Passive House Weekly March 13th, 2022

March 13th, 2023

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

The featured project above is 17 Mile Haus, a 2,938-ft2, two-story home currently under construction in Pebble Beach, California. Read more

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.

The Spring 2023 Issue of PHA Magazine is Here!

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The spring 2023 issue of Passive House Accelerator magazine has sprung, and we are championing decarbonization! In this issue you’ll find loads of case studies that span North America, from the shores of California to the mountains of Montana and onward east to big cities like New York and small ones like Northampton, Mass. You’ll also find Mark Attard’s insightful article about living through the 2021 Marshall Fire and the real-world benefits of a Passive House retrofit, Lisa White’s in-depth piece on grid-interactive efficiency buildings, and a fascinating study by Skylar Swinford and Zack Semke that focuses on the upfront carbon costs of high-performance building. If you need inspiration, advice, or a little dose of hope about the future of buildings, look no further! Download Your Free Copy

1. PHA Week in Preview

WED: Salem Heights: Challenges That Led to Opportunities

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9am Vancouver / 12 noon New York /  5pm London / 6pm Darmstadt

Our March Project Showcase event will feature Salem Heights, a 283-unit affordable housing community located in Salem, Massachusetts. Julie Klump (Preservation of Affordable Housing) will join us to discuss the ambitious deep energy retrofit and the challenges faced during the project. These challenges led to unique solutions and eventually became unexpected opportunities in terms of energy efficiency, resident comfort, and health as the project team worked to meet the Phius standard. Get the Zoom link

NOW LIVE: New Passive House Podcast Episodes

Special Passive House Component Episode: Sam Meyers, Retrotec

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Visit Partel

2. Featured Article of the Week

Tomo House Offers Missing Middle Solutions in Vancouver

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When complete in summer 2023, the PHI-certified Tomo House will become the third cohousing project in Vancouver to be built in the last decade. Continue reading

3. Upcoming Conferences

Phius Retrofit Summit 2023 (March 21 & 23)

The Phius Retrofit Summit 2023 will weave together proven retrofit strategies with the latest in the development of Phius’ new REVIVE framework to set the stage for the future of high-performance retrofits. Day one of the online event (March 21) will feature a panel of practitioners who have each completed successful Phius retrofits. Day two (March 23), will focus on the future of retrofits, as several members of the Phius technical staff will provide an inside look at the new Phius REVIVE retrofit standard that is currently under development. (Passive House Accelerator will produce a companion event on Wednesday (between Phius's Day One and Day Two) examining Industrialized Retrofits: Moving from Concept to Construction

Northeast Sustainable Building Association, BuildingEnergy Boston (Mar 28-29, 2023)
BuildingEnergy Boston is a conference designed by and for practitioners in the fields of high-performance building and design, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. It brings more than 1,000 industry leaders and emerging professionals together to learn from and share ideas with each other. Sessions are curated by a volunteer NESEA-Member content committee to ensure that conference sessions are genuinely useful to attendees.

Facades Plus (Mar 30-31)
In its 11th year, Facades+ continues to bring together the world’s most talented building professionals. We return to New York City for our biggest event of the year. Join the conversation on the latest advances, issues, and technologies driving the AEC community.

Passive House Canada, Future Forward: Innovations in Passive House and Beyond (May 8-10)
This year’s Annual Conference will consider the evolutions and innovations of Passive House design and construction, both currently and looking towards the future. Additionally, the conference will highlight the numerous evolutions in buildings and standards within a crowded green building market. This conference will also spotlight efforts to bolster the wider building sector across Canada and internationally by driving investment and collaborations, targeting embodied carbon, increasing climate resilience, leveraging policy and regulation, and spurring on prefabrication and manufacturing sectors of Canada.

Getting to Zero Forum (May 10-12)
The Getting to Zero Forum is the premier event dedicated to building decarbonization. With a growing number of climate emergencies across the United States and around the world, there is no more important time than now for the Getting to Zero Forum. The event brings together the world’s leading experts to share best practice approaches to reducing energy demand and decarbonization related to policy, program, and projects. It is the only event with a broad cross-section of stakeholders focused on ambitious building efficiency goals and is an ideal venue for organizing both the policy and building communities to achieve zero carbon ambitions.

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)
Participate online and in Denver Colorado!

4. New Videos

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5. Upcoming Passive House Happenings

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Please join us to celebrate the winning projects for Round Three of the Buildings of Excellence Competition, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s (NYSERDA) exciting $48+ million initiative to advance clean and resilient buildings that are profitable, beautiful, and affordable for all New Yorkers. These awards support the state’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 85% by 2050 and advance Governor Kathy Hochul’s goal to achieve two million climate friendly homes by 2030. Register here

PHA Phius Summit 2023

We are excited about the upcoming programming we are producing in partnership with Phius to support their upcoming Retrofit Summit 2023. We will be joined by four retrofit experts who will share their collective experience creating solutions to upgrade existing buildings and scale for greater production in the future. Learn more

Passive House Accelerator
Project Showcase:
Salem Heights: Challenges That Led to Opportunities (Mar 15)
Retrofit Summit x Phius:
Industrialized Retrofit Summit: Moving from Concept to Construction (Mar 22)
Special Episode:
Healthy Materials: Up-Level Your Interiors & Passive House Projects (Mar 29)
101 Series:
10 Steps to Designing A Single Family Passive House (Apr 5)

Emu Passive
Passive House Builder Boot Camp in Golden Valley, MN (Mar 20)

NYSERDA
Buildings of Excellence Awards (Mar 21)

Phius
Retrofit Summit (Mar 21-23)
NYSERDA Buildings of Excellence and the Seven Lessons Learned on My First Precertified Phius Project (Mar 28)

Passive House California
Passive House Multi-Family – Good for All is Good for One (Mar 22)

International Passive House Association
Passive House Airtightness and The Blower Door Test (Mar 29)

World Sustainable Built Environment Conference
WSBE23 Call for Abstracts (Due April 5th, Conference Sep 27-29)

Passive House School
Certified Passive House Designer Course (April 5)

Passive House Network
CPHD On-Demand Trainings


Does your organization have an upcoming event? Submit it here to be included in our next newsletter.

6. What We're Reading

Nearly everyone is exposed to unhealthy levels of tiny air pollutants, study says (Washington Post)
Houston’s disruptive history of highways and what transit agencies can do better (NextCity)
Innovation will follow the national EV network, but not oversight (Government Tech)
E-trikes are coming to rescue the aging suburbs (CityLab)
On two cities’ radically different approaches to urban greening (The Fifth Estate)
Ann Arbor wants more green buildings, how quickly could developers adjust? (The Michigan Daily)
New ‘embodied carbon’ measuring software used in building Pebble Beach passive house (Monterey Herald)
The concrete that helps the climate (BBC News)
Energy-saving smart windows could help combat climate change (CBS News)
Publisher’s note: can our architecture make us better? (Seattle Magazine)

Categories: News