort, beauty, efficiency and reduced footprint
EDUCATION: Rudolf Steiner School, Reed College, Duke University and others
TRAINING: Passive House certification program and general contractor’s GB02 license
CLIENTELE: new home owners, custom builders, old school architects
LOCATION: now based in Central Oregon since 2016
About Green
Passive House.
As green as it gets.
About Green
Passive House.
As green as it gets.
Passive House
Passive House practitioners in particular specialize in the most efficient home energy protocol in the world today. Expanding upon discoveries pioneered by American builders in the 70's and 80's around super-insulation, air-tight envelopes, energy recovery ventilation and triple-pane windows, building science professor Dr. Wolfgang Feist developed the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt, Germany in 1996. Energy requirements to heat and cool the home were reduced by 90%. The Passive House method has been brought back and adapted for the North American climate by Passive House Institute US (PHIUS), as well as by the North American Passive House Network.
EDGEhouse's Michael Grant is a Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC). Michael has been attending Passive House conferences since 2007, and has instructed on Passive House methodology to special interest groups.
The logged data below illustrates actual performance of a (near) Passive House off-grid project, namely in its ability to maintain comfortable year-round temperatures without relying on any fossil fuel with one minor exception: firing up the wood stove only 5 times through the entire winter season. Project elevation is 8000ft, above Los Alamos, NM.
What does performance look like?
Advanced Framing techniques here include two-stud corners, single top plates, single king stud at non-load bearing walls, and a single header shifted to the top plate. Minimizing framing only to the structural requirements allows for less thermal bridging and maximum insulation and performance.
Photo of an EDGEhouse project using TJI I-joists attached vertically as a Larsen truss system. Behind the TJI's is the green Zip board sheathing membrane acting also as the continuous taped-off air-barrier. Behind the sheathing is the (not visible) 2x4 structural studs at 24" on center.
The Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index, showing green programs on the road to net-zero (at the bottom of the scale). Passive House can achieve HERS 15 to HERS 35.
The blower door test allows a fan to measure the air tightness of the project at various stages of construction, allowing improvements to the envelope before walls are sealed up. Older conventional homes can leak about 10 times their enclosed air volume per hour at 50 pascals of applied pressure. Recent codes require newer homes to reach 5, or even 3, air-changes at the same pressure. Passive House targets are even stricter still: 0.6 ACH @ 50pa (air-changes per hour at 50 pascals).
Netting applied to I-joists to receive blown-in cellulose insulation.
A smart envelope is all in the details.
A typical high performance Passive House wall showing a floating thickened-edge slab, and a super insulated wall using a "Larsen truss" cantilevered I-joist for 9.5" additional insulation beyond the 2x6 structural wall.
For general information about Passive House, visit both:
Passive House Institute US
(NAPHN)
About EDGEhouse
Custom design.
About EDGEhouse
Custom design.
About EDGEHOUSE
As sole proprietor of EDGEHOUSE Green Design, Michael Grant brings twenty years' experience in custom residential design and build.
Experts in the building enclosure
We do more than pour over optimizing your floor plan for all those daily activities. We work with clients to make each home look stunning. Moreover, our homes are exceedingly comfortable and healthy. In all projects, we focus on super-insulation, air-tightness and energy-recovery ventilation. These are three fundamental components for your comfort, health, and reduced footprint.
EDGEHOUSE thrives on teamwork and collaboration.
Where Michael’s expertise ends, we coordinate closely with each project’s builder and structural engineer, including any consultant who may add value to your project.
The result is better design.
Collaboration
We support the healthy Owner-Designer-Builder triangle to create the best final outcome for your project.
Performance
EDGEHOUSE strives to meet high performance goals primarily through the Passive House approach.
We think of building codes as the lowest energy standard that can be legally built. It’s the reason many homes have a short lifecycle in this country.
Comfort, health, and air quality can be experienced at a whole new level. Energy consumption can be reduced by 80%. We can expect and enjoy a lot more from a carefully built green home.
Company
Installing windows on an own-design-build project, 2012
Custom Design
You will not find a high performing spec home on the market. Why? Because buyers won't pay for intangibles like super insulation and beautifully detailed wall assemblies.
Custom residential design/build remains the recommended way to create superior quality, comfort, and low impact satisfaction.
Experience
Michael has a 10 year foundation in residential own-design-build, and another 10 year track record providing freelance design services for select residential clients. His 2010 Modern Adobe was featured here in GreenBuildingAdvisor.com and Su Casa Magazine and won several green awards from both Green Built Tour and Parade of Homes.
Presenting to American Institute of Architects (AIA) - Santa Fe, 2014
Passive House
EDGEHOUSE uses the Passive House approach and dovetail other green measures the client and team members wish to bring to the project.
Michael is a Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC) with proven experience delivering low energy homes now housing comfortable and happy clients. He has served on his local Green Building Council and presented current Passive House means and methods to:
Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department of the State of New Mexico, 2015
American Institute of Architects (AIA-Santa Fe) for CEU credits, 2015
Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association, 2015
Kim Shanahan's Green Building program on KSFR radio
Design Technology
Once underway in ArchiCAD, your EDGEHOUSE project may be shared and downloaded by the client, builder and other stakeholders to mobile devices anywhere, for collaboration throughout design evolution.