PHCA Community Meeting | Renovation and Resilience: Lessons from a Panelized Deep Retrofit (September 16, 2025)

By Passive House California , September 1, 2025 - Community Meeting

Deep retrofits of existing buildings play a key role in meeting greenhouse gas emission reduction goals in North America and beyond. Currently no deep retrofit solution exists in North America that is readily deployable at the scale of the existing building stock. Challenges include structural integrity, contamination, and implementing upgrades without disrupting tenants. This presentation delivers takeaways from the REALIZE-CA projects supported by the California Energy Commission. In these low-rise…

PHCA Community Meeting | Design Competition Q&A (August 19, 2025)

By Passive House California , August 4, 2025 - Community Meeting

Designers, enthusiasts, and curious minds—submitters and non-submitters alike—this is for you! With just weeks left to submit to the California Rebuilds Passive House Design Competition, join us for an open Q&A session led by Ken Levenson, Executive Director of the Passive House Network. His extensive expertise in Passive House strategies will help steer the discussion. This is your chance to fine-tune your ideas and tackle any roadblocks head-on. Not submitting?…

PHCA Community Meeting | TRAUMA-INFORMED REBUILDING AND PASSIVE HOUSE FIRE RESILIENCE

By Passive House California , July 1, 2025 - Community Meeting

Joubert Homes rebuilt several homes in the Denver, Colorado area following the devastating Marshall Fire that occurred on December 30th, 2021. Working with these clients, Joubert discovered that the recent trauma of losing their homes informed an entirely different way of client interaction, and informed best practices that Joubert has brought to rebuilding efforts in Southern California. Applying the latest tools to create the safest and most resilient homes available,…

PHCA Community Meeting | “ICS” Innovations and Concrete Solutions- Lower Embodied Carbon Concrete

By Passive House California , May 30, 2025 - Community Meeting

National Ready Mixed Concrete Company’s Jim Little shares insight into the evolving world of low-carbon concrete. Hear the latest material dynamics and specifications strategies that support sustainable design without compromising performance. We’ll explore: Effective engagement in the Design/Bid/Build process for low-carbon results Current limitations and considerations in implementation, and Cutting-edge innovations in cement and concrete technologies. Low-carbon solutions are being applied on job sites today. Come hear real-world case studies…

PHCA Community Meeting | Liquid Applied Intelligent Membranes: The Latest for High Performing Buildings

By Passive House California , April 25, 2025 - Community Meeting, News

Intelligent Membranes joins us to provide an overview of the role of liquid-applied solutions in enhancing airtightness and sustainability in construction. This session will examine their product range, including the airtight membrane “Passive Purple,” the flexible waterproof membrane “THE GOAT,” and the A2-rated intumescent fire-retardant paint “FRED.” We’ll discuss how these materials support easier application, improve building performance, and meet the requirements of Passivhaus standards. Presenter: Adam White is the…

Non Combustible Stone Wool (Mineral Wool) Solutions for Thermal, Fire, Sustainability and Sound Control

By Passive House California , April 22, 2025 - Community Meeting, Webinar

The net energy savings realized in a properly insulated building are well understood. However, as design professionals strive to maximize thermal resistance, yet reduce mass in the wall assembly, insulation is increasingly being positioned in both the stud wall and the exterior side of the building envelope. This split insulation concept has introduced a number of design issues and concerns; particularly as relates to fire resistance, moisture management, and wall…

“Fire Resilient Envelope & HVAC Design” | PHCA Community Meeting

By Passive House California , March 1, 2025 - Community Meeting

Description As wildfires become increasingly frequent and devastating in California, building resilience is paramount. This presentation delves into critical aspects of fire-resilient envelope and HVAC design. We'll explore how achieving superior airtightness through meticulous envelope detailing, robust exterior walls with insulation and fire-resistant cladding, ember-resistant unvented crawlspaces and foam-free, unvented roof strategies significantly enhance a home's ability to withstand wildfire threats. Finally, we'll address considerations for HVAC-related openings, outlining strategies to minimize…

Windhorse Orchard: a Living Building Challenge and Passive House Renovation

By Passive House California , February 10, 2025 - Community Meeting

This project in Sebastopol is nearing completion and we are excited to share some of the highlights with you. Kristin Nichols (Building Designer/Homeowner) and Spencer Dobrovolny (Builder) will present the project from their unique perspectives. We will dive into the design and construction processes of this exciting project.  We will look at what challenges we faced, how we approached these challenges, and share our successes and where we think we…

Making Passive House Your Sales Superpower

By Passive House California , January 15, 2025 - Community Meeting, Webinar

From Friend to Educator to Advisor Many of us study Passive House because we believe that Building to Passive House can reduce the built environments’ impact on the planet, reduce energy bills and make our homes/buildings last longer.  And many of us believe that this is reason enough for our clients to make the “obvious” decision to only build to the Passive House standards so we walk through our professional…

“Eliminating Makeup Air: Smart Mechanical Solutions for Small Passive Homes”

By Passive House California , October 28, 2024 - Community Meeting

In this presentation, we’ll look at recent examples of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions for low-energy houses in California. The selected examples are trying to achieve cost optimization in the spirit of the original Passivhaus concept building at Kranichstein in 1991. What if the tradespeople were to build a passive house without realizing it? We’ll talk about strategies for approaching Passive performance when this is not a project goal.…

Passive House Meets the Challenge of California’s Extreme Inland Climates

By Passive House California , October 14, 2024 - Community Meeting

Description: This presentation will share information on the performance-based design, modeling, and construction of a Passive House in Morongo Valley California. The nearly completed home will provide comfort, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and resilience in dealing with both extreme heat in summer and below freezing winter temperatures. The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) incorporates iterative modeling that enables cost effective achievement of desired performance goals. In addition to the…