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…
Growing wildfire devastation demands better-protected buildings – better protected by building design and better design of their surrounding landscape. Yet, after fire events, like in Los Angeles, there is a need to rebuild quickly. Just build it back, the thinking goes, but we can do better. Let’s build forward with fire-safe strategies integrated with Passive House building design to drive down our dependence on fossil fuels, protect people’s health, and…
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 basic…
Description Since moving to Colorado in 2017, Emu Passive has become the main provider of hands-on Passive House training for Builders and Tradespersons across the US. A key lesson learned by Emu from taking Passive House training to local communities is the importance of connecting people to one another during the workshop as well as to the local “high performance ecosystem” after the training. Presentation Elements: Emu’s integrated Passive Design/Build™…
Are We Measuring the Same Thing? How HERS and Passive House Provide Different Answers to Different Questions. The “Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index is a nationally recognized metric for residential energy efficiency that’s integral to numerous government programs and financial incentives. Yet the HERS results of Passive House buildings leave practitioners scratching their heads, as powerful Passive House Performance levers sometimes barely budge the HERS needle. To demystify their…
Passive House design is becoming increasingly popular in Southern California due to its focus on energy efficiency, making it a leading example of high-performance design and construction in the region. Passive House protocols provide homeowners improved comfort, indoor air quality, and resilience to extreme weather, fires, smoke, and power outages, as well as a more durable home that consumes less energy. Join us to discover the implications of California’s SB9…
Passive House design is receiving heightened interest across the country due to growing awareness of the impact of buildings on carbon emissions. This presentation will look at how Passive House is applicable here in California, using a project located on Pebble Beach’s storied 17 Mile Drive. Join us to learn about the evolution of this design, the details that support how it performs, plus a look at the impact of the…
In most of California’s climate zones it makes sense to select and position shading devices can have significant impact on comfort and energy consumption. Taking advantage of solar heat gain (SHG) in winter can significantly reduce heating demand, while minimizing SHG in the warmer months can moderate cooling demand and avoid overheating. The presentation will: Share results of studies showing the most effective ways to employ solar shading Review differences…
There are many professionals associated with the building industry (architects, engineers, builders, jurisdiction personnel, etc.) who recognize and support the high-performance of Passive House — but find it difficult to successfully communicate the value of high-performance to others who are not familiar with the benefits of Passive House principles. This presentation and Q & A will focus on ways to persuasively communicate the logic of choosing high-performance for the design…
How Passive House Qualities Benefit both Occupants & Owners Target Audience: Building owners, developers, code reviewers, planning officials and design professionals interested in learning about the benefits of integrating passive house principles into larger multi-family or mixed-use projects. In this session, the link between occupant satisfaction and owner satisfaction will be established. Given the importance of occupant satisfaction, particularly in the multi-family residential sector, Owners should consider how they can…
While traditionally focused on operational carbon, Passive House is increasingly addressing embodied emissions. Experts from the Passive House Network will provide an overview of Passive House principles and design relating to issues and concepts of embodied carbon, building materials that address issues of embodied carbon and meet Passive House standard, and how Passive House is tackling embodied carbon in new calculation tools. This is a previously recorded lecture presented by…
Fire has always been a normal part of the west but with climate change and ever-expanding built environments our homes and cities are increasingly vulnerable. Firewise design strategies have been based on years of research on wildlands urban interface and home design with promising results. With the advent of Passive House design strategies the multiplier of energy effect practices have translated well beyond just energy savings and comfort but as…
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