Salt Lake's 'passive' house a model of innovative design, materials

Salt Lake's 'passive' house a model of innovative design, materials

(Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)


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SALT LAKE CITY — For a so-called "passive" house, it's a model of forward thinking.

Salt Lake officials cut the ribbon on a Poplar Grove house Thursday that employs design and materials innovations that render it energy-efficient and quiet, yet affordable.

The Emery Passive House highlights construction methods and systems that can greatly reduce the ongoing cost of home ownership and contribute to housing stability.

It has no traditional furnace or central air. Still, it maintained a comfortable temperature on a near 100-degree day due to its smart design, triple-pane windows, sealed attic space and insulated basement slab. The house will operate on one-sixth the energy required to heat a standard home.

"It's airtight, so there is no leakage out of this home, no heat escaping and no heat coming in. Any heat exhaust that is in the home is actually recycled and either heated or cooled, depending on the time of the year, so this house literally heats and cools itself," said Mike Akerlow, director of Salt Lake City’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Division.

The ribbon-cutting and open house marked the launch of the division's new Housing Innovation Lab. The lab seeks to encourage innovation in affordable housing design, quality construction and finance through education, collaboration and experimentation.

The philosophy behind the effort is that homes can be well-built and include popular design features while still being affordable.

Statewide, there is a need for 40,000 units of affordable housing.

"In Salt Lake, we know our number is 7,500. So we are looking at a range of products. We are looking at everything from multifamily to everything down to single family (residences) and everything in between," he said.

The 2,100-square-foot Emery Passive House has four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, a two-car garage, a fully fenced yard and would be affordable to a household with a $55,000 a year income, Akerlow said.

"That is incredibly affordable, but one of the most amazing things, too, because of the way this was designed and built, the energy costs are greatly reduced, so the utility costs are going to be much, much less," he said.

City Councilman Andrew Johnston, who represents the Poplar Grove neighborhood, said a wide array of Utahns need affordable housing, some of them young professionals starting their careers such as schoolteachers, firefighters and police officers. Salt Lake City needs more housing, period, he said.

People tour the Emery Passive House in Salt Lake City's Poplar Grove neighborhood on Thursday, July 21, 2016. The home is a model of affordable, energy-efficient housing. (Photo: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
People tour the Emery Passive House in Salt Lake City's Poplar Grove neighborhood on Thursday, July 21, 2016. The home is a model of affordable, energy-efficient housing. (Photo: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)

"Affordable housing, just by definition, if you're spending more than a third of your take-home income on your housing, it's not affordable. It doesn't matter if you're making $150,000 a year or you're making $20,000 a year. The dynamics might be a little different, but it's the same principle," Johnston said.

The Emery Passive House "is a home anyone would be proud to own,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski.

“It’s exciting to see the results when we make quality design and construction part of the affordable housing equation,” she said.

Biskupski also announced the start of the Salt Lake City Home Innovation Competition, which will emphasize innovation in design and construction of affordable housing through a public contest.

City officials will select two teams to design and build single-family homes on city-owned property at 1763 W. 900 North and 315 S. Post Street. Proposals are due on Sept. 23. For more information, visit www.slcgov.com/hand.

People tour the Emery Passive House in Salt Lake City's Poplar Grove neighborhood on Thursday, July 21, 2016. The home is a model of affordable, energy-efficient housing. (Photo: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
People tour the Emery Passive House in Salt Lake City's Poplar Grove neighborhood on Thursday, July 21, 2016. The home is a model of affordable, energy-efficient housing. (Photo: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)

Johnston said adding a competition element should further stimulate new innovations to the city's affordable housing stock.

"We're saying 'Private developers, architects and all people with great ideas out there, and there's a ton of them, bring them forward. We don't have a monopoly on that here. Bring the best ideas forward. Let's figure out what's feasible, what's not and incorporate it and build some cool, new things over here,'" Johnston said.

"Particularly for the west side, we have property and it's fairly cheap compared to the rest of the city, I'd love to see us try some new ideas over here."

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