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The Dresden Project Tour

International Conference attendee’s were also invited on a “tour of projects” covering the saxony area. There were 6 tours. My tour visited 4 projects: A research laboratory, A University building’s retro-fit, a Kindergarten and finally a residential Passive House.

Of the 4, the kindergarten was by far my favorite. It was a truly happy building built on a very modest budget. We walked the outside and inside and it made you wish you had gone to school here.

It’s hard to describe why the building felt so good. It all worked together: the light orange wood stain, the clay plaster walls, the perfectly sized tables and chairs for the little ones, plantings inside to bring up moisture levels, the living roof. It’s not just one feature, it’s that they all work together so well.
As you can see the living roof has solar panels that feed this wall heating system. For a “wood guy” like me, this building was perfect from it’s wood framed and dense pack cellulose TJI beam construction, to the clay walls with REAL reeds acting as lathe.
I made the trip to Dresden mostly to look for products that we don’t have available to us in the US. The fact that this building really did not use any structural material that we don’t have in our area was not lost on me. There is always a way…

2010 06 01 Albert Rooks Uncategorized Comments (1) Permalink

PHI Project Certification Plaque

2010 05 28 Albert Rooks PH News & Publicity
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News from Dresden PH International Conference

Passiv Haus Institut (DE) now offers a second level of energy certification. In a move to balance the needs for energy conservation with those of heritage buildings that could lose their architectural and historical integrity by receiving a full Passiv Haus retrofits, Dr Feist today outlined the terms of a secondary level of certification: Enerphit. This level is based on the idea of not achieving the 15kwhrs/m2, but using the wide range of PH components and strategies. In this way the question is now answered: we can both respect our elders (buildings) and make the needed substantial performance improvements.

New Certification display plaque available from PHI de. Dr Feist today displayed an ornamental plaque now available for certified projects. See attached Picture.

Also announced today was the International Passive House Association (IPHA). This is a new organization that is now staffed and operational. The staff is multi lingual and is charged with the translation and dissemination of all things PH that has so far been beyond our reach. The information that they are initially working on is 1, technical papers needing translation to english and 2, developing standard publications intended for public education to the worldwide consumer. This secondary effort is to help educate the general public. The idea is better consumer acceptance through better education.

2010 05 28 Albert Rooks PH News & Publicity
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Passive House could move to the head of the line in Thurston County WA.

Thanks to a Federal Grant, Certified Passive House Consultant Tessa Smith, and a host of others, along with Thurston County, There is a draft document circulating Thurston County that clears the way for Passive House and other green building method permit applications. The document recognizes Passive House by name. If adopted, the documents states:

“This policy sets forth the process and procedures in reviewing a recognized green certified building permit application.

Purpose: To provide a collaborative and expedited review of green certified building permits with a goal to promote development that seeks the greatest possible reduction in environmental impacts.

1.            Any reference to “green certified building permit application” means only such applications that have been certified through Built Green, LEED, NAHB, Passive House, and Energy Star programs

For more detail, or to suggest similar treatment to your planing department, please see the entire DRAFT Document.

Thanks to all for their work in “clearing the way” for others!
Green_Building_Permit_Policy

2010 05 26 Albert Rooks PH News & Publicity
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Zehnder America to hold ComfoSystems trainings in Berkeley, CA and Portland, OR

Zehnder America, Inc. will be holding one-day training sessions for their ComfoSystems HRV/ERV systems in Berkeley, CA and Portland, OR, on Tuesday June 8th and Wednesday June 9th, 2010, respectively.

Topics covered will include ComfoSystems components, design & engineering principles, installation, and commissioning of balanced ventilation systems.

You’ll find the events on the PHnw calendar.

Anyone interested in attending should contact Zehnder America Inc.
Continue reading ›

2010 05 23 admin PH Components
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PH Article in Environmental Building News

EBN (Environmental Building News) has published an article about Passive House in its April 2010 issue. It’s a pretty good introduction for those who haven’t yet heard about PH, and it even features Seattle’s (and PHnw’s) own Dan Whitmore, who is currently building the city’s first Passive House building, as you probably already know.

Cheers,
Markus

2010 04 06 Markus Kolb PH News & Publicity Comments Off Permalink

Passive House Consultant Trainings in Seattle this Spring/Summer

It’s official! The next round of PH Consultant Trainings in Seattle
has been scheduled, to be held again at the Integrated Design Lab. The
dates are:

Phase I – April 28-30
Phase II – June 10-12
Phase III – July 8-10

See the PHIUS website to register, or for more information:
www.passivehouse.us

Jim Burton

2010 03 20 Jim Burton PH Events Comments Off Permalink

Passive House Conference March 26th & a trip to the Seattle Home Show

Be sure to check out the events page for details on our upcoming Passive House Conference to be held this month in Olympia (register by March 12th for the best rate).   I thought about our upcoming conference as I wandered through the Seattle Home Show last week. There were so many vendors and so much to see. I was struck by the idea that one day, given a strong growth in Passive House construction that there would be a strong focus on the types of products that we are looking to know more about. I was only able to visit part of the Home Show while I was there but I did talk to a few of the vendors that might be of interest to the folks reading this blog. I did not talk to any of the window representatives. I know that the national PHIUS conference had quite a few window vendors that other PH consultants were already investigating them and their information would be better than what I could gather in a short amount of time. Continue reading ›

2010 03 02 Linda Whaley PH Events
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Next Passive House Seattle Meeting – Wed. Feb. 24

The next Passive House Seattle Group meeting will be Wednesday the 24th, from 5:30-630 PM at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, Room 3. Dan Whitmore will talk about his Passive House project under construction in Columbia City. Hope to see you there!

For directions go to: http://www.phinneycenter.org/

2010 02 17 Jim Burton PH Events Comments Off Permalink

Seattle Passive House Meeting 2/24/2010 – Dan Whitmore to discuss his Passive House project.

Dan and his plans will be taking a stand on February 24th at the next Passive House Seattle meeting to be held at the Phinney Neighborhood Association, Room 3 (in the upper blue building) from 5:30-6:30pm (conveniently just prior to the 7-9pm Eco Building Guild meeting held in the Community Hall that is in the lower building at the same location). The address is 6532 Phinney Ave N, Seattle WA 98103.

Dan will be discussing his passive house project which is coming along nicely. If you are in the area please stop in – Dan is great at describing his project. If you want a preview, click on the link to the video that is being made about the project then scroll down to see Dan http://www.thehousethatsavedtheworld.com/videoclips.html. Be sure to check out the other videos on that page that are being made as part of “The House That Saved The World” project too!

I hope to see you there!

-Linda

[reprinted from http://existingresources.wordpress.com]

2010 02 16 Linda Whaley Uncategorized Comments Off Permalink