Passive House SK

It’s real... by 2030 new buildings in Canada will need to be net-zero, as shown in the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change as well as the new publication Build Smart: Canada’s Building Strategy.

Passive House is a demonstrated methodology for designing and constructing zero energy buildings in any climate. Passive House Canada has established an education program with courses developed for all building professionals involved.

Courses are being offered across Canada this Fall: - Victoria: Oct. 12-15 - New Westminster: Oct. 26-29 - Toronto: Oct. 26-29 - Calgary: Oct. 26-29 - Ottawa: Nov. 2-5 - Penticton: Nov. 16-19 - Saskatoon: Nov. 23-26

For more information and to register for the Saskatoon course please click the link below:

Radiance Cohousing construction is in full swing! Public open house on Saturday Nov 11 2-6 https://passivhausprojekte.de/index.php?lang=en#d_5441 … #passivhaus.days #yxe

From Adam Putz (Piller and Putz Construction) - The Jameson Netzero

CanPHI West is offering Passive House training in Saskatoon this spring - 10 days in total.

Part A - March 31 - Apr 3, 2016 (4 days in class Theory, Case Studies and Exercises)

Part B - (Optional) April 14-16 (3 days in class PHPP energy modelling software training, 3 days online self study)

Course Information and Registration

Some people have been asking for the address to see the original 1977 Saskatchewan Conservation House. (If you go for a look please be considerate of the current owners.)

Or just have a look at this Google Street view.

Hope the summer is treating you well. We would like to make you aware of three Passive House training opportunities coming up this fall in SK, organized by CanPHI West and being conducted by Michael Nemeth, mechanical engineer and Passive House designer living in Saskatoon. Online registration is open.

Sept. 11, 2015 - Saskatoon - 1 Day Introduction to Passive House Design and Construction

Sept. 18, 2015 - Regina - 1 Day Introduction to Passive House Design and Construction

Oct 19 - Dec 1 - Saskatoon - Passive House Night Class at Saskatchewan Polytechnic (10 Day Equivalent)

Please see the flyers for the Saskatoon and Regina 1 day courses. The 1 day course is aimed at all construction industry professionals, architects, designers, local government, real estate agents, builders, developers, home owners, sustainability enthusiasts and anyone interested in learning the basics of energy efficient building.

The following topics will be covered:

• Passive house design fundamentals

• Super insulated envelopes

• Methods for achieving extreme air tightness

• Passive house quality windows

• Leading ventilation design principles

• Passive house economics and costs

The Passive House Night Class in Saskatoon will be equivalent to the newly developed CanPHI West 10 day course, created in collaboration with the Passive House Academy (Ireland/U.S.). However it will be spread over 7 weeks, held on both Monday and Tuesday nights starting October 19.

CanPHI at the Living Green Expo media launch on January 22 (Michael Nemeth).

We even got in a few words with the StarPhoenix.

The banner and leaflets are available for use if anyone is giving a talk or attending an event. Just get in touch with me, Michael (306 292 6356).

April 6-10

• Passive House design theory

• Building science for radical conservation

• Building envelope optimization for cold climates

• Hands‐on building performance modeling using the PHPP design software

• Mechanical system design for comfort and performance

• Thermal bridge‐free design of building assemblies

• Architectural details and technical solutions

We are members of the Canadian Passive House Institute and our interest is to provide the knowledge, tools and networks needed to design and construct buildings to the Passive House standard.

Buildings use over a third of the energy in Canada, much of that in heating, and much of our energy is carbon based. That energy has a cost.

It's said the cheapest form of energy is energy efficiency. A saved kWh can cost 3 cents while you know that you pay 10 cents or more on your power bill.

Following the Passive House approach, buildings can be designed and built to save 90% of the energy ordinarily needed to heat it.

It's a building standard developed in Germany in the early 90s. It is now building code in many European cities with 50,000+ Passivhaus residential and commercial buildings having been built.

But interestingly it has roots here in Saskatchewan with research done in the 1970s on high efficiency solar homes. Also interesting, Saskatchewan still does not have any energy efficiency requirements as part of its building code - while MB and other provinces do.

There are many SK builders already building with the concepts of Passive House: 1) increased insulation [R40 and even R60 and triple glazed windows], 2) stop drafts with good air tightness (but use an HRV), and 3) good layout (if possible) to the south to let sun shine in and heat the building - though this is less important in larger buildings.

An excellent podcast put out by local writer and entrepreneur Shane Wolffe.

Check out the episode with Guido Wimmers - Passive House designer and instructor. The episode on passive building economics with Ronn Lepage of Vereco home is also well done.

http://www.futureproofmybuilding.com/announcing-future-proof-radio/

You can listen to it on iTunes like other podcasts. Or you can listen to it here at Podbay.

Looks like Stuart Fix (with Renu Building Science and the City of Edmonton) will be doing a half day workshop on Passive House at the Building Saskatchewan Green Conference (Nov 13, 14 in Saskatoon).

We had a great turnout to our first meetup since the Passive House course in March. The Two Twenty boardroom is a great space. If our future attendance is much greater, we could ask about the Two Twenty Den (in the basement).

Exam:

Malcolm Isaacs with CanPHI joined us by phone to explain aspects of the Passive House certification exam. Appropriate dates for us may be Saturday, October 18 and Friday, December 5.

We can purchase the Study Materials Package for $100 at any time at http://www.passivehouse.ca/professional-certification/

You may register and take the Online Prep Course two months prior to the exam you choose to write.

When we decide when we'd like to take the exam we can contact Malcolm and arrange with SIAST to supervise the exam, Angela Deans said she could help us out with that. Malcolm would email the exam to SIAST the day before.

We can plan an exam study group meetup after people have received their Study Materials.

Technical Discussion:

Though our discussions ranged widely, we started off discussing the Duxton passive house window properties. They were shown to perform well in PHPP.

We also discussed vapour diffusion through an EIFS + wood stud wall assembly. We worked with the free software tool WUFI to compare various wall types for their vapour diffusion properties.

The afternoon ended with a discussion of Passive House and energy efficiency advocacy in Saskatchewan.

Some of us joined the rest of the Green Drinks group after the meetup.