The Passive House (PH) building standard is the most stringent energy efficiency standard in the world. Several affordable housing authorities in the US currently or plan to include it as a sustainability option in funding applications. Achieving the stringent air tightness requirements of the PH standard requires careful coordination through all phases of design development and construction. The team from Steven Winter Associates will take you through the steps and tools necessary – including integrated design, air barrier documents, detailed site inspections, and review testing tools and protocols. They will share successes and failures from their wide experience, from three-story low-rise buildings to 33-story high-rise structures with 300+ units.

Looking for the best ways to use heat pump water heaters efficiently, reliably, and without compromising comfort? So are we. In multifamily buildings around the Northeast, the speakers have investigated integrated, tank-type water heaters as well as larger, central heat pumps. Both have challenges, and speakers will present many examples of how NOT to use HPWHs in multifamily buildings. We are learning, however, and the technology is evolving. Systems using CO2 refrigerant are coming from overseas that appear to offer good performance even in cold weather. This session will include a review of the range of technologies currently available, discussions of applications and challenges, and our best take on best practices for heating water with heat pumps – now and in the future.

Utility benchmarking can be a powerful tool in a property manager's toolbox, enabling them to monitor water and energy usage, make smart decisions about repair and maintenance, and positively impact the immediate and long-term value of their property. This introductory session will explore the topic of benchmarking, offering attendees insights into why it matters, and how it can benefit managers of properties of all sizes. A service provider, national program administrator, and property manager will present project examples and provide guidance about how to unlock the value of benchmarking. Specifically, the speakers will address multifamily benchmarking initiatives and requirements, benchmarking best practices and benchmarking success stories.

As the green building movement matures, a stronger focus is evolving on short-term and long-term occupant health impacts. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health evaluated the health outcomes associated with living in new green housing, and the research revealed significant improvements in health among residents who moved from the existing housing into the green units. In this session, we will provide strong evidence that green interventions not only improve the environmental performance of housing, but also tackle major public health challenges in low-income communities.

Affordable housing offers a huge opportunity to refinance and rehab to the Passive House standard. The project team from Chris Benedict, R.A. and RiseBoro Community Partnership will show construction details from their ground-breaking tenant-in-place rehab project designed for Passive House. CBRA will discuss the construction challenges (and successes!) to date, and RiseBoro will outline the financing and development approaches that should motivate all stakeholders to pursue this path.

This session will focus on applying Passivhaus/Passive House standards to large buildings: recent research on the impacts of tall buildings, from architectural enclosure detailing, mechanical systems, zoning, code, marketability, and constructability; and optimal management of internal loads.

Two certified Passive House Consultants, an architect and a builder, will talk about the tremendous benefits of the Passive House building approach, and nostalgically lament what this means for our now limited friendships with the boiler maintenance guy! They will review the design and construction principles that are employed to achieve a super-insulated, air-tight envelope and the essential addition of continuous mechanical ventilation.

Since 2013 the Passive House Institute US has seen a significant increase in the design, construction, and certification of multifamily passive buildings. Many first multifamily passive buildings, from 6- to 57-unit developments, have been completed and occupied since then. Monitored performance data are now available. This presentation will report on a detailed comparison of modeled performance predicted by passive design tools and actual measured performance data of four case study projects while occupied and under operation. This session will answer these questions: How well do the currently used passive modeling tools, algorithms, and underlying modeling assumptions match the measured performance in the field? Were the anticipated energy and carbon-reduction goals met?

States across the Northeast expend significant time and effort in the pursuit of adopting the latest model energy codes from the IECC and ASHRAE. With the 2009 and 2012 model energy codes this resulted in significant improvements in the minimum building standards, but more recently national model codes have produced fewer savings at a time when the need for dramatic energy performance improvements has never been greater.