When Dr. Wolfgang Feist completed the first Passive House in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1991, he laid the foundation for a movement that would change how we understand and implement building science forever. Since then, over 4 million square meters of buildings have been certified to Passive House Standard worldwide, and there’s more on the way. We're confident that the Passive House movement will become even stronger over the next few years. Read…
New Passive House Fact Sheets on Passipedia (free for PHCA Members)
The International Passive House Association (iPHA) and the Passive House Institute (PHI) regularly release fact sheets on topics related to Passive House design and implementation. These concise, expertly crafted documents are published on Passipedia, a comprehensive resource for Passive House knowledge. The latest publication, "Extractor Hoods in Passive House and EnerPHit Homes" (Fact Sheet #33/2024), addresses kitchen ventilation. Your Passive House California (PHCA) membership includes an International Passive House Association…
Right-Sizing Plumbing in Homes and Apartment Buildings (presented by Southern California Edison)
Description: Effective July 1, 2024, the Appendix M, Peak Water Demand Calculator (WDC) became part of the California Plumbing Code. Instead of using flow rates and flush volumes from the 1940s, the WDC will allow you to “right-size” the cold and hot water distribution systems in homes and apartment buildings using modern information about flow rates and simultaneous use. Does this sound like a snoozer? Actually, it is an environmentally responsible…
Implementing Passive House in Title 24 | California Bill Proposal
Climate Action California Needs Your Help - Together, we can make a difference! Passive House California (PHCA) is backing the Climate Action California proposal to integrate the global Passive House construction standard into California’s Energy Building Code Title 24. This move would allow the Passive House Standard to be incorporated into the code as an alternative compliance pathway, enabling the establishment of an ambitious, climate-conscious reach code. This approach represents…
Passive House California Newsletter | November 2024
PHPP 10.6 Version is now available
We're glad to share that your IP-PHPP 10 has been updated to verison 10.6! The PHPP 10 manual is now also available in imperial units, special thanks to Steve Mann from Home Energy Services for handling the conversion and his helpful feedback. EasyPH has been updated as part of the PHPP bundle. You can find the newest version of the PHPP Tools file (and easy PH) in the Download section of the…
“Eliminating Makeup Air: Smart Mechanical Solutions for Small Passive Homes”
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.…
“Build it Tight and Ventilate Right: High Performance, Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery” (presented by 475)
Presentation Description Building high performance buildings, up to and including Passive House certified, means we need to ‘Build Airtight and Ventilate Right’. This presentation discusses the importance and benefits of properly balanced, filtered, continuous ventilation with heat recovery in high performance projects. By using mechanical heat recovery ventilation (HRV) and energy recovery ventilation (ERV) systems to provide oxygenated fresh air to occupants, we can control how much air is brought…
Passive House: Enhancing Air Conditioning Performance (and more), Without Forcing Change | by Brian Pearson & Susan Diana Harris
I had a hand in writing an article promoting Passive House and the legislative effort we are making to get it into the CA code: California can fast-track a guideline that reliably reduces heating and cooling energy demand up to 70% below the current Title-24 baseline: Passive House. Together, we can put this climate resilience standard onto builders’ and owners’ radar, simply by adding a voluntary Passive House alternate pathway into…
Passive House Accelerator Magazine (Fall 2024)
Passive House Meets the Challenge of California’s Extreme Inland Climates
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…