Passive House Weekly: June 27, 2022

June 27th, 2022

Please read on for a selection of Passive House happenings, articles, interviews, and developments. The featured project above is the Phius-certified Farmstead Passive House.

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: Putting the Punk into Passive House

Learn how the Passive House movement can channel Solarpunk's outrage AND optimism to build a future where people can thrive. Join Passive House Accelerator's director, Zack Semke, as he discusses his recently released four-part video exploration of the climate crisis, the clean energy transition, and how buildings will play a starring role in halting climate change.

This PHA Live! Special Episode Event will be presented in the format of a brief presentation followed by a lively and collaborative Q+A and discussion session. Get the Zoom link

THU: High-Performance, Multi-Family Building Envelopes with Ken Keifer of SIGA

Join us on Thursday, June 30th to learn about High-Performance, Multi-Family Building Envelopes from Ken Keifer, Director of SIGA's High-Performance Training Academy.

Ken's Passive House Component Spotlight will cover the basics of membranes, adhesive tapes, sealants and primers and will dive into larger topics such as high-performance vs typical multi-family building envelopes, how to plan for a high-performance building envelope, and common challenges to expect in multi-family construction. Register now

NOW LIVE: Episode 93 of the Passive House Podcast

Mary and Ilka interview Sophie Tremblay of LGA Architectural Partners in Toronto, where her projects include a new housing co-op for Innstead and several Toronto Community Housing tower renewal projects. Listen here

NOW LIVE: Special Passive House Component Episode: Chris Benedict + Zak Veres, Sto Corp.

In this special Passive House Component episode, Chris Benedict of Chris Benedict R.A. and Zak Veres of Sto Corp. join Passive House Podcast co-host Zack Semke to discuss Passive House practice in New York City, the Casa Pasiva building retrofit designed by Chris that incorporates Sto's EIFS system, and the future of innovation in Passive House and high-performance building. Listen here

THIS WEEK: Events In the Passive House Community

Passive House Accelerator
Putting the Punk into Passive House (June 29)
High-Performance, Multi-Family Building Envelopes with Ken Keifer of SIGA (June 30)

2. Celebrating Minotair, Our "Sponsor of the Week"

Visit Minotair

3. Featured Article of the Week

Building Our Solarpunk Future

If we do not or cannot envision the future we want, how can we create it? As The Guardian’s Rebecca Solnit argues, the climate crisis is a crisis of imagination.

“There is a sad failure of imagination at the root of this crisis,” she writes. “An inability to perceive both the terrible and the wonderful…Some cannot see that the world, which has been so stable for 10,000 years, is now destabilized, and full of new perils and dangerous feedback loops. Others cannot imagine that we can actually do what is necessary—which is nothing less than building a new and better world.” Continue reading

4. New Videos

How do you take a high performance window and make sure it doesn't turn into a low performance window due to poor detailing? John Mitchell joins us at Construction Tech with a deep dive into energy-use and window detailing geared towards creating the most energy-efficient, comfortable, and durable buildings possible.

In this presentation, Mike Cairns of Innotech Windows + Doors shares the most common “go to” fenestration designs that have the potential to negatively impact performance, comfort and budget - and recommends optimized solutions you can apply to your projects. From Juliet balconies, exterior shading solutions to off-site construction, the conversation will cover a range of Passive House hot topics that not only impact your choice of fenestration, but also your fenestration design.

5. Upcoming Conferences

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

BE+ Building Tech Forum 2022 (July 7)
Built Environment Plus envisions a thriving and diverse community, creating a built environment of net positive systems of water and energy, of financial and social equity, and of ecological and human health. Which innovations in building technology are advancing us towards this vision?

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!” Learn more