Climate action is urgently needed. As buildings are alone responsible for 40% of all CO2 emissions in the United States, they are the low hanging fruit to solving the problem. The team here at Love | Schack is deeply committed to staying on the cutting edge of both practice and available technology when it comes to building science that contributes to solving the climate crisis, and we jump at opportunities allowing us to further develop our expertise and advocate for solutions.
The Town of Jackson and Teton County recently signed a resolution recognizing Jackson Hole as a world-leading sustainable community and destination, and its comprehensive sustainability plan calls for achieving carbon neutral buildings by 2030. Jackson’s commitment to be a sustainable building leader in the region aligns with our own goals as a firm and we wholeheartedly support any effort to achieve them.
When the request for proposals for Jackson’s 30-unit workforce housing project came up, we saw it as a chance for us to not only display our expertise in sustainable design and building practice, but to also show town officials, the public and our fellow submitters that carbon neutral buildings are possible right now and not something only achievable far out in the future.
We are honored to have had the opportunity with our partners at Onion Flats and Beyond Efficiency to have been considered among other developers and architectural firms in submission of proposals.
Onion Flats (http://www.onionflats.com/) joined our team from Philadelphia, PA. They are an architecture, development, and contractor team that has streamlined design and building of cost effective, Net Zero affordable housing using Passive House strategies. They have achieved several LEED Platinum and Passive House Certifications and successfully advocated to help these strategies become mainstream for publicly-funded housing in PA and many other states including Idaho and South Dakota.
Beyond Efficiency (http://beyondefficiency.us/) is a local consulting firm with expertise in energy efficient strategies for building in cold climates and the Jackson market. They also work in the Bay Area of California and have achieved many certifications on projects of various types.
Our design is a Net-Zero/Passive House building which meets all of the goals of the request for proposal in addition to helping residents of Jackson accomplish their goals of becoming a Sustainable Destination and carbon neutral by 2030. Multi-family Passive House buildings are a key means to this end as they have been proven to be more cost-effective than conventional construction when done well. Resiliency and affordability are built into the components of the building.
While our proposal for a more sustainable building design was not chosen, we know the impact of our efforts inspired important conversation and helped inform the community that energy-efficient buildings are possible and would further the county’s ecosystem stewardship goals. We are proud of what we were able to achieve with our partners in this project and we look forward to continuing what we know to be the most important work we will do.