North American Passive House Network Conference 2018

Passive House has gained significant momentum in North America recently particularly in multi-family residential projects. The documented energy performance that Passive House projects deliver is attractive to policy makers and owners who are looking for real world results. What makes a Passive House project work is the focus on building envelope thermal and leakage performance. The buildings are so well insulated and air tight that they behave differently than conventional buildings in several ways. One outcome is that multifamily residential buildings have high humidity issues in winter.

This presentation will 1) study the relevance of centralized versus decentralized ventilation on indoor humidity, 2) relate the calculation of winter humidity loads in Passive House buildings to ASHRAE standards, 3) compare Passive House and ASHRAE Std 90.1 infiltration rates and 4) compare HRV and ERV solutions.

Learning Objectives
1. Understand the difference between centralized and decentralized ventilation
2. Learn industry standard procedures for calculating indoor humidity in winter
3. Understand why indoor humidity in Passive House buildings should be evaluated differently than traditional buildings
4. Learn how to decide if an HRV or an ERV is best for your Passive House project.