A new housing development in upstate New York is making waves with its plan to deliver carbon-neutral, passive houses, which include a strict set of rules to ensure goals are met.
The Catskill Project has pledged to build 11 houses on 90 acres of land in Upstate New York, according to Yale Climate Connections. The second wave of homes will include another 14 homes, bringing the total to 25. The site is unique because, apart from being out in the forest of rural New York, it will also have no hookups for natural gas or other fossil fuel energy sources. Instead, all its power will be generated onsite, either via installed solar panels, or a subscription to a community solar farm.
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The homes will also be built to passive home standards, meaning they are well-insulated and designed with a strong level of ventilation to help regulate temperature in the home. Catskill Project co-founder Greg Hale noted that the homes would have "an energy recovery ventilator that's on 24/7 always bringing fresh air into the house and exhausting stale air," per Yale Climate Connections.
The ventilator also captures and recycles the heat from the outgoing air into the incoming air, ensuring that the house stays warm while minimizing the amount of energy needed to maintain a comfortable temperature.
In fact, Hale noted that the homes are not allowed to use dirty energy for any of their energy needs. The development's HOA guidelines forbid the use of natural gas or fossil fuels for cooking, cleaning, or other power needs.
"There's no reason to be building houses that are going to contribute further to the climate issue," Hale said, "So we look at it both operationally and in our materials."
Passive homes are popping up around the globe right now. Boston is attempting to renovate federal housing projects using passive home standards. Homes in Texas, New York, and England have also received plaudits for their commitment to the passive home guidelines.
For his part, Hale feels his community is leading the charge towards net-zero housing but recognizes there's a lot of work left to do.
"We don't know of any other single-family residential community that is like ours — that requires passive house building and is all electric and targeting carbon neutrality — at least in the Northeast," Hale said. "So we think we're the vanguard. We also understand that 25 houses aren't going to solve the climate problem, so we try to get out there and promote our way of doing business."
"I think that climate change is the preeminent issue of our time," Hale continued. "If we don't fix this one, a lot of the other issues aren't really going to matter."
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