We built a single level passive solar superinsulated house. It is designed to take advatage of the low winter sun angle, most of windows are on the front side, which faces south. The 6" concrete slab floor (for thermal mass) will store the heat from the sun during a sunny day. In the summer the sun angle is high and the sun does not come in and overheat the house. To minmize heat loss we have R70 blown in fiberglass insulation in the ceiling and have double walls. Fiberglass batts were placed in the outer wall between the studs. Foam insulation panels were sandwiched between the two walls along with a continuous vapor barrier and more fiberglass batts were placed in the inner wall. The walls are R50 and very airtight. We also sealed all plumbing and electrical penatrations in the walls between top plate and attic. It is ventilated with a whole house air-exchanger which will bring in fresh air. We have radiant tubing in slab for future heat (zones). We are heating and cooling with a SERR 14, 2 ton A/C/heat pump. The windows are low-e triple pane to minimize heat loss.
(under construction)