Even though it seems intuitively obvious that the logical answer is NO, a surprisingly high percentage of decisions regarding the design and construction of new homes are made on a Pass/Fail basis. “Building to code”, means complying with at least the minimum acceptable requirements in the large number of specific areas where compliance is required. Code is a Pass/Fail system and if a building does not meet one or more…
Passive House protocols, when applied to the design and construction of a building, will dramatically reduce the energy required for heating and cooling. This reduced energy for heating and cooling lowers the overall energy use significantly. As a result, the amount of energy used for water heating, lighting, refrigeration, appliances/electronics (plug loads) become more impactful and more important to manage. Consider the example below. The Pie Chart on the left…
Meet the iPHA Affiliates this #iPHOpenDays and find out about Passive House developments in their region! Jay Gentry, board member of Passive House California (PHCA), will be informing about the current Passive House movement in the California. Click here to watch the recorded session.
“Value engineering” is a term that is familiar to those involved in the design and construction of buildings and generally involves the substitution of a specified component or system with an alternative solution that is similar, but less expensive. Consider the following: A building is designed to include a heat recovery ventilation system (HRV) in order to provide a balanced exchange of continuous fresh air to the occupants and, at…
How is a Firefighter’s “Protective Gear” like a Passive House? We are all aware of wildfires here in California — and grateful for the thousands of Firefighters who risked their lives battling those wildfires. They put themselves in environments where they need to be protected from the extreme heat, winds, and unhealthy air full of smoke and other pollutants. Fortunately, they are kept safe “inside” of their personal equipment (PPE).…
Article in the Monterey County Weekly features Sky Ranch Passive House written by Pam Marino, photo by Parker Seibold. When Jay Gentry was a young man he thought he was called to the ministry, but it didn’t quite work out as a career choice. Yet Gentry is a natural evangelist, and today he preaches but not from a pulpit. His message is about the need to combat the climate crisis through building…
The intent here is a simplified explanation of how and why our patterns of electrical usage create issues for utilities, how rooftop solar impacts those issues, and how energy storage helps solve them. Think “Duck Curve for Dummies”. Two important facts about electricity are important to the explanation. First, electricity must be used as it is generated. A limited amount can be stored in batteries but it cannot be compressed…
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