Passive House Weekly: April 25, 2022

April 25, 2022

Please read on for a selection of Passive House happenings, articles, interviews, and developments. The featured project above is Doppelhaus Solln.

Do you have Passive House news that we should share in a future edition? Email us at: [email protected].

1. Passive House Week in Preview

WED: Concrete-Free Slab On Grade Foundations with Josh Salinger

Concrete is the world's second most used material behind water and this material alone accounts for almost 8% of the entire world’s GHG emissions. Join Josh Salinger, founder and principal of Birdsmouth Design, as he explains how to design and construct a high performance floating plywood slab on grade assembly successfully. His presentation will explain the science behind why this works, how it meets code and practical methods of incorporating this into your projects.

Join us on April 27th for in-depth discussion followed by a live Q+A session. Get the Zoom Link

NOW LIVE: Episode 84 of the Passive House Podcast

Laura Blau is a principal of BluPath Design, a Passive House trailblazer, and an expert witness for plaintiffs regarding building defects. Mary and Ilka interview Laura about her early Passive House days, including her participation in Philadelphia's first builder training where she was the only woman and only architect, her complex Passive House projects, and the problems with poorly constructed non-Passive House buildings. Listen here

THIS WEEK: Events In the Passive House Community:

Phius
Developer’s Summit 2022 (April 26-28)

Passive House Accelerator LIVE!
Concrete-Free Slab On Grade Foundations (April 27)

Passivhaus Trust
Passive House Master Class Non-Domestic Retrofit (April 27)

Emu Passive
Deadline to register for Emu’s Online CPHT Exam on May 12th (April 28)

2. Featured Article of the Week

A CLT and Passive House Case Study

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is taking center stage in a new Boston development set to break ground later this year. Placetailor’s 201 Hampden is a zero-carbon, full CLT, Passive House building that will be bringing 14 units of affordable and market-rate housing to Boston’s Dudley Square, with construction set to begin later in 2022. Placetailor’s development, architecture, and construction management divisions worked with Massachusetts Institute of Technology start-up Generate Technologies to provide the region with this exemplary mixed-income, mixed-use building. Continue reading

THANK YOU To This Week's Featured Sponsor:

Visit Prosoco

3. New Videos

Developing a Carbon-Free Future with Katrin Klingenberg | Passive House Live

Katrin Klingenberg, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Phius, joins Passive House Live to discuss the first ever Phius Developer’s Summit for developers, real estate professionals, and passive building professionals. Her presentation includes thoughts on emerging business models, the crucial role of developers in mainstreaming Phius, and give an overview of the summit program.

Adopting Innovative Manufacturing Techniques - Offsite LGS Structures | Building Performance Interactive Ep. 7

The seventh episode of our Building Performance Interactive, ‘Adopting Innovative Manufacturing Techniques - Offsite LGS Structures’, focuses on the sustainability benefits of light gauge framing and precision of the offsite manufacturing process, in designing and building high-performance. The co-hosts along with Accelerator visit the Framespace factory and site. Paddy Mahon, Head of Design and Engineering and the team talks about the innovative solutions and techniques used in the production of the 16 units, based on light gauge steel assemblies, covering the factors that contribute to the delivery of fabric energy performance, thermal efficiency, and reduced carbon footprint.

4. Upcoming Conferences

Phius Developer's Summit 2022 (April 26-28)
The Phius Developer’s Summit 2022 will look to serve as a gateway into the world of passive building for developers and real-estate professionals. The event will take place virtually April 26-28 with each of the three nights covering a specific topic: Tuesday, April 26, Single-Family Panel; Wednesday, April 27, Multifamily Panel; Thursday, April 28, Financial Panel. Register

Humid Climate Conference (May 2-3)
The Humid Climate Conference was born in Austin, TX 2016 as a confluence of empowerment and education for architects, builders, engineers, and trades to bring Passive House projects to life. Now this premier conference focused on high-performance buildings in the south has survived the ongoing pandemic and is making its reappearance May 2-3, 2022. Passive House Austin is thrilled to invite you back to Texas to listen, learn and network with industry thought leaders, boots-on-the-ground overachievers, and a fantastic mix of manufacturer sponsors. Learn more

2022 Sustainability Symposium (May 6)
Get ready for the 12th Annual Sustainability Symposium (virtual and in-person) on May 6th at Penn State at the Navy Yard! This event will showcase transformative ideas, projects, and opportunities to inspire visionary movement toward a generous, verdant, decarbonized built environment. Session topics will include Circular Economy/Zero Waste, Integrated Design, Financing, Incentives and Policies, Green Schools, Carbon Neutrality, Indoor Air Quality, LEED, Passive House, Living Building Challenge, Enterprise, WELL, green stormwater infrastructure, 2030 Districts and so much more! Register

2022 Spring Passive House & Panelization Conference (May 20)
PHnw is back for our first in person gathering since 2019! This one day "micro" conference is laser focusedon the rapidly growing panelization market. Choosing panelization for your Passive House project is a great solution to take advantage of the up-front planning, quality building techniques and faster on-site building times. We will have Mike Eliason as the keynote, several panels, and lots of extra time to network and socialize with our community. Register

Passive House Canada Conference: In the Face of Climate Change (May 25-27)
Learn how Passive House design and technology addresses our need for climate resilience, improving our homes and offices now and into the future. This conference will offer the latest insights, case studies, and best practices, spanning the spectrum of knowledge for architects, engineers, building owners, government policymakers and planners, financial decision-makers, and property managers. Register

The Passive House Network: 2022 Passive House For All (June 10 & 17)
Efficiency | Equity | Electrification | Embodied Carbon. We must transform our built environment with integrated solutions. We know the basic ingredients: efficiency, equity, electrification, and embodied carbon. We have the know-how today. So let’s dive into the synergies and the specifics. Let’s get aggressive, grab all of these tools, and take radical holistic action to build a healthy prosperous future for all people before it’s too late. If you agree, join us in Boston and online. Learn more

Electri-fiction to Electrification: Overcoming Barriers (June 15)
At our 2017 conference, we noted that the path to electrification was cluttered with uncertainty, raising more questions than answers. In the past five years, we’ve gotten some answers (like when the right time to start electrifying is), seen dramatic shifts in policy, and made notable progress at the systems and grid level. But we haven’t seen wide-scale market adoption yet. This year’s conference tackles the remaining barriers holding us back, lessons learned from the few that have made the leap and how we can accelerate progress now. Use code ELECTRIFY for $10 off at registration. Learn more

NetZeroBuild Summit (June 28 & 29)
NetZeroBuild Summit 2022 brings together the net-zero community in the Midwest to discuss challenges, opportunities, innovations, policy changes and other developments regarding net-zero design, energy, construction, materials and building operations. Learn more

PhiusCon 2022: Emissions Down, Power Up! (Oct 25-28)
PhiusCon is coming home to Chicago Oct. 25-28 at the historic Palmer House. Last year, Phius set its sights on expansion with its motto “Emissions Down, Scale Up!” and despite the obstacles presented by COVID, shared that vision with a sold-out crowd in Tarrytown, New York. PhiusCon 2021 created a wave of momentum, and Phius is looking to carry that into PhiusCon 2022 as it builds for the future. And you can’t talk about building for the future without mentioning electrification, so Phius decided to put a charge into this year’s motto: “Emissions Down, Power Up!” Call for Speakers