Passive House Design And Construction

Passive House Design And Construction – Our three qualified passive house consultants provide insight into the most important advantages and various applications of the Passive House model.

First conceived in Germany as Passivhaus, the high-performance building design and construction process was adopted in the United States and used throughout the building. As part of our continued support of the AIA 2030 commitment, three of our team recently became in-house advisors from PHIUS. With this training, Maddie Burns, Douglas Flandro and Matt Cox have equipped you with the knowledge and training to create and market, find and recycle. For more information on Passive House design and certification, we asked them to share their thoughts on what they’ve learned and how they’ve found the Passive House standards useful for many owners, users, and current and future professionals.

Passive House Design And Construction

Maddie: Passive House is a construction method that focuses on one metric: energy. The goal is to reduce the energy costs used by the building by investing in the building envelope. A design approach often focuses on buildings and systems; we want the water outside and all the comforts of home with heating and air conditioning. This worked in the days of log cabins and burning unfinished wood, but in today’s world we are in a different position and need to change our desire for passive systems instead of active ones.

Sustainability — Blog

Douglas: A passive house is a building that relies on good design, such as super insulation and high performance windows, to heat and cool your home with little reliance on mechanical systems.

Maddie: Good design means good electrical design. The beauty of a measure like the Passive House is that it always gives you freedom to create the appearance, materials and form of the space. You don’t lose design because the house has better walls and more insulation. The biggest benefit of the [Certified Passive House Consultant] training is that the design principles of the Passive House do not differ from our usual practice. Any of the best ideas can easily be used in any home, whether they are certified or not. Another important advantage of passive house construction is that they create better buildings with better efficiency, greater comfort for the residents, lower maintenance costs and energy costs. In terms of sustainability, we want to create the best products for our customers, and Passivház is the way to achieve this.

Matt: Direct certification benefits construction companies and general contractors as it opens up a segment of the market willing to seek sustainable, high-quality work. A staff of CPHCs and CPHBs (Certified Builders) increases the basic planning level in every project, resulting in stability, stability and efficiency, even with the paper proof of the project.

Matt: The certification process taught me how to balance envelope design with MEP design. For example, increasing the R-value of an exterior wall beyond the minimum requirement results in less heat gain (or heat gain in warmer climates). This results in a reduction in the size of the air supply required for the building. A smaller system means more net square footage and headroom due to the smaller work area, lower costs for the units themselves, and lower operating costs when operating at home.

Passive House 201: Technical Aspects Of Design & Construction

Maddie: The biggest difference is the most important. LEED has done wonderful things for the industry and pushed local codes in a very positive way. LEED has several different categories, one of which is energy, but it focuses on a wide range of building measures, using a post-construction scoring process. Passive House is all about energy efficiency and proper management of construction processes to ensure compliance with standards. You can easily get a LEED Platinum home that is both passive house and residential building certified. All assessment methods have the same general goal: to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings.

Matt: LEED and The Future evolved from the interplay of sustainability in all aspects of the project, from the site of the project to the materials, construction, waste management, and the way the house was cared for. and work. The Passive House recognizes the importance of these aspects, but primarily focuses on reducing energy consumption.

Douglas: Passive House focuses specifically on reducing energy consumption through high-performance design. There are strict requirements to meet the performance target while providing fresh air, much more so than you normally see in most designs. Passive House also requires that the home be inspected on site several times during construction, giving homeowners peace of mind that their home will be as designed.

Matt: PHI and PHIUS are both passive house certification programs. PHIUS considers the context of each project to guide the design of the building, while PHI builds on the original “PassivHaus” principles and German air standards.

Passive House Busts High Cost Myth

Douglas: PHI stands for Passive House Institute and was founded in Germany in 1996. PHIUS stands for Passive House Institute USA and launched a new passive house standard in 2015. These are two different passive house standards supported by two different organizations. There are some small changes, but the main difference is that PHIUS applies different standards to different climate zones in the United States.

What often prevents designers or clients from obtaining passive house certification? What do you think about these challenges?

Maddie: I thought Passive House was a scary prospect ten years ago. People see passive house buildings as war walls, windows without windows. However, we have seen proof of how stable, comfortable and efficient passive houses are. There are many choices on the market for windows that meet standards that reflect the image of a windowless box. The price is much cheaper than it seems. By investing in envelopes, there is no need to invest in expensive electronics.

Douglas: Municipalities have adopted the passive house model for many states and municipalities because they see it as necessary to control the climate and future energy costs. Many people worry that extra insulation and high performance windows will be more expensive, but these costs are often offset by purchasing bulk heating and cooling products. In general, the decision of which counters to put in the kitchen will have a greater impact on the overall budget than following passive house standards.

Passive House Blends Into The Woodland

Matt: Costs have been mentioned several times, so I’ll just tell you the mystery of the passive house process. Both from the side of the home owner/project manager and the contractor. The construction of a passive house requires the same level of detail and attention during the execution of the project as during construction. Many contractors and homeowners have never been through this process before, so it can seem daunting at first.

The Passive House model is primarily used in residential buildings. Can you explain how the formula is useful for large projects?

Douglas: The old standards were designed for single-family homes, but the Passive House rating systems have changed in recent years and are suitable for larger buildings such as multi-family homes, hotels and resorts. Passive house residents report fresh air and less negative drafts near the windows, and different temperatures throughout the building, resulting in more usable square meters.

Maddie: Urban living and multi-family living has an impact on sustainability – more resources. A large project often has more floor space available for cladding (walls, foundation, roof) than for a single family.

New England Passive House

The Passive House is a type of project that we are especially happy to see in schools and public buildings. One of the advantages of a passive house is that it saves energy. With ever-increasing grid disruptions, extreme weather conditions and an unpredictable future climate, the Passive House is like a weather jacket in the storm. Even if the power is turned off, the house will continue to maintain the temperature.

Why are users interested in passive house standards? What are the benefits of the certificate as a host, operator or user?

Douglas: The Passive House ensures that it is a best-in-class building that is inspected multiple times during construction to ensure that the performance elements are built as planned. You should also do a door knock test to check your air quality and air quality to ensure fresh air in your home. Essentially, with a passive house, you spend money on proper construction and building audits to ensure your building performs well, saving you money for years to come.

Matt: With lower interest rates (usually 0-5%) and repayment periods of less than seven years, home and business owners

Bird’s Wing Passivhaus + Duplex

Passive house wall construction, landscape design and construction, construction passive, active and passive construction, passive house construction methods, construction and design, passive house design and build, passive solar house construction, passive house construction costs, passive house wall construction details, passive house construction, passive house construction details