March 24, 2022

Designed for builders, contractors, project managers, subs, and trades, this session provides an overview of Passive House details, explores the construction challenges unique to Passive House builds, and shares lessons learned from recent projects. Also important information for architects to hear.

Speakers: Nat Coughlin, CPHB, President of L.D. Russo Construction Ed Sople, LEED AP, Chief Operating Officer of Dellbrook JKS Aaron Gunderson, CPHT, Executive Director of PHMass

Speaker: Philippe Campus AIA, CPHC, CTPH Board Member

February 24, 2022

While multifamily Passive House projects are just getting off the ground in Connecticut, in other parts of the US and Canada they have been in existence for many years. This workshop explores lessons learned from many of these groundbreaking projects, showcasing what works, what doesn’t, what challenges they faced, and what innovative solutions can be used in projects here.

Speakers: Andrew Steingiser, CPHC, PHMA Board of Directors Monte Paulsen, CPHC PHI Building Certifier

This course will provide an overview of the Passive House building standard, including certification metrics, common design elements of buildings, history and growth of the standard, and results and impacts on energy use, carbon emissions, air quality, and occupant comfort. Examples of various building types will be presented and information on funding initiatives will be provided. Get your questions answered on what Passive House is, where it came from, and how it is expanding throughout the region.

Learning Objectives:
1. Learn what the Passive House standard is, what the requirements and metric are, and why it matters.
2. Learn about the principles and common elements of Passive House buildings and impacts on energy use, carbon emissions, and health & wellness.
3. Learn about examples and case-studies of successful Passive House buildings of different types.
4. Learn about policies and funding initiatives impacting Passive House and how the region is growing

Presented by Aaron Gunderson, PASSIVEhouse Massachusetts

December 8, 2021 Lunch & Learn

Electrification is the buzzword du jour for decarbonization, and it’s pushing policymakers to rethink how they structure everything, from local codes, to energy models, to how they incentive programs focused on high performance buildings. Passive House has always provided a more careful accounting of ‘source energy,’ looking closely at which fuels power which appliances and HVAC equipment, noting that not all source energy is equal. This presentation will delve into how the international Passive House standard is structured to support both electrification and decarbonization. We’ll dig into the back end of the Primary Energy Renewables framework, seeing how these apply across a few regions. Lastly, we’ll look at how these renewable source energy factors work using a specific project as an example.

Learning Objectives:

1. How do electric grids differ across the U.S.?
2. Why do regional grids have different renewable energy capacities?
3. What is an electric utilization factor?
4. How does the Passive House energy model (PHPP) calculate electric energy use by local region, by season and by specific appliance use to make grid decarbonization easier?

Go into greater depth regarding the challenges and successful strategies employed to achieve the Passive House design criteria on significant projects in the Northeast. Topics covered include basic massing, shading and solar control; air barrier, weather barrier and thermal control layers; balanced ventilation, efficient heating, cooling and domestic hot water systems; models used to guide the design.

Objectives:
• Learn more about the Passive House standard, what it accomplishes, and common elements of Passive House buildings.
• Understand how Passive House provides an ideal path to achieving Net Zero Energy buildings.
• Understand how the building enclosure design is critical to meeting the Passive House certification criteria.
• Learn how mechanical systems design can work with envelope design to reduce energy loads.

Presented by Luke McKneally, CPHC, AIA, LEED AP who has over 20 years of experience practicing architecture, implementing renewable energy systems, and supporting energy efficiency – with a focus over the past 6 years on ultra-efficient Passive House design and construction. Luke is a licensed architect in MA, a USGBC LEED accredited professional, and a Certified Passive House Consultant. He currently works at ICF on the Multi-Family High Rise and Passive House incentive paths for the Massachusetts Residential New Construction Program (Mass Save), where he assists project participants to improve building energy performance. He has served on the board of Passive House Massachusetts, and is co-chair of the Medford Energy and Environment Committee.

Part 1 of the 4-Part Building Science Workshop series presented by Steven Winter Associates, Inc.

May 12, 2021

During the construction of Passive House buildings, the construction manager, contractors, and trades people are ultimately responsible for executing the design intent of the project. In this session we will identify ways to successfully construct the building envelope to achieve a well-insulated, airtight assembly. This will include a close look at details and photos of typical construction types, wall assemblies, innovative products and the good, bad, and ugly. This is planned to be an interactive training, so come prepared with questions and to discuss challenges faced when constructing high performance buildings.

Objectives:

• Brief review of high-performance design basics
• Review typical construction types along with sample details and photos
• Focus on common problem areas along with ways to avoid issues
• Look at new and innovative Passive House components.

CEUs: PHIUS CPHC | AIA/HSW

About The Speaker: Michael O’Donnell

Michael O’Donnell is a Principal Building Systems Consultant at Steven Winter Associates, Inc., with over ten years of energy efficiency and building science experience. He provides consulting, certification support, site inspections, and performance testing for primarily new construction multifamily projects in the New York City and Northeast region. Project types include Passive House (PHI and PHIUS), ENERGY STAR Multifamily High Rise, Enterprise Green Communities, and NYC Energy Code TR8 Inspections. He currently holds the Certified Energy Manager, Certified Passive House Tradesperson, PHIUS+ Verifier, and BPI Multifamily Building Analyst certifications. He has developed and delivered Passive House field training for Passive House Massachusetts and SUNY New Paltz’s Net Zero Carbon Training series funded by NYSERDA.

February 26, 2021

Passive House is the world’s most rigorous building energy performance standard, requiring a significant reduction in energy consumption while yielding other benefits such as superior comfort, durability, resilience, and health. It can play a major role in our energy future, contributing to our reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by moving away from fossil fuel combustion.

This virtual program is an introduction to Passive House, covering the core principles of Passive House standards and methodologies.

Presented by two Connecticut Passive House Board Members and Co-Founders:
Leonard Wyeth AIA, CPHD and CTPH President
George Penniman AIA, LEED AP, CPHD and CTPH Treasurer