Clarum Builds Certified Passive Homes in California

First Certified Passive Home in San Mateo County & Menlo Park, California

We are well under way on our first custom Passive Home in Menlo Park. The house is scheduled to be finished in late May.

You may be wondering….what exactly is a passive house?

A Passive Home is an extremely comfortable, healthy, economical and sustainable home, designed and constructed to use up to 90% less energy than a traditional home. This is achieved by enhanced insulation, greatly reduced thermal bridging, a virtually air tight building envelope, high performance windows and a heat recovery ventilation system.

Unlike “point accumulation” green building standards, Passive Home certification is based on actual performance results that require that the home uses less than 1.4kWh per square foot for annual heating demand and total annual source energy cannot exceed 11kWh per square foot. In addition the building shell must be airtight with less than 0.6 air changes per hour at 50 Pascal’s.

The result is a responsible and sustainable approach to home building.

Update on Menlo Passive

We finished this home but are building more passive-inspired homes. Learn more about our latest California custom homes in our Project section. You can also go to our Menlo Passive website to read about the process of building this home, as well as the News Section to read more about the press on this passive home.

Learn more about Clarum Homes and our process of building custom, sustainable homes. Call 650.322.7069.