Utah resident Susan Klinker is one of a growing number of homeowners creating eco-friendly "accessory dwelling units" in their backyards, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
ADUs are additional homes added to a property and often used or rented out by the owners. Klinker is one of more than 70 homeowners whose ADU permits have been approved since new guidelines were adopted in Salt Lake City last year.
Klinker's ADU, in particular, is specifically built to be as eco-friendly and energy-efficient as possible.
"The ways that we're building now are [sic] so unhealthy for us and so toxic for the environment," Klinker told the Tribune. "Somehow there needs to be a hybrid that comes together, where the traditional ways of building naturally cross-informs high-tech building."
To achieve that meeting of tradition and tech in a passive house, Klinker started by considering sunlight. Plenty of sun comes in the home's generous windows, but during the hot summer months when the sun is high, no direct sunlight comes in the windows to heat the home. When the sun is low in the winter, though, it comes through the windows at an angle to hit the floor, which warms up. That helps the home maintain a comfortable indoor temperature day and night, summer and winter.
Another major help is the home's quality insulation. All the windows are triple-glazed, and the walls are extra thick, stuffed with straw, the Tribune revealed.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard recently showed off a house built with straw insulation, another example of how this traditional building technique fits in the modern world. That straw stores carbon that could otherwise become air pollution and reduces a home's emissions during construction by 40%, according to the Tribune.
Indeed, Klinker's "Strawtegi CO2ttage" is made to minimize the emission of nitrogen oxide, which the Tribune called "a precursor to ozone and PM2 particulates." For the little heating and cooling it does need, the home uses an energy-efficient heat pump "mini split." It also has solar panels to provide power without pollution.
"Passive solar or heat pumps, those are great options for reducing emissions, as are simpler things like more efficient furnaces, ultra-low NOx water heaters — they can all play a part," Glade Sowards, a policy analyst from the Utah Division of Air Quality, told the Tribune.
She also noted that as businesses use less energy and pollute less, the role of housing in air pollution will become more prominent, which is why it's so important to invest in passive homes.
Klinker is renting out the home, but as her children reach adulthood, she plans to move into the smaller unit and rent out her four-bedroom house.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
