Mass Save Passive House 101 for Structural Engineers Online - Register here
Passive House – it’s in the air and turning up everywhere! This workshop will allow structural engineers to join a Passive House team with a good understanding of the basic challenges of Passive House design. We will feature three informative presentations by structural engineers and passive house experts to review the challenges of envelope design and thermal bridging, as well as practical solutions being used by structural engineers working on these projects today.
In partnership with Mass Save and the SEAMass.
Continuing education credits are available for a fee while there is no charge for those not seeking credits.
Passive House has two certification systems in North America PHIUS and PHI. These standards can be applied to both commercial and residential buildings of all sizes. They have their differences, but both will reduce annual heating loads by 80 – 90 %. The essentials are the same – internal heat gains and solar gains are balanced against the overall R value of the building envelope including windows and doors. The envelope is rigorously air sealed and all thermal bridges must be eliminated or minimized which requires that architects and structural engineers reexamine their files of “typical” details. A Passive House design team must be “on the same page” from the outset or run the risk of costly re-design and delays. As part of any Passive House project, new details must be carefully reviewed regarding their constructability and potential thermal bridges will be individually modelled to confirm their effectiveness and modified if they fail.
The Mass Save Passive House Incentive Program has enrolled over 8500 units of multi-family passive house projects in the state of Massachusetts. Local municipalities throughout the region are also encouraging Passive House design through zoning and other measures. Downtown Boston will soon be home to the largest certified Passive House office building in the world at Winthrop Square.