Tuesday, March 5th, 9:00AM – 12:00PM
Each half-day workshop receives 3 continuing education units from the following professional organizations: AIA, BPI, GBCI, InterNACHI, NAHB, and NARI. To receive your credits, you must sign in at the beginning of each workshop.
An Introduction to PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) Software
Workshop Speaker: David White, Right Environments
Description: The PHPP is a great tool for predicting heating demand and peak heating load in low-load buildings. In this half-day workshop, the presenter will begin with a concise, directed overview of how the tool works and what advantages it offers. The workshop will then continue with modeling the heating energy demand and peak heating load of a single family home.
Best Practices for Efficient Hot Water Systems in Single and Multifamily Buildings
Workshop Speaker: Gary Klein, Affiliated International Management
Description: Domestic hot water use can be a very large proportion of the energy use in a residential, commercial or multifamily building, depending on occupancy type and climate. A domestic hot water system is a major subsystem in buildings and is comprised of a series of components: water heater (or boiler), the piping, recirculation loop and pump, fixtures and appliances. These components must be integrated into a system so that occupants will tend to use it efficiently. Often, they are not, and we suffer the consequences in wasted water, energy and time. What is the most energy, water, and time efficient way to install a hot water system? How can these considerations be integrated into good building design? What are the most appropriate strategies? This session will explore these questions. This is an interactive and hands-on session. Volunteers from the audience will be asked to assist in “mapping” an efficient plumbing layout on the floor of the conference room
Conflicts Between Performance and Compliance: What it Takes to Make High Performance Buildings
Workshop Speaker: Bill Rose, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Urbana – Champaign
Description: The goal is good performance. We all want to design and construct buildings that work well and enhance our reputations. And if we meet all the codes, honor the standards, and follow the guidelines, we’ll get good performance. Right?….. Wrong. As we’re all aware, we can do everything by the book and still end up with a mess. This workshop will examine some of the most contentious issues in our architectural, design, and construction practices: vapor barriers, attic ventilation, radon, house ventilation, moisture control, and energy reduction in buildings. We’ll use the “compliance versus performance” framework to dig into the guidelines, standards, and codes that govern what you’re supposed to be doing with regard to each of these issues. We won’t provide “The Answer” or resolve disputes, but you’ll leave with the tools and understanding for better designs, better buildings—and, eventually, maybe even better guidelines, standards, and codes.
Simplified Space Conditioning Strategies for Low-Load Homes
Workshop Speakers: Duncan Prahl and Dave Stecher, IBACOS, Inc.
Description: Here’s the scenario: your client has asked for the cheapest way to heat and cool their newly built (or retrofitted) air-tight, super-insulated building. This workshop helps guide your choices by defining the characteristics of minimized space conditioning distribution strategies for low-load houses (retrofit or new construction) that meet industry comfort measures. In the spotlight is a central space conditioning unit with no ducted distribution: the lowest-installed-cost market-available system. Attendees will learn how this lowest-cost strategy has failed to meet existing standards for temperature uniformity and stability and begin to identify the next least-cost options so that their performance can be evaluated. This study’s field work and corresponding mathematical modeling will be used to draw larger conclusions for a variety of climatic regions and house configurations.
Structural Engineering for a Brave New World
Workshop Speakers: Ben Brungraber, Fire Tower Engineered Timber; Len Morse Fortier, Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger
Description: We’re asking more of our buildings than ever before, and with those greater expectations come greater risks. Managing those risks means staying abreast of current research and best practice, especially when it comes to the most permanent part of any building: the structure. This workshop, given by two dynamic presenters and experts in their field, will provide a series of engineering case studies showing how to bring your old building into the 21st century as carefully and cost-effectively as possible, and how to give this building the best chance to survive into the 22nd century, regardless of what conditions a changing climate might throw at it.
WUFI Passive Workshop: Next-Gen Modeling Tool for Passive House and Building Professionals in North America
Workshop Speaker: Katrin Klingenberg, Passive House Institute US
Description: Passive design methodology has become recognized over the past decade as a strategy to optimize conservation first. Critical to the success of the design is the tool that is being used for the task. What a tool can’t “see” can’t be taken into account in the design process. Over the past decade the early passive modeling tools on the market, mainly verified only in climates most similar to Europe, have been used in various North American climates. Implementation of those designs in a much wider range of climates has identified shortcomings of the initial tool and needed improvements, most notably in regards to optimization for cooling and humidity concerns. Over the past year, the Passive House Institute US, Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics and Owens Corning, have partnered to develop an “all-in-one” modeling tool that fulfills these newly identified modeling needs for a passive house or building in all climate zones of North America: WUFI Passive. This workshop will introduce professionals to this next generation passive modeling tool and its expanded capabilities as well as the planned improvements for the near future.
PV 101: Grid-tied PV Systems for Architects, Engineers and General Contractors
Workshop Speakers: Steven Strong, Luke McKneally, Pat Retelle, Robert Erb, Solar Design Associates
Description: Everything your design and building team needs to know to successfully incorporate photovoltaics into their projects. Steven Strong and Solar Design Associates’ senior staff share 30 years of experience on hundreds of PV projects. Learn the efficiencies and costs of different system options, general sizing guidelines, design and mounting options, designing a solar-friendly building, load and harvest calculations, availability of financial incentives, permitting and installation issues and coordination with other trades.
