The only high-performance certification that your new or renovated home really needs is YOUR certification. Passive House, Net Zero LEED and Living Building Challenge are all great systems that guide you to designing a better home. They establish clear, specific, and detailed standards to evaluate building construction. What happens if you're not able to achieve whichever of those standards you've chosen? Do you give up and take whatever your builder achieves?
Create your own criteria for certification at the beginning of your house design project. The first phase of my SAPPHR Strategy™ home design process establishes your targets for ultra high-performance. Those targets are unique to you, and they go beyond energy efficiency. For example, maybe you prioritize wildfire resistance and the ability to grow old in your home (ageing in place) but aren't willing to invest in extra resistance to earthquakes. Maybe you want to ensure a very healthy fresh air supply indoors and aren't interested in a green roof to provide natural habitat for birds and insects.
My strategy breaks ultra high-performance into these categories:
Healthy Environment (indoor physical conditions)
Peaceful (indoor psychological impacts)
Armoured (climate-resilient and disaster-resistant)
Low Impact ("sustainable", works with the local ecology)
Durable (airtight, long-life materials)
Cost-effective (optimized)
Maybe all of these are important to you, maybe one, maybe several. Whatever your priorities are, my RAD Study™ results in a set of targets that determine if your house is a success or failure. To learn more about how the RAD Study™ and the Pre-Design Diagnostic Scan™ help you establish specific goals for your home, watch the short video at the link below in which I explain these steps in your construction project.
Modern architecture includes sophisticated building systems and materials that can achieve great results that you didn't realize were possible in a house. If you're interested in seeing these results in your new home, use the link below to book a free 30-minute call with me.