The Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) will soon break ground on SmartHome Cleveland, a passively-heated home that does not require a furnace and is designed to challenge the way that people think about the issue of climate change.

The 2,500-square-foot, three-bedroom home will be presented in conjunction with the traveling exhibit, Climate Change, from June to September 2011.

"The SmartHome will show that it's possible to use dramatically less energy in our buildings -- and they can be wonderful places to live," says David Beach, Executive Director of Green City Blue Lake (GCBL), a center for regional sustainability located at the museum.

The SmartHome, which was designed by Doty and Miller Architects and will be the first of its kind in Cleveland, incorporates Passive House Methodology. This approach includes high levels of insulation, featuring wall thicknesses of up to 18 inches, a carefully sealed building envelope that combines minimal air leakage with efficient heat-recovery ventilation, and triple-pane windows.

Heated by a small, supplementary heater, the SmartHome's energy efficient design along with the solar panels on a detached garage will make it a net-zero energy consumer.

Beach describes bringing the SmartHome to University Circle as "something of a barn raising." While planning the project, GCBL worked with neighboring institutions and community groups to identify how the home could best fit into the community.

Ultimately, they decided that a home this smart couldn't remain a museum showpiece for long. This fall, the home will be transported to a vacant lot on nearby Wade Park Avenue in Glenville, where it will be offered for sale to a buyer. The home, which will cost about $525,000 to build, will be priced between $300,000 and $400,000.

Beach is already honing his sales pitch for winter-weary Northeast Ohioans. Tired of paying high heating bills? "You could heat this house with a hairdryer," he jokes. 

Source: David Beach
Writer: Lee Chilcote