Michael Schmidt
Username
Michael Schmidt
Proposer First Name
Michael
Proposer Email
mschmidt@swinter.com
Proposer Last Name
Schmidt
Proposer Company/Organization
Steven Winter Associates, Inc.
Proposer Phone
(845) 521-6720
Proposer Job Title
Senior Building Systems Consultant
Boston 2023 Areas of Focus
Proposer Additional Info
Michael Schmidt is a Senior Building Systems Consultant with a focus on performance testing, field inspections, and verification of energy efficacy measures on projects pursuing Passive House certification. He consults with project teams throughout design and construction, with early involvement in plan reviews and later final testing to ensure actual performance meets design specifications. His Construction Management education, along with hands-on experience, allows him to collaborate and problem-solve with project teams. Michael is accredited in both the Passive House US (PHIUS) and International (PHI) standards.
Proposed Session Description
One of the primary challenges for any building pursuing Passive House certification is meeting the stringent, whole-building blower door air-tightness test criteria. This presentation will include a lessons-learned perspective from experience testing buildings small to extra-large. Passive House certification criteria and test methods will be discussed to set your project up for success. Blower Door testing data from 20+ tests will be used to demonstrate nuanced insight beyond the blower door.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
This session is in the context of providing high-quality, affordable, passive housing to historically disadvantaged communities around the northeast. Many project case studies will include large affordable housing developments in NYC and across Massachusetts.
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the Passive House airtightness certification criteria, test standards required, and benefits of an airtight envelope system.
2. Demonstrate through examples common problem areas related to the implementation of an airtight envelope meeting the passive house requirements.
3. Analyze data collected from over 20 whole building blower door tests to glean insight into envelope performance, existing building baseline airtightness, and how passive house metrics can be met consistently.
4. Recommend ways to design and implement envelope practices on your projects to successfully comply with rigorous airtightness criteria.
Has this session been presented before?
No
Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 2 - Some prior knowledge helpful.
Session Format
Workshop or skill-building session
Presentation followed by facilitated discussion or breakout groups
Recommended Length
60-minute session
90-minute session
Strongest Content Connection - Boston 2023
Anything else you'd like to tell us about your session proposal?
I am excited to be back at Building Energy Boston with another lesson-learned presentation, this time on another hot topic for passive house buildings, whole building blower door testing. This is a critical area for any low-energy building and the experiences shared will help inform the audience of how to excel in the execution of passive house on their projects.
Reviewer 1
Nielson, Christopher
Proposal #
114
Committee Decision
Rejected
Presenters
Full Description
The Passive House building certification standard has set a high benchmark for low-energy buildings known widely as the most rigorous energy efficiency standard currently available. As the sustainable building industry seeks to decarbonize both new and existing building stocks, one of the clearest paths to achieving this is through implementing passive house design principles. Four major municipalities in Massachusetts recently adopted the multifamily opt-in code requiring passive house certification on multifamily buildings over 12,000 SF. This discussion will glean lessons learned through experience and field data from testing over 20 multifamily/ commercial passive house buildings. Data from existing building test pre-retrofit will be included to demonstrate a baseline for the existing building stock.