Christy Love, EIT LEED AP BD+C, is a Senior Project Engineer at RDH Building Science. This presentation was given at the 2016 Passive House Northwest Conference. The North Park Passive House, a 6-unit strata project located in Victoria BC, was occupied in September 2015. It is the first market strata-title certified Passive House development in Canada. While well-established elsewhere, the potential benefits of Passive House and other low energy design approaches are not as well understood in Canada, and there are limited data on the actual performance of low energy residential buildings in various Canadian climates. To address this gap, RDH, in partnership with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Homeowner Protection Office of BC Housing, and FP Innovations, is undertaking detailed quantitative and qualitative performance measurement of the North Park Passive House. The intent of this research is to develop a comprehensive case study for a Passive House project in the coastal BC climate. Learning Objectives: - Understand the scope of the research and what we hope to learn from it. - Understand preliminary results about how the building is performing in terms of comfort, air quality, and energy use, via measured data collected within select suites and qualitative interviews with occupants. - Understand and interpret preliminary results of how the building enclosure is performing. - Learn tips and share lessons learned about undertaking this type of research.

1. Post-Occupancy Research at the
North Park Passive House
2016 PASSIVE HOUSE NORTHWEST CONFERENCE
MARCH 11, 2016
CHRISTY LOVE | EIT, LEED AP BD+C

2. Project Partners

3. Learning Objectives
 Understand the scope of the research and what we hope
to learn from it.
 Understand preliminary results of how the building
enclosure is performing.
 Understand preliminary results around comfort, air
quality, and energy use.
 Share lessons learned (so far) about undertaking this
type of research.

4. North Park Passive House
Photo: Ryan Hamilton

5. Building Background
 Final average airtightness = 0.53 ACH at 50 Pa
 Construction (hard) cost = $182/SF; ~4% incremental
capital cost
 Wood frame, ‘deep stud wall’ construction – 2x8 +
2x4 service cavity
 Solar PV array, net metering
 Monitoring in purchase agreement

6. Design

7. Design

8. Research Questions
 Is the enclosure keeping the weather out? Is it drying sufficiently?
 Are the suites comfortable and is the interior air quality good?
 What is the occupant experience living in a Passive House?
 Is the energy consumption as low as predicted?
Photo: Ryan Hamilton

9. 1: Enclosure Performance

10. Enclosure – Sensor Locations – Exterior Wall
T
RH
MC

11. Enclosure Sensor Locations

12. Enclosure – Sensor Locations – Roof
T
RH
MC

13. Enclosure Sensor Install - Roof

14. Enclosure Monitoring Data – T – S Wall
E I

15. Enclosure Monitoring Data – T – N Wall
E I

16. Enclosure Monitoring Data – RH + T – S Wall
E I

17. Enclosure Monitoring Data – MC - Walls
E I

18. 2. Interior comfort and air quality

19. Installation

20. Installation

21. Installation

22. Interior comfort monitoring data - T

23. Interior comfort monitoring data – T + RH

24. Interior comfort monitoring data – T + RH

25. Interior air quality monitoring data

26. Occupant Interviews
 Pre-move in interviews – Sept 2015
 Winter season interviews – now
 Summer 2016 – to come
Photo: Ryan Hamilton

27. 3. Energy and Water Use
 Modeled:
 11 kWh/m2/yr heating demand
 43.0 kWh/m2/yr total (site)
energy demand
 119 kWh/m2/yr primary energy
demand

28. 3. Energy and Water Use
 Monitored - TBD

29. Solar Output vs Predicted

30. Lessons Learned
 Challenges with installing during construction
 Install more sensors than needed
 Expect more time than desired for startup
 Different system for energy end use monitoring

31. Conclusions + Next Steps
 Research questions:
 Enclosure
 Comfort
 Energy and Water
 What’s next?

32.  rdh.com
Questions and Discussion
THANK YOU!
CLOVE@RDH.COM