Ground Breaks on DC’s First Passive House in Deanwood

• June 29, 2011

by Mark Wellborn

This morning, Empowerhouse, 
a 
team 
of 
students 
from
 Parsons 
The 
New 
School 
for 
Design,
The
 Milano
 School 
of 
International 
Affairs, 
Management
 and 
Urban
 Policy 
at 
The 
New 
School, 
and 
Stevens 
Institute 
of 
Technology, 
held a ground breaking ceremony for a net-zero, 
two‐family
 home
 in
 
Deanwood.

The development of the home is being done in conjunction with the Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathalon, which will take place on the Mall at the end of September. Developed with
 Habitat 
for
 Humanity 
and
 the 
DC 
Department 
of 
Housing 
and
 Community 
Development
 (DHCD),
 the
 project
 will
 be
 one of the 
first
 passive 
houses in the District.

Once built, the two-unit property will use state-of-the-art passive energy technologies, which aim for maximum energy efficiency to reduce the need for supplemental electricity production. Each
 unit 
is 
designed 
as 
a 
“net‐zero” 
system
, so the home’s energy use will be approximately 1/10th of its neighbors.

Site in Deanwood

While the Solar Decathalon will take place on the Mall, the Empowerhouse team is constructing the home on the campus of the Stevens Institute of Technology, and then shipping and reconstructing it on the Mall for the competition. At the end of the Decathalon, it will be moved to 
4642 Gault Place NE (map) 
and 
expanded
 into 
a 
two‐family 
home. 

Habitat for Humanity 
will 
select
 the 
families 
who
 will live there.


The 
team
 
is
 also working
 with 
Deanwood’s 
Lederer 
Community 
Youth 
Garden 
to 
provide 
plantings 
for 
a 
roof 
garden 
and 
vegetable
 window 
boxes, 
and 
will 
create 
a 
system
 of 
modular 
furnishings 
for 
the 
home.


Similar Posts:

• This Week’s Find: The DC Area’s First Passive Design House
• Carbon Neutral Home Coming to Deanwood

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/empowerhouse_team_breaks_ground_on_net_zero_home_in_deanwood/3734