Open Menu Sustainabilty Responsible Design + Construction Sustainable design is a core value for Method. We believe everyone deserves to live, work, and learn in healthy, quality buildings. Sustainable homes are more comfortable, efficient, better places to live. All of our modular homes and commercial structures are built using sustainable materials, systems, and practices. Method’s homes and commercial structures can be built to obtain LEED, ENERGY STAR, Living Building Challenge, Passive House, and other environmental certification standards. Building off-site inside our custom facility eliminates exposure to the elements and minimizes construction waste to less than 10 percent. Reduced time and activity spent on the site lightens the environmental impact of the building process. Elegant, energy–efficient, and environmentally responsible, Method’s homes are available for delivery throughout most of the United States and Canada. Method works with design partners who share our values, which means designing and constructing homes and commercial structures that are using innovative and responsible practices. We achieve our goals through focusing on a tight building envelope, integrating energy-efficient systems and products whenever possible, and reducing waste through building in a centralized factory location where materials can be reused and recycled. Quality Materials Method uses the best quality, local products whenever possible to ensure our buildings are healthy, comfortable, and resilient. We give clients the flexibility to select the performance and energy upgrades that are the best fit for their project. Every Method home comes standard with the following: Low or no VOC paints and adhesives, which means less chemical off gassing Above-code insulation No UA formaldehyde in any building materials Quiet and efficient ENERGY STAR rated vent fans FSC Certified hardwood floors Locally harvested lumber within 500 miles Dual flush toilets Low-flow fixtures Pre-wiring for solar Leading Environmental Certifications Method is committed to quality and innovation in everything we build. We are experienced in building to meet leading environmental certification standards and work closely with our team of green building consultants to ensure successful execution and enrollment in various certification programs, including LEED, Passive House, ENERGY STAR, and Living Building Challenge. Added benefits of building to the leading environmental certification standards are maximized water and energy efficiencies, resulting in significant cost savings on energy, light, and water bills. In addition, certain certifications may qualify you for federal tax credits and/or tax benefits based on your location. Net Zero Energy Having a building that produces the same amount of renewable energy onsite as it consumes. Commonly referred to as ZNE, achieving Zero Net Energy is to have a building that produces the same amount of renewable energy onsite as it consumes. This is measured in a 1-year term. The following building and design strategies will provide insight into how your home can become ZNE. The following can be applied to your home and will begin during the design phase of the process. Method is offering ZNE packages tailored specifically to projects utilizing some or all of these strategies depending on the climate, site and design. Insulation Adding insulation to the ceiling has the largest impact on the energy consumed in a home. Avoiding thermal bridging through either double stud walls, rigid foam wrap or a combination is another important strategy. Use surface mounted lights on the ceilings exposed to the outdoors. The nature of heat transfer reduces an otherwise well insulated R38 ceiling considerably with a small amount of can lights that do not allow for a proper amount of insulation above the light. An example of this is if you have a 1000 sq ft roof with R-38 and then have an attic door that is 10 sq ft that is not insulated so R-1 your resulting average roof R value is only 27.7. Tight Construction Blower door tests measure the amount of air that escapes a building at a standard 50 Pascals of pressure. In order to achieve a very tight envelope specially formulated tape is commonly used to seal the seams of the plywood during framing. Another strategy is to use expanding foam sprayed in a thin layer in the wall cavity that is then blown full of fiberglass. The thin layer of foam seals the airflow and the fiberglass keeps this option at a reasonable price point, this is commonly referred to as ‘flash and fill’. Fresh air Recommended at a rate of .35 air changes per hour, meaning that all of the air in your house is replaced approximately every 3 hours. If you live in a cold or a hot climate this essentially means that you are heating or cooling the outdoors. To alleviate the lost energy we use a heat recovery ventilator, HRV or ERV depending on your climate. This mechanism has a heat exchanger that recovers the heat or cold from the exiting air and transfers it to the fresh incoming air. In addition to having fresh air it is important to pay attention to the contents of the materials used, for this reason Method Homes uses plywood sheathing and only materials that have NAUF, no added urea formaldehyde as well as low and no VOC adhesives and paints. Windows and Doors are an integral part of the thermal envelope and it is therefore important to incorporate high performance options. Windows are measured with the inverse of the walls R value called U values, the lower the U value the higher the R value and the better insulated the door or window is. It is recommended that windows and doors have a .20 U value or less. Another strategy is to incorporate windows with varying solar heat gain coefficients, SHGC, depending on the orientation and the energy modeling. Passive solar design This strategy incorporates a number of the above mentioned techniques into a comprehensive whole. This can best be analyzed and fine-tuned with an energy modeling software such as Energy Plus. This process will illuminate the most cost effective strategies and give overall estimated energy consumption. Some items that will be looked at include; building orientation, thermal mass, shading and solar access among other things. High efficiency hot water heater. As the cost of solar electricity through PV panels has come down it is now more cost effective to use a high efficiency air source heat pump hot water heater rather than have a solar hot water panel installed on your roof, though some people may want this option. A heat recovery coil that surrounds the drain to the shower known as a GFX or Powerpipe recovers the heat from the drain and feeds back into the hot water tank. High efficiency heating and cooling system. A ductless mini split that for every watt consumed can produce 2.5-3 watts of heating or cooling, 250-300% efficient. Another efficient option is a heat pump for heating water for hydronic radiant heat; we utilize the Daikin Altherma system. High efficiency appliances and lighting From the refrigerator to the washer and dryer it is important to look for energy star ratings and the specific energy loads of each model. Lighting is best handled by an integrated approach using well placed windows and LED lighting. Photovoltaic solar (PV) install The final part to building a ZNE home is to install a photovoltaic solar (PV) array that can produce as much energy in a year that you will likely consume in a year. There are various methods to monitor the consumption and production of energy. Homeowner responsibility Ultimately the success of a building reaching ZNE will depend on the home owner and the thoughtful decisions that affect the overall energy consumption. There are numerous certifications that help to quantify different aspects of building a high performing home, from LEED to the living Building Challenge. We can work with you to achieve these certifications or we can simply incorporate various strategies as described above to build you a long lasting, healthy efficient home. Method Home’s Net Zero Facility In May of 2021, Method Homes doubled down on our commitment for Net Zero Energy production by producing a state-of-the-art facility that produces more energy than it consumes. The Facility, based in Washington, produces about 600 kWh per day during the summer months, which is the equivalent of 22 average American homes per day. You can see real-time energy production from this facility at this dashboard we’ve set up. Residential Residential Portfolio Residential Series Commercial Commercial Portfolio Serviceable Area Process Pricing Press Events Blog About Method Sustainable Design FAQ Residential Customer Survey Commercial Customer Survey Contact Method Homes LLC 95 Yesler Way, Suite 300 Seattle, WA 98104