Special construction details were used around windows, doors, electrical boxes and plumbing penetrations to make them airtight. In superinsulated houses, the heating and air conditioning requirements are very low. This house is heated with low temperature, low polluting hydronic baseboard units. Conventional high temperature resistance heaters have been found to pyrolyze house dust that falls on them and release submicron aerosols into the air. While they may not be as energy efficient as a heat pump, these types of heaters are much lower in initial cost, and are maintenance free.
Air conditioning is handled by a very quiet, energy efficient, ductless, split system.
One of the most important features of the house is the ventilation system. The ductwork is designed to pull stale air from all the closets, and deposit the fresh air in the living room. The interior doors are undercut to allow the air to circulate from the living room into other rooms, into closets, thus resulting in a circulation pattern throughout the house that is reversed from conventional HVAC design. This allows the living areas to be flushed of pollutants prior to the storage areas. All of the ductwork is metal and it is within the conditioned space, so it doesn't need to be insulated.