Ultra-Efficient Home Built In La Crosse To Serve As Educational Tool

An ultra-energy efficient home called a Passive House was recently built in La Crosse, and will serve as an instructional facility for the foreseeable future as students and professionals learn what it takes to build and sell these type of homes.

Upon entering the two-story home, one of most noticeable differences is that every room has air-tight windows that stretch from the floor to ceiling, allowing the sun to naturally heat the Passive House. The walls are uniquely thick — composed of almost two feet of wood, sheetrock, and padding.

“So you can imagine the difference in insulation,” said Danny Bee, the associate dean of industrial technologies at Western Technical College, a lead partner in the Passive House project.

With some of the most stringent design standards in the industry, Passive Houses can reduce heating and cooling costs up to 90 percent.

Bee says very little is known about Passive Houses, with the new structure in La Crosse only being the third one to be built in Wisconsin. So, Bee said they’re trying to educate more than builders.

“The banking industry has to recognize this, because they have to value it if you go to them for a loan. Right now you get, ‘Well I don’t understand it.’ That’s the education process; we have to get them engaged,” said Bee.

Bee said they’ll also be educating appraisers and realtors.

Western Building Systems Technology Instructor Joshua VandeBerg said students from many departments have been involved in the project, getting experience that some professionals don’t have.

“In a lot of ways, as a college, we’re taking the lumps for the industry and the community so that this can be a pathway to more high performance homes like this,” said VandeBerg

The home will eventually be sold. Two other Passive Houses will be built on the neighboring lot, with Western students becoming more and more involved with each project.