Thanks to passive solar and radiant floors, the metal-clad home is comfortable year-round.

Flooring includes Teragren bamboo, cork in the kitchen, and porcelain at entry points. American Yellow Birch was used for the cabinets and trimming. Photo by: Eric Hausman Photography

Among the first Passive Houses in France, this bamboo-clad farmhouse by the Parisian firm Karawitz Architecture only uses a tenth of the energy a conventionally constructed home does. Photo by Nicholas Calcott.

Arango's 1,000-square-foot home in Amherst, Massachusetts is run entirely by solar power. He uses the home as an example in the class he teaches on renewable energy.

The entire cabin is powered by the rooftop solar system from Solarwinds Northernlights. "I still can't get over the fact that I can get an ice cube from the sun," Bruce says.

The Lai family—Mayuko, baby Shota on her lap, David, Maya, and Yumi sitting on a cushion on the deck—relaxes in their indoor-outdoor living space, made by opening the glass sliding doors to connect the living room and engawa deck.

The most sustainable element of all is the Lais’ intention to make their first home their last home as well. “Some people have this mentality of getting a starter house, then upgrading from there,” David says. “We just wanted to find a place to live in and then stay there forever.” Eventually they imagine passing the home down to their children.

The bathroom in the guest pavilion takes advantage of the passive solar siting. “Detaching the roof from the walls allowed us to bring in light from the top,” notes the architect. The custom vanity holds a Lacava sink; the tub is AquaStone from Aquatica.

Oriented to absorb the afternoon sun, floor-to-ceiling doors comprise two-thirds of the home’s west-facing walls, which open to an elevated deck overlooking Island Bay. Combined with extra-thick building insulation, this passive element provides sufficient heating for the home, even during winter months—a true feat given the region’s cold seasonal winds.

Angela Brooks and son Calder revel in the benefits of free solar energy, cheerfully opening the living room’s big glass doors when it’s time to play.

Using technology to design a home as energy-efficient as possible was a priority for Hague, both from a financial and philosophical standpoint. Along with Passive House certification for the main house, a solar array on the roof of the barn keeps energy use near zero. In fact, the entire property was Net Zero before the addition of the pool, and it may soon generate an energy surplus with the addition of a second solar array at the main house.

Setsumasa and Hideaki toss on the rain fly. The solar panel in the foreground supplies daytime electricity.

A 1.4-kW solar array by Sharp and propane-powered in-floor radiant heating from Radiantec obviate any need to connect to municipal power.

Keep the Home Fires Burning Using wood for heat and energy keeps the Wadhams’ environmental footprint small and helps avoid the use of coal- or nuclear-powered electricity. Come winter, the couple relies on an Esse wood-burning stove for cooking, heating, and feeding a set of small radiators. In summer, they use the stove’s electric component, which is powered by solar energy.

Most impressive of all, a solar array on the roof empowers the residents to produce more energy than they consume on-site.

Moore has been using the so-called beetle-kill pine in his projects for years. In the Damianos’ house, he lined the floors, ceiling, cabinetry, and walls of the second-story living area, white-washing the planks “to let a little more sunlight bounce around the room.”

Porches are a beloved element of the Southern vernacular and lifestyle, traditionally serving as an extension of the indoors—a shady place to gather, socialize, or share a meal. So when the students of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, entered the Solar Decathlon, a biennial energy-efficient residential design competition, the iconic space figured prominently in their concept. Here, a canopy of bifacial solar panels covers the porch and provides energy for the home.

The cabin’s exterior walls and roof are clad in overlapping stone plates that mimic the look of traditional wood paneling found in Western Norway. “It provides an affinity with the cabins nearby,” partner and architect Nils Ole Bae Brandtzæg explains. Solar panels cover the chimney pipe, lighting LED lamps inside.

On all three aboveground levels of the house, outdoor spaces feature as prominently as indoor ones. The backyard is lined with tiered concrete boxes for planting vegetables; the modest top floor—which houses the master bedroom—has a deck wrapping three sides; and in the middle, a 770-square-foot green roof extends off the living area. Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

A 260-square-foot solar array was installed atop a triangular section of the roof, which faces due south and is angled at 30 degrees for optimal solar collection.

The south windows provide much of the winter-free heat as well as the opportunity to break down the wall’s mass into a dynamic composition. Photo by: Eric Hausman Photography

The Sustainable L.A. Grand Challenge, a UCLA initiative with 150 faculty across 40 different departments, has the stated goal of bringing the L.A. region to 100% sustainability in water and energy while enhancing biodiversity by 2050.

Composed of 220 aluminum "light shelves," the solar reflector screen is the focal point of the front façade. The home takes advantage of its Southern exposure, using the reflector screen to funnel sunlight and warmth deep into the interior space.

Sulfurcell solar panels.

A typical home uses somewhere around 150-200 therms of natural gas to heat water each year. With a solar system, usage is reduced to around 100 therms a year.

The Damianos’ house, located in Denver’s Highland neighborhood, runs completely on solar energy.

The traditional massing masks a super-performing house, built to last for centuries. Photo by: Eric Hausman Photography

The bottom floor contains the kitchen and the dining area; the lounge is upstairs. The cabinets are from Ikea, as are the table and chairs, and the child’s Tripp Trapp chair is from Stokke.

The exterior was clad with LP SmartSide in alternating bands of textured and smooth siding and basement areaways are constructed of site-salvaged brick-filled gabions. Photo by: Eric Hausman Photography

Suttles and Shah readied the house for photovoltaic panels, a solar waterheating system for the pool, and a rainwater collection setup.

Find out how Passive House standards are being integrated into affordable housing projects in the United States.

Aluminum-clad wood Zola European windows provide Passive House performance. Photo by: Eric Hausman Photography

The entry sequence was designed to allow accessible entry, creating a sense of shelter and highlighting the thickness of the super-insulated ICF walls.

Floor-to-ceiling glass walls help the house connect to the landscape and also offer a material contrast to the oak floors and concrete.

Arango worked with Maine-based firm GO Logic on the design and construction of the house.