PHPP10, the most recent version of the Passive House Institute’s energy modeling software, has been out in German since 2021 and in English since February 2022 for those who work in metric units. This version features several useful updates, as well as new looks on some familiar sheets. Now, the wait is almost over for PHPP10 in Imperial units, giving U.S. practitioners the opportunity to enjoy its many improvements. Its release is scheduled for the beginning of 2023, once its final testing phase has been completed.
Prime among these benefits is the integrated summer overheating stress test, enabling a practitioner to easily understand a building’s likelihood and risk of overheating under a range of operating conditions. As temperatures rise across the globe, summer comfort and resiliency have become increasingly important measures of an efficient building. In this newest PHPP version, the impact of user behaviors that affect summertime comfort—increasing air exchange from opening windows or activating temporary shading, for example—is used to ascertain how a building’s risk of overheating changes, with and without those behaviors. The summer stress test also looks at the impact of extreme summers, which are increasingly likely to occur. Armed with this risk analysis that the new stress test serves up, designers will be well equipped to explore design improvements that could minimize summer overheating risks.
CONTINUE READING at Passive House Accelerator
Author: Mary James
