General contractor Wally Bruner started this project two years ago, and hopes to finish construction by next March.
(Devan Ridgway)
Passive houses, as they’re known, are extremely aggressive about energy efficiency.
Wally Bruner, who’s building a passive home in Yellowwood Forest between Bloomington and Nashville, is passionate about his project.
Passive homes use less energy to maintain indoor temperatures. They have thicker insulation, airtight windows and moisture control.
“All those shortages that we saw during COVID was really scary at that time,” he said. “We realized, if the grocery stores run out of food, and we don't have any stockpiles of food or any way to grow or produce our own food, we're stuck. And we don't want to be in that position anymore. We don't want to be completely reliant on all of these systems that, if there's just a small blip, the shock wave that rolls through the infrastructure is really concerning to us.”
Wally Bruner works from the site seven days a week, and hopes to finish construction by next March. (Devan Ridgway/WTIU News)
Bruner has a $500,000 budget for his home. He has positioned it so it faces south; the light from the sun will warm the house in the winter, another passive home element. He will install a 5,500-gallon cistern that will be his primary source of water, and will store rainwater in the cistern to use. He and his wife are also planning to grow their own vegetables and build a six-kilowatt solar farm.
“It's going to be about 20 to 25 panels, and then that's going to be connected to our house with a battery backup system,” he said. “So if we are to lose power, our system will be able to auto shut off to the grid, and then we'll be able to run off a battery and solar on our own.”
Bruner was first inspired to build a passive house of his own eight years ago, when he learned about Earthships. Earthships are a type of passive home built with natural and recycled materials, and are designed to produce water, food and electricity on the property.
The house has triple-paned windows and 6.5-inch-thick walls. (Devan Ridgway/WTIU News)
Bruner started this project two years ago, and hopes to finish construction by next March. After that, he’s planning to build an environmental resilience training center on the property. He wants to host workshops to teach people how to use local resources and become more connected with the environment.
“We can gather and talk about effective strategies, techniques and methods for us to live on this planet differently,” he said. “What we mean by different is to live in a more self-reliant, more self-sustainable and really more of a conscious way of living.”
Tom Bassett-Dilley, founder and architect for Tom Bassett-Dilley Architects in Oak Park, Ill., said that while passive homes are in most cases more expensive to build, they also come with many benefits.
“The energy bills will be less,” he said. “You get fantastic air quality, high level of filtration.”
While all homes are required to meet certain energy efficiency standards, passive homes are rare in Bloomington.
Tom Bassett-Dilley, founder and architect for Tom Bassett-Dilley Architects in Oak Park, Ill., said passive homes are becoming more widespread throughout the Midwest. (Google Meet)
Basset-Dilley helped a couple in Bloomington build their own passive home in 2021, and is designing more elsewhere in the Midwest.
“People want things that are healthier, buildings that are healthier and more energy efficient,” he said. “We'll see (construction of passive homes) go up for that reason.”
While building a passive home can be three to five percent more expensive than a regular house, Bruner has found a way to cut costs.
It took 30 days to build the house. Now, workers have been rolling out sheets of metal for the roof. (Devan Ridgway/WTIU News)
“I'm actually doing some of the high-performance detailing work,” he said. “[So] we're actually looking at coming in at about $170 to $175 a square foot, which is really almost unheard of when you look at building a home of this type.”
The first passive home was built in 1976 after the oil embargo of 1973. The University of Illinois Small Homes Council designed its Lo-Cal house, which used 60 percent less energy, and was the was the start of the passive home movement. The country moved away from energy conservation, but has since reprioritized energy efficient homes. PHIUS, a non-profit that builds passive homes, has partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy to promote the Zero Energy Ready Home program to build more energy efficient homes. Massachusetts has also recently pushed for more passive homes.
“The biggest opportunity we have is just to eliminate a lot of waste,” Basset-Dilley said. “If you look at a certified Passive House, it'll use eight to 10 times less energy to heat and cool than a conventional built-to-code building.”
