Single Family Retrofit to Passive House EnerPHit Standards

When an experienced builder does a whole-house upgrade of their own home, you know it’s going to be done right. When that builder is Jesper Kruse, owner of Maine Passive House, you know remarkable energy efficiency will be the outcome. And when that house is the one Kruse himself built 20 years ago - the first house he ever built - well, you know it’s going to be an especially interesting adventure in single family retrofits. Kruse will explain why he decided to undertake this project.

Proving Your Worth: Energy Loan Performance Monitoring, Verification & Marketing

Would you like to attract or deploy more funding for building energy improvements? Do gatekeepers scoff at your requests and ask for “more data”? What if your data could clearly show the value unlocked by energy upgrades? Take an in-depth, hands-on look at how two mission driven lenders, the Connecticut Green Bank, a quasi-public state agency, and Capital for Change, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), developed performance monitoring reports for a set of energy loans to multifamily properties.

Historic Buildings & Climate Change Mitigation: Case Study of a Low-Carbon Renovation

Retrofitting vacant and underutilized historic buildings to PHIUS standards leverages an existing building’s embodied carbon, which combined with low carbon and carbon storing materials, can transform our historic buildings into carbon sinks. With careful consideration, the Federal Historic Tax Credit program can provide an additional source of funding for these ambitious Passive House projects. Currently under construction, Moran Square is one of the first PHIUS Historic Tax Credit projects in the US. The site includes a historic firehouse, a vacant lot, and historic three-story building.

Decarbonization of Domestic Water Heating in Multifamily Buildings

Domestic hot water doesn’t get the attention it deserves, so this session will be talking about nothing but it! Decarbonizing DHW in multifamily settings is full of challenges, especially in a heating-dominated cold climate. We will be discussing decarbonization strategies from new construction and existing buildings, central and decentralized systems, and touching on adjacent topics like loads and futureproofing.

Today's Acceptable Ventilation is Unacceptable

Current ventilation standards are based on odor instead of health. One cannot smell healthy air. Ventilation standards disfavor air quality in smaller residences and multi-family dwellings while excessively ventilating larger homes. Ventilation impacts our health, cognition, sleep, and disease transmission. This session provides background on today's ventilation standards and recommendations for creating healthy indoor environments. The Covid Safe Space IAQ calculator for reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in buildings is introduced.

Leaving the Mesozoic Behind: From Fossil Fuels to the Future via Carbon-Neutral Buildings

New York State’s carbon-neutral policies and on-the-ground programs are the leading edge in the Northeast and provide a model for all communities. Come be informed and inspired by NYSERDA’s upcoming Carbon Neutral Buildings Roadmap. As part of Governor Cuomo’s Green New Deal for New York, NYSERDA has been spearheading the development of an overarching framework for decarbonizing New York’s buildings by 2050. This presentation will outline the policies and programmatic areas that will achieve radical reduction in the carbon emissions of buildings.

Low-Carbon Concrete & Steel Structures

The carbon emissions associated with the production of concrete and steel are significant contributors to the climate crisis, but these materials will remain over the next decade when much of the greatest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions must be made to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Structural engineers can directly influence the emissions related to these materials on their projects through design and procurement optimization and best-practices.

Piloting, Scaling & Committing to Healthier Materials

When it comes to toxic chemicals, there is an urgent need for market transformation. Occupants, tradespeople, and fence line communities are being contaminated by the chemical manufacturing industry, which raises concerns about environmental racism and injustice. We can support these communities by reducing and eliminating classes of chemicals from our buildings. 
 
This session presents four entities who have stepped up to the challenge: MIT, Colby College, Shepley Bulfinch, and Thornton Tomasetti.

Multifamily Humidity Control Problems: Muggy Mayhem

Multifamily buildings with good insulation, great windows, and decent ventilation systems – what's not to like? Unfortunately, over the past five years, we have received calls from multifamily building owners who are battling persistent summertime humidity problems. Comfort complaints, sweating ductwork, waterlogged drywall, and mold on furnishings, clothing, registers . . . you name it. We will discuss how we went about these investigations and the tools we used to diagnose these issues.

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