PHN Presents: Scaling Sustainability
Lessons from Boston’s Leadership in Passive House Adoption
Register Now and join us on November 18th at Noon ET.
Using a pioneering multi-family case study, this session explores Boston’s leadership as the first major city to mandate Passive House building standards in the United States. In Massachusetts, Passive House has been an alternative compliance path for nearly a decade, but its recent rapid adoption is attributed to code changes and state incentives that highlight Passive House as a flexible, scalable roadmap for meeting broad sustainability goals regardless of project complexity or scale.
This presentation provides valuable insights and practical strategies for industry stakeholders and policy makers on enhanced client engagement with senior populations, guiding contractors through their first Passive House build and manufacturers through PHI product certification, use of envelope components that satisfy both operational and embodied carbon emission targets, and an all-electric building design that accommodates renewable technologies.
Learning Objectives
- Outline primary drivers of Passive House benefits and adoption.
- Describe practical strategies for implementing Passive House in projects and policy frameworks.
- Outline how Passive House components and product certification can support operational and embodied carbon emissions goals.
- Describe how Passive House methodology aligns with and supports all-electric renewable goals.
Credit
AIA/PHI – Pending
About the Presenters
Esther Van Eeden is an associate based out of Buro Happold’s Boston office. As a Certified Passive House Designer with extensive project management experience, she has led interdisciplinary teams across the globe over the past 13 years. She provides both technical and strategic guidance on delivering certified Passive House projects at various scales. Her expertise in energy analysis and integrated project delivery has resulted in high-performance buildings that not only meet stringent environmental standards but also provide comfortable, sustainable, and cost-effective spaces for the communities they serve.
Kristen Brozowski is at the forefront of sustainable building design. With a specialization in whole building energy analysis, including HVAC simulations, daylight modeling, and facade investigations, Kristen’s work is instrumental in shaping the future of high-performance buildings. As a CPHD and Associate in Buro Happold’s Boston office, she has been particularly involved with the new Massachusetts Energy Code changes.
Maria Navarro is a CPHD and senior sustainability engineer at Buro Happold. Her expertise lies in green building certifications, energy modeling for code compliance with the new Massachusetts Stretch Energy Code, Passive House design, and embodied carbon analysis across all design phases.
