Track 2: High-Performance Single-Family

Track Chair(s): Michael Dobler, Michael Dobler Architect; Mark Price, Price Sustainability; Kristen Simmons, Passive House New England

High Performance Hybrid Wall Systems

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Wednesday, March 7, Cityview 1
Session Speaker(s): Aaron Grin

This session will discuss the hygrothermal benefits and structural performance of a set of high R-Value hybrid wall systems. Based on our past experience in the Building America program, we have found that combinations of materials and approaches provide optimum performance. They set of hybrid walls proposed utilize a combination of exterior insulation, diagonal metal strapping, spray polyurethane foam and cavity fill insulation. Properly integrated, these provide effective thermal, air, moisture and water barrier systems in one structural assembly. The systems will be hygrothermally and structurally analyzed and the results will be presented.

High Performance at a Low Cost: Hitting the Sweet Spot in Maine

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Wednesday, March 7, Cityview 1
Session Chair(s): Declan Keefe
Session Speaker(s): Alan Gibson, Matt O’Malia

This session will explore the design, construction methods and energy data from Maine’s first certified Passive House. Completed in 2010, the GO Home is the prototype for GO Logic, LLC, a design/build firm specializing in Passive House, near zero-energy and net-zero-energy homes. The firm’s two partners will explain how this home achieves its unique combination of elegant design, near-zero-energy performance and livability while being built at the moderate cost of $150 per square foot. The home demonstrates that green construction can be affordable to a wide range of home buyers who will not sacrifice comfort or style by choosing a high-performance home.

Rain, Rain, Go Away: Water Management for Walls

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Wednesday, March 7, Cityview 1
Session Chair(s): Mark Price
Session Speaker(s): John Straube

Rain is the most important wetter of walls, but it’s not the only one. Occasionally, walls get wet from condensation, and sometimes they’re built with wet materials. So walls have to be designed to dry out — to the interior, to the exterior, or to both. If we eliminate rain as a source of wetting, most walls will be fine. That’s why it’s so important to drain everything and to focus on every element of rainwater management: the drainage plane, the drainage space, the flashings, and the weeps. If we pay proper attention to those key details, we will have done most of what is necessary to provide our buildings with dry walls (paraphrased from Joe’s March 2003 JLC article)

The Emerging DER Baseline in the Boston Metro Area

8:30 AM – 10:00 AM Thursday, March 8, Cityview 1
Session Chair(s): Oliver Klein
Session Speaker(s): Brian Butler, David Connelly Legg, Henry MacLean

In this session we will compare a number of completed Deep Energy Retrofits completed in the Boston Metro area, establishing a model of construction costs, energy savings, ongoing monitoring and client satisfaction. We will review the fundamental components of a DER project from complete exterior skin retrofits to significant renovations and additions at the limit of the National Grid protocol. The group will outline their challenges and experiences as an energy efficiency manager, a builder and as an architect. They will portray the emerging baseline in energy savings and associated costs of the projects for the greater Boston area and will contrast this baseline with other sub-regions in the Northeast.

Finding the Right MPG for Existing Homes

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM Thursday, March 8, Cityview 1
Session Chair(s): Nancy Hazard
Session Speaker(s): Ian Finlayson, Kevin Galligan

The general public is beginning to be interested in energy efficient homes to save money on their utility bills, and yet there is no easy way for them to know how efficient the home they are planning to by is, how their existing home compares to other homes or how efficient they could make their own home. In this session, we will hear reports from two pilot projects that explore residential energy labeling systems that are being conducted around the country. We will present the experiences, including customer response and implementation rates in Western Massachusetts and Cape Cod, using the Earth Advantage Institute tool and the DOE Home Energy Score.

Creating a Zero Net Energy Building in a Historic Shell

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Thursday, March 8, Skyline
Session Chair(s): Michael Berry
Session Speaker(s): Kimberley Quirk, John B. Unger Murphy

This session details the story of the renovation of an historic house into a net zero energy building. The goal of the project was to achieve a LEED Gold or better rating and eliminate the need for any fossil fuels while retaining the character of the mid-nineteenth century shell. The systems designed to meet this goal include an innovative seasonal heat storage system with evacuated tube collectors, super-insulating and sealing the envelope, a low temperature hydro-air delivery system and careful modeling of heat requirements and system capabilities. This talk discusses the issues, challenges, measurements and current status of the project after the first year of occupancy.