A prescriptive passive house standard for single-family homes

Graham Wright
Proposal Status
Ready for Committee Review
Username
Graham Wright
Proposer First Name
Graham
Proposer Email
gwright@phius.org
Proposer Last Name
Wright
Proposer Phone
(503) 887-7028
Proposer Job Title
Senior Scientist
Proposed Session Description
Describes how the phius 2021 CORE Prescriptive standard achieves passive house performance for single family homes without requiring full energy modeling. Covers the rules by which the contributing factors to heating and cooling loads are regulated individually - heat transmission, ventilation and infiltration, solar gains. Also covers the scope limitations, zero-energy-ready and electrification readiness, provisions to limit moisture risk, and requirements on the efficiency of mechanical equipment and appliances to limit overall energy use. A dynamic checklist provides calculation support for some tradeoff calculations. An online calculator gives a snapshot of the requirements that vary by climate and building size.
Why is this session important?
While residential energy code stringency has increased over the years, there are still quite some energy savings being left on the table for single family homes, compared to passive building. This standard is intended to streamline the design and verification of single-family passive homes, attached and detached, so that the practice can scale up and become more mainstream in new construction.

Comments

Nick Shaw Fri, 03/26/2021 - 11:00 am

-Maybe- Going presecriptive with PH certification makes me uncomfortable. A big reason why I like PH is that it's based on the literal performance of the building and not a check list. I think folks can look up and read the new check-list online, so if this presentation is just an overview of that then I don't think it's worth the time. If it's getting more into the evolution of PH as a standard and why they've landed on this approach then I'm more interested. I want the history / story of how this was decided, not a presentation on the new check-list.

Tristan Grant Mon, 04/05/2021 - 5:34 pm

YES I think this sounds great, prescriptive model for PHIUS brings barrier to entry costs like modelling down, and makes the Passive House standard more accessible. New standard, will probably be new material to most people so that's good. The prescriptive PHIUS path has the potential to really expand on the market penetration of the system & availability of standardized & replicable approach. I agree with Nick that part of what makes PHIUS a really aspirational standard is the performance based approach, but i also think that there needs to be a push to bring down the barriers to entry and make it more accessible to project teams and the general construction industry, and bring the benefits of passive house buildings to more people - and this seems like a step towards that end.

Susan Farber Mon, 04/12/2021 - 8:22 pm

ROUND 1 DISCUSSION: Interested in hearing about how they landed on the prescriptive standard. (Nick). Not sold on this prescriptive approach (Nick). Are they just reading of standard or are they talking about why and relevance and consequences of switch. Need to work with speakers on this.

Diversity and Inclusiveness
We believe it will reduce the training required to plan single family passive house projects.
Learning Objectives
Understand how the heating and cooling loads are limited by the prescriptive rules.
Understand the scope limitations and pre-requisite programs.
Understand the provisions to limit moisture risk.
Know the areas in which tradeoffs can still be made to meet a performance requirement.
Has this session been presented before?
Yes
When and Where?
March 11, 2021 - PHIUS webinar

NYC 2021 Areas of Focus

Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 2 - Some prior knowledge helpful.
Session Format
Interview or structured conversation among panelists
Recommended Length
60-minute session

Strongest Content Connection - NYC 2021

Reviewer 1
Grant, Tristan
Proposal #
131
Committee Decision
Rejected