Passive House Weekly: May 2, 2022

May 2, 2022

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

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: West Bay Passive House, Innovative Design Features and Lessons Learned with James Dean and Stuart Hood

The PHI Certified West Bay Passive House achieves a rare fusion of beauty, comfort, health and efficiency in its pursuit of net zero energy and no greenhouse gas emissions. James Dean (Home Owner, Co-Founder of Oxygen8) and Stuart Hood (Mechanical Engineer on the Project, Integral Group) will talk about some of the notable attributes of the house including the use of a Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) superstructure constructed on top of a concrete foundation, floor-to-ceiling glazing providing ocean views and a passive solar design and an innovative mechanical system design using air-water heat pump technology for domestic hot water and heating & cooling through the energy recovery ventilation system. James and his family have lived in the house for 3 years and will share their experiences and lessons learned.

Join us on May 4th for an in-depth discussion followed by a lively Q+A session. Get the Zoom Link

NOW LIVE: Episode 85 of the Passive House Podcast

Matthew interviews Steve Hughes of Build Good Architecture in New Zealand. Steve and his family moved from Ponsonby to Pumpkin Hill on the Coromandel Peninsula in 2021 to live their dream life: to build a beautiful, off-grid, passive home and live off the land by growing a lush permaculture garden. Hear about Steve's pathway to Passive House practice and about the design and construction of his remarkable home. Listen here

THIS WEEK: Events In the Passive House Community:

Passive House Austin
Humid Climate Conference (May 2-3)

The Passive House Network
PHN Certified PH Designer Training, In-person (May 2-6)
PHN Certified PH Designer Training, On-demand Hybrid (Starts May 6)

Passive House Accelerator LIVE!
West Bay Passive House (May 4)

Smart Plus Academy
Builder Course (May 5)

Green Building United
2022 Sustainability Symposium (May 6)

2. Featured Article of the Week

Kiss House Housing System Launches

New housing in the United Kingdom (UK) has earned an arguably well-deserved reputation for being of poor quality and unimaginative design. According to the Bartlett Review, a highly regarded report into UK housing, 51% of new homeowners in the UK experience major problems with their properties! The team at Kiss House—an innovative Passivhaus housing specialist that delivers off-site manufactured housing using modern methods of construction—has dedicated the last 20 years to bucking this trend by constructing exemplary Passivhaus and very low energy homes. Indeed, the UK firm offers Passivhaus-certified houses as standard, and many of their homes have won awards. Continue reading

THANK YOU To This Week's Featured Sponsor:

Visit 475 High-Performance Building Supply

3. New Video

Concrete-Free Slab On Grade Foundations with Josh Salinger | Passive House Live

Last week Josh Salinger, founder and principal of Birdsmouth Design-Build, explained how to design and construct a high performance floating plywood slab on grade assembly successfully. His presentation covered the science behind why this works, how it meets code and practical methods of incorporating this into your projects.

4. Upcoming Conferences

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 focused on 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. The conference will feature 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 Urban Green Council's 2017 conference, the group 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