bim2PH – the new connection between BIM and PHPP

One consistent request from folks running Revit and using PHPP is a way to export surfaces from Revit (or any other BIM software that can export an IFC formatted file) directly to PHPP. This was once possible with some expensive Revit extensions but will now be much more straightforward and inexpensive with BIM2PHPP. As we are an engineering practice focused …

Why don’t owners improve their homes? Results from a survey following a housing warrant‐of‐fitness assessment for health and safety

Paper in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health by Elinor Chisholm Michael Keall Julie Bennett Anaru Marshall Lucy Telfar‐Barnard Louise Thornley Philippa Howden‐Chapman Bottom line – even when folks know that their house is making them sick and the fix is easy/cheap they do not do so unless motivated by some other means. Even if it is …

2019 Passive House Academy: PHPP Expert (PHPP) – course cancelled may be held in 2020 at SPPHC in Sydney

Course is cancelled  – we’re considering offering in in conjunction with the SPPHC in Sydney in 2020 so please contact us if that would suit you. CANCELLED What is the PHPP Expert Qualification? It is an “Additional qualification for Certified Passive House Designer/Consultants, to demonstrate competence in dealing with larger Passive House projects, including non-residential building, refurbishment, PHPP-sheets Variants and …

05 April 2019 Passive House Plus’ Kate De Selincourt: New housing should be to passive house standard — Climate Change Committee

The Committee on Climate Change said: “The Government should act now to set an ambitious trajectory of standards, regulations and targets for new homes, ensuring they are fit for 2050 and beyond.” It also called for a “near complete decarbonisation of how we heat our homes”. It also stated: “Our homes must be low-carbon, energy efficient, have safe moisture levels, …

MVHR commissioning in Certified Passive House Buildings (includes PHI Low Energy Building Standard and EnerPHit as well)

In order to certify your building as meeting the exacting Passive House Standard the certification standard “Criteria for the Passive House, EnerPHit and PHI Low Energy Building Standard, version 9f, revised 15.08.2016” requires in 3.2.5 Ventilation: HRV commissioning report: at minimum, the report must include the following: description of the property, location/address of the building, name and address of the …

Future climate considerations in Passive House Planning Package (PHPP)

Passive House Institute has released a climate morphing tool for use in examining future climates and building resilience. I’m particularly fond of this approach which simply takes an increased summer temperature and increases the dry bulb temperatures throughout the year. After working with more detailed analysis from Meteonorm (which we use for detailed analysis including hygrothermal modeling) and other future …

PHPP Version 9.6 has now been tested pursuant to ASHRAE 140

“PHPP Version 9.6 has now been tested pursuant to ASHRAE 140, which qualifies it as an acceptable energy modelling software under a variety of regulatory systems”   This means that PHPP could now be used for H1 verification via the modeling method for buildings with interesting glazing ratio’s or other non-standard features. The issue will be that Section G1.6.3 in …

Prevention of fabric and interior furnishings fading from the sun

If you could block 100% of UV light than the fading would be reduced to approximately 1/3rd the amount. As the entire spectrum of light contributes to fading and it is very dependant on the material the best you can do is select a glass which has low damage-weighted transmittance has the symbol T-dw. This isn’t perfect as T-dw was developed …