Passive House Weekly March 6th, 2022

March 6th, 2023

The featured project above is Timber Trails Forest Farm in Canandaigua, New York. 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.

1. PHA Week in Preview

WED: How Am I Building Two Passive House Mixed Use Developments at the Same Time?

03 08 23 PHA Next Gen Rectangle 1676407946

New Time for 2023! 9am Vancouver / 12 noon New York / 5pm London / 6pm Darmstadt

Our new Next Gen series highlights the work of the next generation of practitioners and how their contributions are shaping the future of Passive House.

This month's Next Gen episode features AJ Patton, Chairman & CEO of 548 Enterprise, a unified real estate & investment social impact firm that collates his capital, development, foundation and energy solutions. Named after the address of the affordable housing project AJ grew up in, 548 is a symbol of his personal commitment to bringing sustainable building technologies and innovation to underserved communities. He has actualized this commitment through $200 million in mixed-use and residential sustainable housing developments, including two of the Midwest's largest Passive House affordable housing portfolios as a winner of Chicago’s INVEST South/West initiative. AJ will discuss the path that has led him to working on these two different Passive House projects (both are seeking Phius certification), and how he is create above-market returns and transforming communities all while positively impacting the environment. Get the Zoom link

THUR: Reaching Zero: Insulation Solutions from Owens Corning

The hallmark of Passive House design is its low energy loss, which makes it a critical factor in ensuring the success of Net Zero projects. The effective use of insulation is the key to helping reduce heat loss and minimizing the demands on active heating and cooling systems. These buildings don’t have to be the same cookie-cutter design. To achieve unique designs, different insulations may be combined to meet performance goals. Tiffany Coppock, Commercial Building Systems Specialist at Owens Corning, will join our upcoming Component Spotlight. Register Now

NOW LIVE: Episode 128 of The Passive House Podcast

Passive House Podcast co-host Zack Semke interviews Andrew Steingiser, Associate, Senior Project Architect, and Passive House Consultant at RDH Building Science's Boston Office. Andrew shares Massachusetts's exciting new Stretch Code and Opt-In Specialized Code, both of which feature Passive House. He discusses the impact that these new building policies are having on the ground in Massachusetts, and what it's like to go into client meetings with Passive House on the table as a requirement as opposed to an option that needs to be sold. (Spoiler: it's good.) Hear Andrew's insights from one of the most dynamic centers of Passive House development anywhere. Listen now

We will be conducting a series that the Passive House Accelerator will be conducting at the International Passive House Conference, thanks to generous support from:

THIS WEEK: Events In the Passive House Community

Passive House Accelerator LIVE!
How Am I Building Two Passive House Mixed Use Developments at the Same Time? (Mar 8)
Reaching Zero: Insulation Solutions from Owens Corning (Mar 9)

Phius
WUFI Passive for Beginners (Mar 6-10)

ZEBx
What's the Plan? Webinar Series (Mar 8)

Passive House Institute
International Passive House Conference 2023 (Mar 10-11)

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

Have you heard the news? We’ll be co-hosting the IPHC Conference Party on Friday, March 10th with Passive House Institute at the International Passive House Conference. Thank you to our sponsors, ENERsign and RothoBlaas USA for their generous support! Purchase Tickets

THANK YOU to this week's Featured Sponsor

Visit Baxt Ingui Architects

2. Featured Article of the Week

New Tool for Assessing Upfront and Operational Emissions: No Passive House Emissions Backfire Found

The past few years have seen a rapid ramp up in our collective understanding of the impact of embodied carbon (more aptly called “upfront carbon”) on the overall carbon footprint of our buildings. Thought leaders like Kate Simonen, Chris Magwood, Stacey Smedley, Bruce King, and others have alerted the building decarbonization community to this once-underestimated source of emissions and have warned of construction’s “carbon burp” (caused mainly by the upfront emissions of the structural elements of buildings) and its potential to push emissions reductions targets out of reach. Continue reading

Massachusetts’ Embodied Carbon Challenge: A Template for Other States?

Massachusetts developers concerned about the carbon emissions of their projects have a new opportunity to turn those concerns into actions—and to get paid for their efforts. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), which has already funded generous incentives for reducing operational carbon emissions in buildings by designing and building to the Passive House standard, is now launching the Embodied Carbon Reduction Challenge. A total of $320,000 in prizes will be given to up to 10 projects that demonstrate replicable, innovative, and impactful changes to reduce embodied carbon in building materials. Continue reading

3. Upcoming Conferences

International Passive House Association Conference 2023 (March 10-11)
The 26th International Passive House Conference will be held in the state capital of Hesse in 2023. #EfficiencyNOW will be the focal theme of the event. The Conference will demonstrate how buildings that use very little energy for heating and cooling can be supplied with renewable energy reliably and at scale, a timely topic. The Conference will take place in person in Wiesbaden from March 10-11, 2023. Simultaneously, online events will be available. The event will be held under the auspices of the Minister of Economic Affairs of the German state of Hesse.

The conference's Passive House Exhibition Party will be hosted by Passive House Accelerator thanks to generous underwriting from Enersign and Rothoblaas USA. The Accelerator team will also be onsite at the conference conducting interviews for a special IPHC podcast series supported by Ikon Windows + Doors, Intelligent Membranes, Innotech Windows, Minotair, and Pro Clima.

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 Video

5. Upcoming Passive House Happenings

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
Next Gen:
How Am I Building Two Passive House Mixed Use Developments at the Same Time? (Mar 8)
Component Spotlight:
Reaching Zero: Insulation Solutions from Owens Corning (Mar 9)
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)

ZEBx
What's the Plan? Webinar Series (Mar 8)

Passive House Network
CPHD On-Demand Trainings

Phius
WUFI Passive for Beginners (Mar 6-10)
Retrofit Summit (Mar 21-23)
NYSERDA Buildings of Excellence and the Seven Lessons Learned on My First Precertified Phius Project (Mar 28)

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

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)

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