I’m helping to build Austin Net-Zero by showing that there is a better way to build.
This October, the Austin Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) will host its annual Homes Tour. Local architect, sustainability advocate, and our newest Net-Zero Hero, Trey Farmer, will be one of the Austinites showing their home on the tour. Trey works at local firm Forge Craft Architecture + Design and is a LEED Accredited Professional, Certified Passive House Consultant, and serves as a member of the Austin Passive House Alliance Board and the national Passive House Institute Alliance Council.
We visited Trey at the Forge Craft Architecture + Design studio and traveled to one of Forge Craft’s current projects to discuss his work, renovating his own 100-year-old home, and the future of green building.
What motivates you to act?
Working in the built environment, I see many amazing examples of people pushing into new territories.
Fifteen years ago, I was working for an architect in Berkeley, California, doing some of the first LEED-certified projects in the United States. During that time, I was also introduced to the concept of creating a Passive Housenatural building, permaculture, and the Challenge of Living Construction. The idea that our buildings and infrastructure could have a net positive the effect of the planet is very exciting and stimulating.
With these design principles in mind, I realized that humans have the ability to create net profit – to actually improve ecosystems for all life, not just our own. BUT – and this is a big but – it goes against much of the way we currently live, farm, build, and operate. We need to change the way we do things very dramatically.
Trey visited a Forge Craft build site in South Lamar. The project will create hundreds of affordable housing units for Foundation Communities, a local nonprofit.
How did you do it?
A few years ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to do a major renovation on our 100-year-old craftsman home in Austin. She is an interior designer with Studio Ferme, focusing on healthy materials and spaces. I am an architect with Forge Craft Architecture + Design specializing in healthy and energy efficient building. The renovation is the perfect opportunity to test our skills and convictions while creating a case-study home that helps show that even older homes can be beautiful, healthy, and energy-efficient without would break the bank. We brought in our friend, the architect Hugh Jefferson Randolph, to work with us on the project. We decided to certify the house with the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) and Austin Energy Green Building.
The Passive House is the strictest energy building standard in the world. Using a robust, third-party verified energy model, we were able to test different levels of insulation for walls, floors, and roofs. We also tested double-versus triple-pane windows, HVAC system options, and design changes, such as house size, location of windows and overhangs, and more. We want to see what gives us the best benefit from the principles of comfort, construction costs, and operational energy costs.
Photos of the interior of Trey’s house. Photos of Leonid Furmansky
In the end, we created a house that uses about half the energy of a similar new house. We have installed enough solar panels on the roof that, along with reduced energy use, our house has become net-positive and is able to produce more energy than it uses in a year. Our home is comfortable even in the worst weather and has exceptional indoor air quality because no unfiltered air gets in (think oak pollen and highway dust).
We moved into the house about a year before the winter storms of 2021 hit, and despite a three-day power outage and single-digit temperatures outside, our house remains livable.
Now we are able to bring these lessons learned into our professional practices and use the house as a teaching tool. Forge Craft Architecture has worked on many Passive House projects and we have been able to move our studio into a single family home on a path to creating all healthy, sustainable homes that generate more energy than they use. We also bring these lessons to our commercial work and do in-house energy modeling and cost optimization as well as healthy material choices.
Above: The house of the Farmer family. Below: Trey with his family inside their house. Photos of Leonid Furmansky
What is most rewarding about participating in this way?
The community around us is amazing. We share what we’re working on with our friends and fellow sustainable design geeks early and often, starting with design and continuing through construction and now during occupancy. It’s great fun learning from the experts and making friends along the way.
During construction, the house hosted more than a dozen happy hours, open houses, training workshops, tours, and student groups. Throughout the process, we try to share what worked, what didn’t, what we loved about it, and what we would do differently next time.
Now, there are even UT researchers studying the house’s performance.
In October, the house will be open to the public as part of AIA Homes Tour, so please check it out and learn more. We want to show you around
What was the hardest part?
It can be frustrating to know there is a better way to build and not see this knowledge more quickly and widely adopted throughout the architecture, design, and construction industry.
We really like the house so we can learn to do something else. We want to push things further and integrate the lessons we’ve learned to see what’s possible.
Top left: The plans hang on the wall of the Forge Craft Architecture studio. Top right: Samples are placed on the tile. Below: Carbon measurements for Forge Craft Architecture & Design buildings are displayed on a studio wall.
There have been many advances in green building in recent years. As you look ahead, what excites you most about the future of this field?
The integration of natural building and high-performance building. Strawbale, hemp, adobe, and rammed earth designs are one niche, while passive house, Net-Zero, and high-performance buildings are another. Both are happily becoming more mainstream. We need homes and offices made from natural, non-toxic materials that produce more energy than they use. We have the power to create healthy, beautiful, comfortable places that do not pollute our environment.
These ideas are gaining traction and market share, which means they are becoming less boutique and less expensive. The price of solar panels has dropped from more than $100 per watt in 1976 to less than 25 cents per watt today, dropping more each year. I wonder about the electric car options today compared to just 10 years ago. The same is happening in buildings – the number of certified passive house units and square footage more than doubles every two years.
We have the knowledge and technology to make our buildings part of the climate solution
Is there a book, documentary, or other piece of media that you would recommend for people who want to learn more about these topics?
Passive House Accelerator a great platform for learning about high-performance building and climate solutions. They have articles, videos, weekly happy hours, webinars, and profiles of projects from around the world.
The number Putting Punk in Passive House Video series are a good place to start.
In the book Building Beyond ZeroBruce King and Chris Magwood re-view buildings as one of our most practical and affordable climate solutions rather than being one of the main drivers of climate change.
What advice would you give to others?
Get involved in any way you can. We all have a voice and leverage. Ask your local grocery store if they have solar panels, or tell the car dealership you want to look at more electric vehicle options.
If you are building a house, ask your architect and builder about passive house, low-carbon building materials, and how to create a healthy environment for your family. If you’re buying, building, designing, renting, or just visiting a home, ask about blower door mark, which describes how empty a home is. The more renters, homeowners, builders, realtors, and architects ask about these things, the more they start to become the norm.
Learn more about 2022 AIA Homes Tourwhich will take place on October 22-23, 2022, at Trey’s home visit.
Sustainable buildings are a key element of Austin’s net-zero future. To learn more about Austin’s net-zero goal and explore actions you can take to support a greener community, check out Austin Climate Equity Plan
Share your Net-Zero contributions with us at Twitter or Facebook and use #NetZeroHero. If you know a Net-Zero Hero (or heroes!) who should be recognized for their efforts, send your nomination to sustainability@austintexas.gov.
