PASSIVE HOUSES: what is the percentage of Americans which have never heard about them?

Question

I just realized a number of US citizen never heard of them. How can that be?

Other countries already largely build according to this specification.

It seems even stranger when a lot of the newspaper I read when I am in the US write about the number of people having troubles paying for their heating.

Answer 1

Ive never heard of them...what are they?

Answer 2

I've never heard of them, as cheap as fossil fuel is, who cares?

Answer 3

It's a very high percentage.  I'm more informed on green technologies than 99+% of Americans, and I only recently heard about passive houses in a book I was reading (George Monbiot's 'Heat').

We've started using some of the techniques for passive houses on a small scale in the US, but for some reason we're way behind Europe in this area.  I really don't know why.

Answer 4

In 1980 my husband and I bought 10 acres and built an earth bermed passive solar house.  The concept has been around for ages.  My brother lives in a south facing earth bermed house.  I think they built it in 1982 or '83.

We sold the house when we had difficulty finding work in the area.

I don't know how many have not, but everyone in my family has heard of the concept.

Edit to clarify - we moved into an existing house when we moved to Texas near the Chihuahua Desert.    We are less worried here about passive heating than about preventing passive heat gain to minimize cooling.  Our house here is open to the east rather than the south, and we shade the south and west as much as possible.   My son's 5th grade science project was about what sort of film to use on the west windows to prevent solar gain in the summer.  We have plans to build a trellis in addition to arbors and awnings we already have.  I also modified the landscaping with native plants and drought tolerant plants to minimize water use, as well.  Here is to world peace!

Answer 5

Huh?  What's that?  

We have a wood stove in our house that keeps us warm.

Answer 6

99.9

Answer 7

Many buildings in the U.S. including many homes are built with these principles.  The difference is that we do not have a standard defined by some bureaucracy that tells us what one is.  It's just a building with good insulation and that is designed to take full advantage of its geographic location.  For example, my house is very well insulated.  It is sited facing south, with a large number of double glazed windows on the south face.  My landscaping design includes a number of large deciduous trees in the yard south of the house.  During the summer, when the issue is keeping the house cool, these trees shade the front keeping the sun from heating the house, reducing my air conditioning demand.  In the winter, the trees loose their leaves, allowing the sun to come in through the windows, warming the house, reducing my heating bill.

By the way, this house is 28 years old.