A random assortment of websites

I've been a bit busy recently, so here is a rather feeble post made up of a selection of links to other low energy houses, that you may be interested in. If not, don't click the links!

Zero energy house

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201106110161.html

A passive house in the US, and some tips that apply to all buildings, new or rennovated.

http://www.proudgreenhome.com/article/184246/Lessons-from-a-passive-house

Here's a self-build passive house in Wicklow, Ireland. Yes, you can do it on your own! They have some problems with suppliers and contractors too though!

http://passivebuild.blogspot.com/2011/02/progress-update-7-feb.html

Here's a blog about passive house building in the pacific North West.

http://www.rootdesignbuild.com/blog/

Net zero energy house

http://www.proudgreenhome.com/article/181951/Building-an-affordable-net-zero-energy-home

This is an interesting repository of building parts and designs. It gives scores for different options like this:

Thermal Control	4
Durability	3
Buildability	2
Cost	3
Material Use	3
Total	15

http://www.buildingscience.com

Info on low energy and new low energy standards in Japan

http://www.house-support.net/seinou/kaikou-dann.htm

Somebody else in Japan getting a container of Pazen windows:

http://ta-k.blog.ocn.ne.jp/blog/2011/05/post_593c.html

And now for something completely different:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039719/Simon-Dale-How-I-built-hobbit-house-Wales-just-3-000.html

Looks great and low budget, low impact during building, but a couple of obvious questions are:
What impact is there on the environment from people leaving cities and going to live in the woods?
Where's the toilet and bathroom?
This is certainly part of the solution though, and good luck to the lad!