My partner Robin Cash and I were regular attendees at the Net Zero talks sponsored by Solar Oregon many years ago. Through these talks we learned about solar panels and energy efficiency as well as Passive House. Robin always dreamed of building a house, especially an energy efficient one where we could stay warm without running up high energy bills. After learning about Passive House design we decided to build an all-electric Passive House and in 2011 contracted with Green Hammer for both the design and building. The house design was different then what we had originally pictured due to both budget constraints and the desire to utilize passive house design. However, once it was built we loved the comfort and quietness that the house provided and especially loved the low electricity bills! Permitting went smoothly with minor glitches involving roof design, sidewalk width, and solar panel attachments which were subsequently resolved. We moved in the summer of 2012. 

Robin was a strong advocate of affordable housing and wanted to build an ADU in the backyard to rent to someone with low income by charging a very affordable rent. We hired R&B Design Studio LLC in coordination with Enhabit to make the plans and NW Tactical Designs LLC built it.  The ADU was completed in July 2019 and our first tenant moved in August 1st of that year.  The ADU is extremely energy efficient and is EarthAdvantage Platinum. Robin passed away December 2019 but fortunately was able to see both her dreams materialize. 

In 2020 I installed solar panels on the ADU which allowed it to be net zero even with a clothes dryer and an electric stovetop. Also in 2020 additional solar panels installed on the main house allowed it to be net zero approximately 80% of the time despite two electric cars, a fused glass kiln in the garage, and an electric stovetop and oven.

I’ve been extremely satisfied with the performance of both the main house and ADU and would highly recommend going zero to a friend or neighbor.