SCRANTON -- Declan Mulhall is a physics professor at the University of Scranton and he and his family are about to have the first passive home in northeastern Pennsylvania.
A passive home is a home that meets the highest standards of energy efficiency.
"Once we decided to build a house, the only sensible thing to do in the 21st century is build a house that uses the least energy possible," said Mulhall.
"I hope every home I do is like this. I think this is the house of the future," said architect Richard Pedranti.
It all starts with the insulation. There's a lot of it compared to Mulhall's old drafty house.
"A typical home may be between $2,000 and $2,500 for heating and cooling. This home will use $200 or $300," said Pedranti.
There's about three times as much insulation as in a typical home.
"Very little air leakage in the house."
Rob Ciervo is the contractor and says building this home has been unlike any other he's worked on before.
"Older concepts are that houses need to breathe. This one, they've reversed that whole logic. It has to be air tight, so we're learning a little more about that," said Ciervo.
In order to better trap the energy inside the house, during construction a blower door is put in to suck all the air out. That way they can find any hidden cracks in the house.
"Typically you use the back of your hand you can feel the air leak," Pedranti said.
Because the house has no draft whatsoever, there's a continuously running ventilation system that circulates heated or cooled fresh air into the home.
And finally, there are big windows facing south to capture the most sunlight.
"People are getting more conscious about energy and what to save and when they can save. A house like this would certainly save money over its lifetime, that's for sure," said Ciervo.
Mulhall and his family plan to move into their new home in January. The architect says he hopes this new home will be an inspiration to other architects and contractors to do the same.