Passive House Weekly June 12th, 2023

June 12th, 2023

Please read on for a selection of Passive House happenings, articles, interviews, and developments.

The featured project above is Casa Pasiva in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Take a tour of the building in our new YouTube video on Reimagine Buildings! Watch now

Do you have a recent Passive House and/or high performance project that demonstrates PH principles, electrification, low embodied carbon and high performance construction? Submit here to be featured in a future edition of Passive House Weekly, Podcast or LIVE! program.

1. PHA Week in Preview

WED: Minimize, Maximize or Balance: Designing for Net Zero on an Urban Site

Our June Next Gen episode will feature Kara Haggerty Wilson of Onion Flats Architecture. Kara will highlight key design elements and address how each was curated to achieve Front Flats, an Onion Flats-designed, built and developed high performance, net zero urban-sited building in Philadelphia. Many qualities of high performance buildings push the limits of typical design, and often require a delicate balance to capture efficiencies. This presentation will provide insights on when to minimize or maximize certain factors and emphasize the critical role of balance in multifamily, high-performance, high-density projects.

Kara Haggerty Wilson is a Philadelphia-based architect and passive house consultant at Onion Flats Architecture. Since joining Onion Flats in 2017, her experience at the firm has shifted from the architect as developer and builder model to a renewed focus on designing and consulting on client-based high performance projects, with a specific interest in deep energy retrofits, along the east coast and beyond. Get the Zoom link

THUR: Component Spotlight: Guaranteed High Performance Air Sealing with PH Airseal

Join us for our upcoming Component Spotlight event presented by PH Airseal. Lawrence Lindner, a third generation tradesman, will provide a comprehensive overview of what sets PH Airseal apart and why their approach is crucial in the current high performance building landscape. New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut all require new builds to hit a ach50 per code. Lawrence's team is able to hit this requirement 100% of the time while only being onsite for one day or less. He will delve into the intricacies of the process, highlighting its importance and the benefits it offers to various stakeholders.

PH Airseal is a company focused on the future, in present day. Their sole focus is Air sealing residential and commercial spaces, thus allowing them to be more energy efficient, creating a more durable building and providing better indoor air quality. Register here

NOW LIVE: New Passive House Podcast Episode

NOW LIVE: New Bonus Passive House Podcast Episodes

Enjoy the next few episodes in our series of interviews recorded at the 2023 Passive House Canada Conference.

Thank you to our sponsor, EuroLine Windows for making these conversations possible!

THIS WEEK: Events In the Passive House Community

Passive House Accelerator
Minimize, Maximize or Balance: Designing for Net Zero on an Urban Site (June 14)
Component Spotlight: Guaranteed High Performance Air Sealing with PH Airseal (June 15)

Passive House Canada
Pathway to Passive House Designer/Consultant Certification (June 12)
Master Class Series: A Pattern Language from Passive House (June 14)

Passive House Network
Specialized Windows Course (June 13)

Phius
Multifamily Certification 101 with James Ortega (June 13)

Urban Green Council
Crushing the Code NYS: Commercial (June 13)
Crushing the Code NYS: Residential (June 15)

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

WELCOME to Our Newest Champion Sponsor!

Visit Gradient

2. Featured Article of the Week

Smoke from canadian wildfires New York June 7 2023

Wildfire Smoke Puts High-Performance NYC Buildings to the Test
Much of the Northeast is choking beneath a thick blanket of smoke as Canadian wildfires in Ontario and Quebec continued to burn late into the week. Some of the worst smoke has descended upon major cities in the State of New York, including Syracuse and New York City. The latter had some of the worst outdoor air quality in the world for any major city on Tuesday, while the air quality index (AQI) in Syracuse exceeded 400 on Wednesday afternoon. Read more

3. Upcoming Conferences

Facades+ (June 16)
In its 11th year, Facades+ continues to bring together the world’s most talented building professionals. We return to Toronto to discuss the latest advances, issues, and technologies driving the AEC community.

ASES Solar 2023 (Aug 8-11)
ASES supports the global initiative that a world equitably transformed to 100% renewable energy is an urgent necessity. Through the ASES National Solar Conference, SOLAR 2023 will elevate public, institutional, and governmental awareness of the critical role solar energy is playing in the global energy landscape. We must ensure that access to and the benefits from clean energy will be enjoyed by all communities, especially those that have been denied those benefits in the past.

2023 Passive House Network Conference (Sep 28-Oct 6)
At the 2023 Passive House Network Conference, we will share our ambitions for a better world. Today, we have huge opportunities to change course. As communities are being stressed and assaulted by the escalating effects of the climate crisis: wild fires, droughts, floods, conflicts, energy insecurity, poverty, sickness and inequality – let’s explore how we can build better buildings, better communities and a better world. Passive House is the platform. Passive House education and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing has the power to change our vocabulary, our conversations, and our culture. Let’s expand the conversation. The conference program will include industry leading designers, builders, developers, manufacturers, and owners, from across the country and around the world.

BuildingEnergy NYC (Oct 12)
NESEA's BuildingEnergy NYC conference and trade show is a chance to immerse yourself in a full day of networking and intensive learning with your peers from the fields of design, construction, engineering, policy, finance, and beyond. This unique event is designed by and for our community of practitioners, ensuring that the content is useful, relevant, and on the leading edge. Conference sessions present best practices and lessons learned based on real case studies and proven data, as well as showcasing innovative technologies and programs. If you are a building sustainability professional in any stage of your career, mark your calendar now, and plan to join us on Thursday, October 12, 2023 in New York City!

PhiusCon (November 7-10)
PhiusCon 2023 is headed to the Lone Star State! By hosting this year’s conference in Houston, we have our eyes set on the next frontier of passive building: hot and humid climates. The need for reliable, efficient buildings has never been greater in Texas and beyond, which is why now is the perfect time to expand Phius’ footprint in the south. Phius buildings are designed with the grid in mind – providing energy independence and hardening the larger grid system. Despite the challenges posed, the Phius methodology has proven to be effective in hot and humid climates. PhiusCon 2023 will provide an entryway into the Phius community for local practitioners, developers and policymakers, equipping them with a blueprint to create more resilient, grid-friendly, healthy communities.