Best Practices, Comparing Two Adjacent Multi-family Passive Houses

Mark Ginsberg
Proposal Status
Ready for Committee Review
Username
Mark Ginsberg
Proposer First Name
Mark
Proposer Email
mark@cplusga.com
Proposer Last Name
Ginsberg
Proposer Phone
(917) 687-4700
Proposer Job Title
Partner
Proposer Additional Info
Curtis + Ginsberg Architects (a woman owned business enterprise). has completed four large multi-family Passive Houses, has two more in construction and seven in design. I have presented at four of the last six BuildingEnergy NYC, and given Pro Tours of two of our completed Passive House Buildings. Steven Winter Associates, Inc is one of the worlds most experienced PH consultants with respect to large scale, multi-family projects. They have worked on or are in the process of working on over seven million square feet of PH projects across the world and have been invited to present at conferences in Canada, Ireland, Spain and throughout the United States.
Proposed Session Description
Beach Green Dunes I (101 Units) and Beach Green Dunes II (127 units) are two of the largest multifamily Passive House’s in the country. They are adjacent to each other in the Rockaways in NY (in the flood zone) and were completed two years apart. Although they look almost identical, they are very different under the hood. Each has a different structure, envelope (ICF vs Block), ventilation strategy (Unitized vs Centralized), and heating and cooling system (VRF vs. ground source heat pumps) along with several other differences due to changes in city regulations and varying site conditions. Mark Ginsberg (Architect) and Lois Arena (Energy / Passive House Consultant) will present the details of these two buildings, what we have learned and how they are performing in an effort to develop best practices for highly energy efficient, multifamily design and construction.
Why is this session important?
As we designed and built the first large multifamily Passive Houses, systems were selected without having best practices for creating extremely efficient buildings of this scale and density. The newer building have been completed and in operation for at least one year. Lessons learned and initial data showing how these two sister buildings with very different systems are working will provide valuable information to attendees seeking to construct similar types of buildings.

Comments

Susan Farber Thu, 03/04/2021 - 11:47 am

This proposal was accepted for & will be presented at BuildingEnergy Boston on May 6, 2021.

Tristan Grant Mon, 04/05/2021 - 5:44 pm

MAYBE This seems like it could be interesting, although the the "passive house case study" topic has been a common these of the past few years. I do like the idea of comparing two very similar developments that differ in terms of implemented strategies. Could they bring in monitored utility data to provide a look at performance? Or bring in building maintenance staff or people involved with leasing or ownership to get a perspective on which of these is operating better? if we are just talking about the design and energy intent of these, that seems like it could be repetative to past sessions. Compare against "climate resilient design for passive house"

Susan Farber Mon, 04/12/2021 - 8:34 pm

ROUND 1 DISCUSSION: Useful: to bring in data, how are people enjoying/how is this working, looking forward to seeing lessons. Identical being presented at Boston - would need to be re-developed for BENYC. The content could be very interesting - looking beyond 'best practices' and looking instead for the comparing. The post-occupancy data is very intriguing. There was a lot of interest in resiliency aspects in other proposals. Question: how did these buildings fare during COVID? Mark and Lois could put together a session to meet any passive house ask. Leaning yes - for these speakers and their expertise, but not for the proposal as is (Boston rerun)

Jodi Smits Anderson Tue, 05/18/2021 - 12:09 pm

Mark and I spoke for awhile about 3 w2eeks ago, and I outlineed for him that we want this session in NYC to be different than the session at Building Energy Boston. Also the interest in making this more about the transition into opeerations and maintenance, as well as occupnat support. He responded today with this, and I think this will be an excellent session. It is intrguing to get to the actual experience of being in a passive house multi-familiy: Below are things we will and hope to add to our presentation for September.  If I can get feedback from other client I will update.  Lois may also have comments.More technical information (Adam please add suggestions)Lois is developing training on O & M, we can  show clipsLois talk about reducing hot water piping as this uses much more energy than heating and cooling in a Passive House. How to address higher humidity in large scale passive house?  A reason why Lois recommending central.  Will add to presentation.Talking plug load projected and actual.  Do not have granular data.  Common area usage is high.  Think underpredicting elevator use and maybe pumps.  Will research as much as data allows before the event.Operation and maintenanceWe would like to talk to supers in both buildings to see what they say about operation issues, ideally video recording.  Which we would put excepts in the presentation.  Have agreement from one client, waiting for second.We have issues on BGD-I startup on temperature stops and co gen teething issues that we have used in the past and will add.When issues at PV generation at BG-II is figured out will add.We are planning to do a  post occupancy evaluation on line.  One client has agreed waiting for second. 

Susan Farber Fri, 05/21/2021 - 1:31 pm

Round 2 discussion: Change of focus: operational considerations, transition to owners, effect on occupants. O+M of Passive House multifamily. Reducing water infrastructure. Humidity. Plug loads. Reaching out to operations teams for both buildings, confirmed one, waiting on the other. Post-occupancy data. Could speak to financing? Important that it’s an OCCUPIED PH case studies. Real case study with data.

Diversity and Inclusiveness
The buildings are located in a low income neighborhood of color. Creating quality affordable housing in the neighborhood.
Learning Objectives
Learn about different Passive House Envelope Systems and the pluses and minus of each.
Lean about different ventilation / energy recovery systems in Passive House buildings and the pluses and minus of each.
Lean about different heating and cooling systems in Passive House buildings and the pluses and minus of each.
• Learn about maximizing PV in multifamily Passive House.
Has this session been presented before?
Yes
When and Where?
Accepted for Building Energy Boston 2021
Additional Comments
We look to have feedback at first presentation to do even better in New York.

NYC 2021 Areas of Focus

Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 2 - Some prior knowledge helpful.
Session Format
Interview or structured conversation among panelists
Collaborative problem-solving session
Debate between opposing viewpoints
Recommended Length
60-minute session
90-minute session

Strongest Content Connection - NYC 2021

Comments about your speaker roster
Mark Ginsberg has presented both locally and nationally on issues of housing sustainability and resiliency. He had presented over 50 times in the last ten years. Lois Arena has presented at more than 50 conferences over the past 10 years as well as given trainings on high performance building design and construction. She is regularly invited to speak at conferences nationally and internationally.
Reviewer 1
Grant, Tristan
Reviewer 2
Smits Anderson, Jodi
Curator
Leone, Jen
Proposal #
102
Session #
204
Committee Decision
Accepted

Presenters