Super energy efficient and modern Passive House Duplex has been designed for Squirrel Hill neighborhood in Pittsburgh, PA. A Passive House is so well insulated and is so air-tight that heating and cooling energy is cut by up to 80% compared to standard new construction. Half of the duplex is available for pre-sale.

1. 1
New Kid on the Block:
Passive House Comes into
the Neighborhood
Lucyna de Barbaro & Ayres Freitas
March 15, 2014

2. Content:
 Passive House concept
 Transformational eco-movement developing
around Passive House -- in US, in Europe
 Our Squirrel Hill duplex, ½ of which (west
side unit) is available for sale
But first, few words about motivation…
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3. 3
Why Focus on Buildings?
 Buildings account for 40% of total energy used
and generate 45% of total US CO2 emissions
 Hefty contribution to Global Warming and
Climate Change
 US adds ~6 billion tons of CO2 emissions a year, world’s total: ~34 billion
 CO2 emissions per capita in US: 17.3 tons, China 7.2 tons, EU average: 7.5,
average for the world: 4 (July 2011 data)
 Renewable energy growth too slow (25%) compared to fossil fuel use
increase in the last decade (41%)
 Effects of self-acceleration of global warming (“tipping points”) are very
serious
 With current trends we are not on a path to limit warming to 2o C by 2100

4. Passive House Standard could be part of the answer
 The standard was developed in Germany in 1990-ties
and is now widely tried and adopted
 Was proven economically viable; ~10% increase in
construction cost while achieving 80% reduction in
energy use of the building (in Germany)
 No additional energy generation like solar or geothermal
 Simply built to maintain a near constant indoor
temperature without adding much energy for heating and
cooling
4

5. Passive Houses can be any shape / form
5
Retrofit,
CA
Utah
IL
Boehm, Austria

6. Can have any function:
6
Religious center, VA
Community center, Austria
Office building

7. Innsbruck: Winter Olympics Village, now dorms
7

8. Passive House Standard Adoption in Europe
8

9. 9
Annual New Construction #s in Austria
and in US

10. Belgium’s main province adopted the law that all new
construction is to Passive House standard – 3 years
later, PH hits mainstream
10

11. 11
How does it compare?
Different standards with respect to annual energy use
and cooling

12. 12
Energy used in residential buildings
Median value: 70 kBtu/sf/yPassive House
Standard is
defined by
setting a limit
on energy use
Over the life of the house, imbedded energy (in materials,
construction, etc.) is ~10%, while operating energy is ~90%
1 kBtu=0.3 kWh

13. 13
How does it work?

14. Building envelope: one of many possible wall
solutions for Passive House:
R values for Passive
House in Pittsburgh
versus (code, new constr.):
Walls: R35-45 (20)
Slab: R35-45 (10)
Roof: R60-80 (38)
Windows R 5-10 (2.9)
A lot of building science,
but well understood and
modeled
R value: measure of thermal resistance;
heat transfer per unit area per unit time

15. Passive House windows
Squirrel Hill Passive House Duplex 15
 Windows are the weakest part of insulation envelope
 Passive house certified windows:
excellent performance of glazing and frame
© YARO/Makrowin
Triple glazing
Wood, aluminum
or PVC frame
Insulation core
(uPVC , cork, etc.)
Aluminum
cladding
(some models)
Tilt/turn design
for good seal

16. Thermal bridges are eliminated in PH due to
smarter design and advances in energy modeling
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17. 17
Thermal envelope, before and after Passive House
retrofit:

18. Important breakthrough: energy recovery ventilators
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70-90% efficient in keeping
the energy & humidity of the
room/indoor air “inside”

19. Measurable performance of PH is “built in” into PH
standard:
Criterion #1: total energy has to be less than
 38 kBtu/sf/yr
 Note: this is primary (or source) energy, not site energy.
About 3 times more energy needs to be used at the source to
generate energy we use on site due to generation inefficiency and
transport losses. Source energy is the most relevant measure of
carbon emission.
19
Criterion #2: heating and
cooling energy limits:
 4.75 kBtu/sf/yr, each
This is like
heating the
whole 2000 sf
house with a hair
dryer 9 hrs a day
(and making it
nicely warm!)
1 kBtu=0.3 kWh

20. 20
Verifiable methodology is built into PH Standard
Criterion #3: air tightness (0.6 air-changes per hour at 50 pascals)
Measured through blower-door test to assure that standard is met
Passive House air
leakage is about
10 times less than
standard new
construction

21. Passive House
Focus on economic
feasibility:
 Shift money from
mechanical systems to
the building envelope
 Long lasting, high quality
construction
Focus on comfort:
 Healthy interior
environments due to
continuous ventilation
 “Year-round barefoot
indoor comfort on a dime”
No drafts/uniform temp.
Focus on predictability:
 Computer modeling with
PHPP (Passive House
Planning Package) and
WUFI (Heat and Moisture
Dynamics* modeling)
 Optimization of performance
w/ PHPP/WUFI
 Certification from Passive
House Institute US (PHIUS)
*Wärme und Feuchte Instationär
21

22. 
22
Our Passive
House Duplex:
2883-2887
Fernwald Rd.
Walkability
Index: 45
Frick Park: ~0.6
Universities: ~3.5
miles
Distances/driving
(20 lb of CO2
from each gallon
of gas) are also a
big part of
sustainability
Squirrel Hill shops and
amenities ~1.5 miles away

23. Fernwald Rd streetscape
23
2 Lots zoned for single
family attached, 1RA ,
sizes: 35 x 100 ft
Southern slope ~10°

24. Squirrel Hill Passive House Duplex 24
Architect: Alan Dunn & Associates

25. Squirrel Hill Duplex, northern facade
25

26. Squirrel Hill Duplex from south-west
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Permeable driveway
Rain water cisterns
Pre-wired for PV array
Electric car-charging …

27. Squirrel Hill Duplex, from north-east
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28. 28
First floor
layout

29. 29
Second
floor
layout

30. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
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Life cycle embodied energy plus operating energy of the building;
R. Jacobson, 2012 Passive House Conference
Different type of
superinsulated walls
compared to
standard frame
Over the life of the house, any superinsulated wall results in much smaller
energy use

31. Environmental impacts of building materials
Squirrel Hill Passive House Duplex 31
Environmental Performance of Cladding,
from CertainTeed FC_LCA_Report_FC057
(data from Building for Economic and Environmental Sustainability
program, operated by NIST)
Significant differences – important to pay attention to LCA & Global Warming Potential

32. Mechanical Systems for Squirrel Hill Duplex
Squirrel Hill Passive House Duplex 32
• Fujitsu 12kBtu/hr
ducted heat pump for
both heating and
cooling
• Zehnder Comfo 350
ERV for continuous
ventilation with energy
recovery
• Each system will have
its own set of ducts to
allow proper balancing
of each function

33. Squirrel Hill Passive House Duplex 33
Mech. system design by John Semmelhack

34. Passive House movement in US
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 PH Institute (PHIUS)
 Committed to making high-performance Passive building the mainstream market
standard
 Trained more than 1,000 architects, engineers, energy consultants, and builders
 Passive House Standard is now a joint PHIUS and
Department of Energy standard
 PH Alliance – chapter structure for professionals and PH
enthusiasts. Pittsburgh chapter founded in Oct 2013
 8th Annual PH Conference just recently happened here;
400+ attendees

35. Pittsburgh
area projects
35
• Former YMCA in
McKeesport – retrofit
to PH standard
• Heidelberg House
• Walnut St. retrofit
• Former VFW in
Hazelwood to house
Carnegie Library
• Next planned:
Uptown Lofts on Fifth
Squirrel Hill Duplex

36. Why engage in Passive House project?
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 To set an example
 Get the ball rolling
 To be part of the
movement dedicated to
extreme efficiency
 Because this is how much
carbon it is safe to use*
 So that the next
generation(s) have Earth
like the one we know…?
*See Carbon Tracker or 350.org