This document provides an overview of Passive House, an energy standard that focuses on maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing carbon emissions from buildings. Some key points: - Passive House is based on 5 principles: minimizing heat loss, solar gain, high-performance windows/insulation, airtight building envelope, and mechanical ventilation. - It provides rigorous targets for space heating/cooling needs, airtightness, and overall energy use. Projects are third-party certified to verify performance. - When combined with renewable energy, Passive House can reduce total energy use by 50-75% and heating energy by up to 95%, providing major cost and emissions savings over time. - Num

1. Passive House
The Economic and Environmental
Solution for a Sustainable Future
Tim Eian, Dipl.-Ing.
Certi
fi
ed Passive House Designer & Consultant
Rochester Sustainability Series - September 21, 2022

2. Why Are We Talking
About Buildings?
• Buildings are super important
but often failing us
• We spend 90% of our time
indoors
• Buildings account for 40% of
global emissions
• They are often unreliable,
expensive, and they can make
people sick

3. Let’s Imagine The Perfect
Building For A Moment
• Home
• School
• Workplace
• Entertainment
• How would you describe it?

4. Warm in the winter

5. Cool in the summer

6. Not drafty

7. Low energy bills
and little to no
fossil fuel use

8. Affordable to build
and operate

9. Healthy and free from
smoke, soot, pollen, mold
and bugs

10. Provide shelter even in
extreme weather or
during outages

11. Quiet, even on a busy
street, near a transit hub,
or noisy business

12. Peaceful

13. It’s real!

14. Passivhaus Kranichstein
First Passive House in the World
Darmstadt, Germany - 1991

15. “Passivhaus” - Passive House
“A rigorous, voluntary building energy standard
focusing on highest energy ef
fi
ciency and quality of life
at low operating cost.”

16. Global Standard
Think globally, build locally.

17. Climate Zone Speci
fi
c

18. For All Building Types

19. Klinikum Höchst
First Passive House certi
fi
ed General Hospital in the World
Frankfurt, Germany - 2022
Klinikum Frankfurt Höchst

20. Navarra Health Centre
Certi
fi
ed Passive House Healthcare Center
Lodosa, Spain - 2008, 2016
www.odiseno.com

21. Sandero Verde
Large Residential Passive House Development
New York City, NY - Current
Handel Architects

22. Curve
Tall Residential Passive House Skyscraper
Vancouver, BC, Canada - Current
BRIVIA Group

23. Riedberg Grundschule
Certi
fi
ed Passive House Elementary School
Frankfurt, Germany - 2004
Karsten11 via Wikimedia

24. Carrick Library
Certi
fi
ed Passive House Public Building
Pittsburgh, PA - 2018

25. Passive House Pavilion
Certi
fi
ed Passive House Museum
Longfor Sunda, China - 2019
Zhi Xia

26. Third-Party Certi
fi
ed

27. A Vetted Tool for Sustainable
Design

28. Multiple Paths to
Sustainability

29. One Basic Concept
• Energy conservation
fi
rst!
• Minimize losses
• Maximize (free) gains
Corey Gaffer via TE Studio

30. Based on 5 Basic Principles
Passivhaus Institut

31. Passive: 4.75 kBtu/(sf yr)
Active: 25-125 kBtu/(sf yr)
85 - 450 kWh/(m2 a), typically found in the U.S. 15kWh/(m2 a), maximum target
Krapmeier & Drössler 2001
Active versus Passive

32. Paradigm Shift
>

33. For a Sustainable Footprint
Heating (active)
Hot water (active)
Cooling (active)
Household Electricity
Heat & hot water (passive)
➡ up to 95% less heating energy
➡ 50 to 75% less total energy
Passive House
Code

34. Metrics
Energy per Square Foot and Year
Gas mileage for buildings.

35. Heating/ Cooling Energy Targets
≤ 4.75 kBtu/(sf yr)
≤ 15kWh/(m2 a)
≤ 7.9 kBtu/(sf yr)
≤ 25kWh/(m2 a)
≤ 9.5 kBtu/(sf yr)
≤ 30kWh/(m2 a)
New Construction
Retrofit
Entry Level

36. Source Energy Targets
≤ 38 kBtu/(sf yr)
≤ 120kWh/(m2 a)
varies
≤ 120 kWh/(m2 a) + ((QH - 15 kWh/(m2 a)) * 1.2)

37. Suggested
Heat Load Target
≤ 3.17 Btu/(h sf)
≤ 10W/m2
Heating energy can be supplied through ventilation system.

38. Airtightness Target
≤0.6 ACH50
Measured with a blower door in the field.
≤1.0 ACH50

39. Component Targets
‣ Maximum U-values
‣ Minimum R-values
‣ SHGC requirements
‣ Minimum heat-recovery rates
EnerPHit offers a Component Track.

40. Energy Modeling

41. Principles and Metrics
• Apply to all building types, anywhere in the world
• Are based on universal building science principles to deliver optimized
energy ef
fi
ciency and a sustainable carbon footprint, superior human
well-being and comfort, as well as optimized life cycle cost
• Do not constitute an arbitrary, or proprietary approach and metrics
• Set absolute targets and provide measurable results with over 30 years of
a proven track record, a vetted set of tools, countless case studies and
fi
eld studies all over the world, and an engaged Institute stakeholder with
practitioner organizations in many places in the world including the U.S.
• Are the foundation for Climate-neutrality in the built environment
• Are endorsed by the UN as a solution for the sustainable future of
buildings
Resource: https://passivehouse.com, https://passivehouse-database.org/index.php?lang=en, https://theclimatecenter.org/north-
americas-global-centres-excellence-building/

42. Delivery and Certi
fi
cation
• Are most cost-effective when implemented right from the outset and
executed with the help of trained and experienced professionals
• Do not rely on outside consultants and raters and can be integrated into
the architectural practice
• Do not require certi
fi
ed practitioners, or building certi
fi
cation (project
certi
fi
cation is not compulsory but advised and has proven to deliver
better project outcomes when compared to non-certi
fi
ed projects)
• Are not prescriptive in regards to the design, engineering, construction
and materialities of buildings, e.g. it provides a lot of
fl
exibility to
developers, architects and engineers
• Include modeling with the PHPP, which maximizes investment value
through transparent accounting and reporting of meaningful results, as
well as variant analysis
• Provide the best life-cycle cost in the industry

43. With A Clear Focus
• Building Envelope: Energy avoidance and comfort through use of “passive”
measures
• Mechanical Systems: Healthy and ef
fi
cient operation through use of adequately
sized “active” systems
• Electrical Systems: Energy-ef
fi
cient operation through use of current technology
• Renewable Energy and Storage Systems: Sustainable energy generation
• Fresh Water: Reducing the amount of potable water used on site
• Stormwater: Managing stormwater responsibly
• Building Materials: People and earth-friendly materials and construction
• Reduction of embodied energy and carbon: PH Ribbon
DIRECT
INDERECT

44. And Low Life-Cycle Cost
Invest here >
To Save Here >
Intep

45. Passive House…
• De
fi
nes the long-term
building quality and
performance
independent of energy
supply
• Reduces the amount of
Useful Energy needed to
operate the building
signi
fi
cantly

46. Local Examples

47. Waldsee BioHaus
First certi
fi
ed Passive House building in the US
Bemidji, MN - 2006
Cal Rice via Intep

48. Passive House in the Woods
First certi
fi
ed Passive House building in Wisconsin
Hudson, WI - 2009
Corey Gaffer via TE Studio

49. MinnePHit House
Cold Climate certi
fi
ed EnerPHit pilot project
Minneapolis, MN - 2012
Corey Gaffer via TE Studio

50. Hook and Ladder Apartments
Affordable Multifamily Housing
Minneapolis, MN - 2016
Frerichs Construction

51. Elliot Towers
Public Multifamily Housing EnerPHit
Minneapolis, MN - 2017

52. Lexington Pkwy Passive House Plus
First certi
fi
ed Passive House Plus building in Minnesota
St. Paul, MN - 2020
TE Studio

53. Good Energy Haus
Frist certi
fi
ed Passive House Plus building in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, MN - 2020
Corey Gaffer via TE Studio

54. Bright Haus #1
First certi
fi
ed Passive House Affordable Housing Home in Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN - 2022
TE Studio

55. Why Passive House
Targets?

56. Energy Flow
World/USA
State/ City
Building/Object
Occupants
Gas boiler Room heat Hot water
Lighting
Hydro power
Building services Indoor air quality
Nuclear power
Automobile Mobility
Fuel
Oil
Crude oil
Natural gas
Uranium
non
renewable
renewabl
We extract, produce and pollute here… …and pay here… …to satisfy our needs.
Source Site Useful Energy
Wind power Solar power
Other
Coal
Reduce here
To Save Here
Intep

57. Uniform Accounting
• Net-zero / net-plus energy is
often misleading e.g.
multistory buildings are
discriminated despite their
advantages
• Suggested approach:
Independent rating of RE and
ef
fi
ciency.
• Building’s footprint area as
the reference for renewables
• Taking off-site production
into account
Bronwyn Barry, PHCA

58. The PER Approach
• PER (Primary Energy
Renewable) provides an
appropriate measure of how
much energy needs to be
generated sustainably from
renewable energy sources in
order to provide a given
amount of energy to the end
user.
• PER thus shows just how
ef
fi
cient different application
technologies are in the context
of a sustainable renewable
energy supply.
Passivhaus Institut

59. Clean Energy Plans?!

60. Climate Change Scenarios
https://climateactiontracker.org

61. Pledges Mostly Insuf
fi
cient
https://feu-us.org

62. US Climate “Olympics”
Metric
tons
of
CO2
per
capita
per
year
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
US 2000-Watt
1
20
H
o
w
d
o
w
e
b
e
c
o
m
e
a
1
-
t
o
n
s
o
c
i
e
t
y
?

63. Which Path Do We Invest In?
Substitution
500
11,500
E
ffi
ciency +
Su
ffi
ciency
8,000
500
1,500
Clean Energy
Non Renewable
E
ffi
ciency + Su
ffi
ciency

64. Realities in Minnesota

65. Aspirations
https://eq-research.com

66. Current Energy Use
2000-Watt Society

67. Clean Energy Plan?
B.A.U. + Electrify Everything
ISSUE: Peak heating = massive
peak load Solar and wind cannot
meet the demand
COST: We are building a
huge clean energy
infrastructure
2000-Watt Society

68. Hey, we have a massive
hill and valley problem!

69. Carbon Framework Plan
“Ef
fi
ciency+ Suf
fi
ciency +
Renewables”
Intep

70. Phasing In Ef
fi
ciency
City of Vancouver

71. With Passive House

72. Compounding Losses
PHD & PHI
Useful Energy
Source
Energy
Site Energy
Loss Factor:
Conversion and Distribution
Loss Factor:
Performance factor
of equipment used
Wasting Energy Here… …means having
to produce a lot
more here!

73. Multiplying Savings
Useful Energy
Source
Energy
Site Energy
Loss Factor:
Conversion and Distribution
Loss Factor:
Performance factor
of equipment used
Saving Energy Here… …means saving
a lot more here!
PHD & PHI

74. Clean Energy Plan!
Ef
fi
ciency First + Renewables
SOLUTION: Massive peak heat load
reduction reduces supply and load
shifting issues!
COST: We are building a
small clean energy
infrastructure
2000-Watt Society

75. Bene
fi
cial Electri
fi
cation
Resource: https://rmi.org/insight/decarbonizing-homes/

76. Bene
fi
cial Electri
fi
cation with
Passive House
• Of course, we recognize the implications of an integrated whole
systems approach – it’s called Passive House and the report
doesn’t shrink from this implication but instead speci
fi
cally calls out
the Passive House methodology as a core strategy of
bene
fi
cial electri
fi
cation.
• The formula Passive House + Electri
fi
cation + Renewables is a
simple expression of the integration proposed by bene
fi
cial
electri
fi
cation.
• The report does a great job of laying out further positive results too:
fewer toxins, less pollution, less asthma, allergies, protection from
weather extremes, grid resilience, and increased safety for
neighborhoods and communities – in particular helping close the
gap in health outcomes for low-income communities.

77. + Embodied Energy
Reduction
PH Ribbon

78. = Foundation for
Climate Action
iPHA & PH Accelerator

79. Bene
fi
ts Multiply…
with Energy
Ef
fi
ciency First!
= Climate Impact Reduction
= Human Comfort and Health
= Resiliency
= Durability
= Life Cycle Cost E
ffi
ciency
= Social Justice

80. Passive House
transforms the status quo

81. How Does Passive House
Compare and Fit In?

82. Passive House &
Other Certi
fi
ed Standards
• Passive House is focused on:
• energy ef
fi
ciency and carbon footprint
• human comfort and well being
• optimized life cycle cost and value
• Passive House offers crosswalks and is s synergetic with other sustainable
building standards
• Passive House provides credentials and third-party certi
fi
cation (but does not
require it)

83. Passive House & Code
• Generally exceeds energy code minimums
• Does not compete with energy codes
• Creates more energy ef
fi
cient, comfortable,
economical, resilient, climate-appropriate and
sustainable buildings than code minimums
• Has inspired Energy Codes and Reach Codes
• Has effectively become code in some markets

84. Passive House & ASHRAE
• BSR/ ASHRAE 227P: Passive Building Standard
• Provides requirements for the design of buildings that have
exceptionally low energy usage and that are durable,
resilient, comfortable, and healthy.
• Can become reference and code-enforceable.
• Is based on, informed and inspired by the Passive House
building energy standard (as well as PHIUS+ in the US)
Resource: https://www.ashrae.org/news/esociety/new-ashrae-passive-building-standard-to-
boost-use-of-strategy

85. LEED

86. Living Building Challenge
This crosswalk between the International Living Future Institute (ILFI)
and the PHI offers guidance for buildings seeking to bene
fi
t from both
certi
fi
cation schemes by choosing the high energy ef
fi
ciency of a
Passive House complemented with renewables as a compliance
pathway to reach Zero Energy.
• Zero Energy (ZE) Certi
fi
cation: “The annual site energy generation
reported in PHPP can be used to predict potential achievement of
ZE when compared to estimates of annual energy demand.
(PHPP v9.6, PER worksheet, cell S85)
• Actual Performance: Validated after 12-month
Resource: https://living-future.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ZeroEnergyPHI_Crosswalk.pdf

87. Enterprise Green
Communities
Passive House takes building performance further and delivers it with con
fi
dence; it
enables strong control of the indoor environment (air quality, temperature and humidity
comfort).
• MN Overlay Criteria 5.2b: Moving to Zero Energy
• Near Zero Certi
fi
cation with PH certi
fi
cation (18 points)
• Other Synergies:
• Healthy Living Environment via airtightness and ventilation with absolute
performance targets
• Energy Ef
fi
ciency via energy modeling and absolute performance targets
• Third party certi
fi
cation
Resource: https://www.enterprisecommunity.org/solutions-and-innovation/green-communities and http://mnhousing.gov/get/
MHFA_247757

88. Minneapolis Sustainable
Homes Policy
• Financial support of affordable single family
certi
fi
ed Passive House homes in Minneapolis
• Rati
fi
ed in 2020
• Total of $5M
• Up to 20% of cost, or max. $90k per unit

89. Energy Star
Passive House takes building performance further and delivers it with
con
fi
dence; it enables strong control of the indoor environment (air
quality, temperature and humidity comfort).
• Airtightness and ventilation with absolute performance targets
• Energy modeling and absolute performance targets with similar
metrics
• Integration and accounting of renewables via Passive House Plus
and Premium
• Third party certi
fi
cation
Homes: https://www.energystar.gov/newhomes?s=mega
Commercial Buildings: https://www.energystar.gov/buildings?s=mega

90. B3, SB2030 and
Architecture 2030
The Passive House approach enables the design team to reach
building performance targets sooner, with con
fi
dence, and without
the requirement for on-site renewable systems.
• Ef
fi
ciency via energy modeling with absolute performance targets
• Carbon-neutrality via carbon-accounting with absolute targets (PER
metric)
• Embodied energy/ Carbon accounting via phRibbon plugin
• Third party certi
fi
cation
Resources: https://www.b3mn.org/2030energystandard/ and https://architecture2030.org

91. B3, SB2030
“Yes, Passive House certi
fi
cation can de
fi
nitely be dovetailed into B3/SB2030
projects and we encourage that approach because PH certi
fi
cation typically
results in very high performance projects. We estimate that PH projects will
often meet or even exceed SB 2030 required levels of on-site energy
ef
fi
ciency.
CSBR and CEE are working together currently to
fi
nd a way to minimize
redundancy between the two programs, for example by accepting standard
PH energy models (PHPP or WUFI Passive) as a compliance path.“
Rolf Jacobson, U of M CSBR October 2021

92. Architecture 2030

93. Key Findings from Building
Passive House in Minnesota
• Differences in construction and systems are manageable but require diligent,
experienced design team—particularly for energy modeling and detail design
• Passive House costs “different” on day 1 due to the investment in
sustainability
• Life Cycle cost are cheaper (not putting any cost value on human bene
fi
ts)
• Energy performance is entirely different; heating is no longer a major
consumer of energy; domestic hot water production and plug loads need to
be managed and reduced
• Fits the paradigm of a sustainable building
• Learning curve is quickly eliminated—particularly when working with same,
experienced team

94. What Can I Do?

95. Actively think about and
consider Passive House

96. Renovate and build
new Passive House

97. Require Passive House
for public buildings and
private developments

98. Consider getting Passive
House trained or certi
fi
ed

99. Resources
• Stakeholder: Passive House Institute
https://passivehouse.com/
• Global Organization: International Passive House Association
https://passivehouse-international.org
• U.S. Organization & Training: The Passive House Network
https://naphnetwork.org/
• Local Organization: Passive House Minnesota
https://passivehouseminnesota.org/
• Knowledge Base: Passipedia
https://passipedia.org/
• Community: Passive House Accelerator
https://passivehouseaccelerator.com

100. Thank You!
testudio.com passivehouseminnesota.org passivehousenetwork.org