Passivhaus

What a neat idea! This German standard for energy efficient houses, called passivhaus (passive house), requires an annual heating/cooling demand of not more than 15 kWh/m² per year! The typical house today achieves over 200 kWh/m², while low energy houses achieve somewhere around 60 kWh/m². The passivhaus standard dispenses with conventional heating and cooling sources, and instead relies on the house the heat and cool itself. The cost savings realized here is used to fund the higher than average construction cost of these houses -- however the Germans have now managed to bring the cost of passive houses down to the cost of conventional houses.

If this design catches on in a big way, energy consumption could drop dramatically. It does however require some willingness on the part of home builders, buyers and regulators to change conventional thinking. Already, there are estimated to be around 15-20,000 of these houses around. For an idea that makes so much sense, saves money and the environment, it's disappointing that there are only that many for an idea that's been since the late 80s.

in reference to:

"In the United States, a house built to the Passive House standard results in a building that requires space heating energy of 1 BTU per square foot per heating degree day, compared with about 5 to 15 BTUs per square foot per heating degree day for a similar building built to meet the 2003 Model Energy Efficiency Code. This is between 75 and 95% less energy for space heating and cooling than current new buildings that meet today's US energy efficiency codes."
- Passive house - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (view on Google Sidewiki)