Passive Green Building

Passive building is strategic. This process dictates where you build and how you position your home on the parcel.  It’s about learning to use exterior elements in your favor and not against you.  For example, by positioning your new home to capture proper heat gain from the sun, while at the same time, even protecting you from the sun!  Through proper placement of the home, one can take advantage of wind currents to help cool the home while using the sun to provide additional heating, if necessary, even after it sets. 

Once you have properly positioned your new home, you then determine the proper materials to build the home.  This involves both exterior “sustainable”* materials and “healthy” interior materials.  While both are equally important, it’s interior materials that are tied to keeping our families healthy!  Most buyers are unaware of dangerous chemicals located within our homes and businesses.  Potentially harmful chemicals, more commonly known as Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC's), are commonly located in paints, carpet glues, insulation and other household materials. Passive planning helps eliminate these dangers.

Sustainability Defined;

In 1983, the U.N. World Commission on Environment and Development published a definition of sustainability that is now widely used throughout the world. “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Sustainability requires that people think about how much of a resource is available now and how much there will be in the future.The right passive materials and practices are available.  We must simply put them into practice and assist in educating our families, friends and neighbors on building smarter.  The Hale Kuleana Program is proud to help lead the way to better living and better community.