Shepherdstown to be home of first Phius design-certified passive house in the state | News, Sports, Jobs

Sean and Tracey Porter’s home is being constructed in a way that will likely result in it being a net-zero home. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — In June, Sean and Tracey Porter will be moving into their new home at 312 W. German St. in Shepherdstown.

This home is special to them for a number of reasons, such as that it will be the first home they have built and that it will be in a walkable town that has already begun to feel like home to them. However, for the Porters, the most exciting thing about their new home will be the fact that it is a passive house — an energy-efficient home, constructed with comfort, affordability and the need to keep a low carbon footprint in mind.

“The Porter residence is a great example of a passive house,” said architect Richard Pedranti, who designed the project. “Passive houses are really still a boutique kind of approach to designing a home here in the U.S. In Europe, they say they have half a million homes built to the passive house standard. In North America, it’s probably less than 50,000.”

For the past 12 years, Pedranti has been designing passive homes, although this will be one of the few located in a historic town. The location feels particularly appropriate for a passive house to be built in, he said, due to its deep German roots, as the first passive house was built in Germany in 1991.

This connection between Germany and passive houses is, in fact, what led the Porters to choosing to build a passive home of their own.

The first passive house in West Virginia is being built at 312 West German Street in Shepherdstown. Tabitha Johnston

“My mother is German. I was born in Germany, and I spent most of my summers in Germany as a kid and young adult,” Sean said. “I had an aunt there who lived in a house that was 600 or 700 years old.”

According to Sean, the strong construction of this and many other homes in Germany instilled in a him a high standard for home construction.

“When I became a homeowner, I was confused by why shingles last only 20 years on a house and why these bubble windows need replaced every 20 years. I always compared everything to the German construction,” Sean said. “I didn’t have to build a passive house, but I wanted to build a house with higher quality construction materials. I looked around, and it always seemed that the passive design standard was the way to go to achieve that.”

Prior to the home being built, its design had to be approved by the Passive House Institute U.S. (Phius) to ensure it would meet passive house design standards. The home will be inspected again this summer, after its completion, so that it can become a Phius-certified passive house. Solar panels will be added to the roof to further optimize the house’s energy efficiency.

According to Tracey, she and Sean anticipate it being a net-zero home — producing as much energy as it consumes. This will allow the couple to have to pay no electric bill and make retiring on a fixed income easier on them both.

As it is, Tracey and Sean plan on continuing to work for a while longer as a nurse and environmental company employee, respectively, after their move to Shepherdstown.

“We spent many vacations traveling to Germany over the years. We like the many walkable communities there,” Tracey said. “We currently live in western Pennsylvania and have to drive at least half an hour to visit anything. We decided, once we got our kids through school, that we would look for a walkable community that we could build a home in.”

The couple found Shepherdstown to be the ideal walkable community and purchased a plot of land there, prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic. They spent a few years paying off the loan they used to purchase the plot, before contacting Pedranti’s architectural firm to begin designing the house.

“We fell in love with Shepherdstown,” Tracey said. “It checks all of the boxes.”