The word 'Passive' brings to mind images of great indolence and grammar lessons on avoiding passive voice at the right times. Though passive voice may not give your sentences the same "oomph," it certainly pays to go passive in green building. The passive building paradigm calls for an airtight (had to linkbait - sorry!) or rather extremely well-insulated spaces that cut down energy requirements tremendously!
This NYTimes piece is a refreshing perspective, but also a reflection of the sad reality of the U.S building standards. This is a rather very 'passive' approach to green building than the one taken by the Dilbert creator, Scott Adams http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704868604575433620189923744.html
To be fair, Adams' approach is exhaustive and very well intentional, but this passive approach blows the water on cost savings by 90%! For what it's worth the Landaus (the family mentioned in the NYTimes article) seem to know what they're doing and paving the way for a brighter future (if your windows are well-placed on the south side that is) in energy independence.
