Significant changes are proposed to minimum Code requirements for commercial buildings in Australia and I’ve been particularly interested in measures to mitigate condensation risk in walls. It’s important New Zealand Passive House designers and architects focus on those measures aimed at the parts of Australia with heating-dominated climates similar to ours. The report findings are worth reading, but here’s a …
Developers need a way to participate in the carbon market
We work with motivated clients focused on reducing the carbon emissions associated with their construction projects. In general, I’d characterise their (our) main reason for doing this as the belief that it’s the right thing to do. Also that it’s essential that design professionals (and builders) develop their understanding of how to minimise operational carbon emissions. It’s a slightly odd …
Four very good reasons to sign up for designPH Skills right now
You’ll hear me talking a lot about designPH over the next couple of months. That’s because it’s a seriously useful tool that, once mastered, delivers staggering efficiencies and improvements in energy modelling for high-performance and Passive House buildings. Applications are open for a live, online course led by me, Jason Quinn, that starts on 4 June 2024—soon! Detailed course info …
World’s smallest Passive House building?
What and where is the world’s smallest certified Passive House building? I was asked this question today and didn’t know the answer. It turns out my guess was way off. Sustainable Engineering recently certified a New Zealand Passive House project that checks in at just 61.5m2 of Treated Floor Area (TFA). The question about the world’s smallest was asked by …
The right filter matters in your MVHR system
MVHR systems are great but they need the right filters and the right maintenance to do their job well. I draw your attention to a useful article published by Scottish ventilation consultancy and design service, Paul Heat Recovery. Filters remove various pollutants like dust, pollen, smoke and other particulates, making sure the air circulated inside buildings is clean and fresh. …
Thermal bypass a basic step to improving building performance
I get asked periodically how to increase building performance without spending extra money. Well, better-than-Code performance is going to cost something so I focus on low-hanging fruit: what’s the greatest benefit for the least cost? Let’s assume continuous mechanical ventilation is already included, because that’s the single most important thing. After that, I recommend preventing thermal bypass via a dedicated …
There are lots of different reasons why people build Passive House homes
What motivates people and organisations to build better homes? And how do they afford them? It was interesting to chat with Architype principal Tim Ross this week about the Arthur Street townhouse project (see the case study here). This home stands out for being built-to-rent. It’s in Dunedin, a climate badly in need of warm, dry housing. It also features …
Keep heat pump and ventilation systems separate for best results
Buildings need fresh air, every single one of them. Even the very best-performing ones will also need some (possibly very little) heating or cooling at peak times of year. Ducting costs money and some people are tempted to combine heating/cooling systems with ventilation. Don’t do this, is my advice. Best practice is a fully decoupled system design for ventilation (dedicated …
SketchUp’s new release does not work with designPH 2.1
SketchUp 2024 is now available but if you are using designPH, please hold off on updating SketchUp until designPH2.2 is released! Otherwise you won’t be able to use designPH. PHI has been working on this but SketchUp didn’t tell them it was releasing 2024 until it had already happened. PHI’s testing of designPH v2.1.15a found that the change to Ruby …