Passive House Institute launches ‘cost-effective’ passive building standard

PHIUS (Passive House Institute US) launched the new PHIUS+ 2015 passive building standard on March 25.

PHIUS says the building energy performance target is in the “sweet spot” where cost effectiveness overlaps with aggressive energy and carbon reduction. It promises to ignite tremendous growth in the application of passive building principles, the organization says.

Formally known as PHIUS+ 2015 Passive Building Standard: North America, the standard is the product of nearly three years of research conducted by PHIUS in partnership with Building Science Corporation under a U.S. Department of Energy Building America grant.

The effort employed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s BEopt tool (for cost-optimizing) to develop optimized design guidelines for use in North America’s wide-ranging climate zones.

Passive building has gained great attention in recent years, but the adoption of passive principles—superinsulation, airtight envelope, energy recovery ventilation—has been slower than hoped because of cost and other disincentives. The new formula and standards remove those obstacles, PHIUS says.

The new elements of the facility now include: efficient lighting with day-lighting controls and occupancy sensors, a high-efficiency HVAC system used in conjunction with a newly constructed thermal envelope to help reduce energy consumption, and the installation of low-flow fixtures to reduce water consumption.

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