Description

Overview: As the Passive House revolution proceeds in Massachusetts, how are the outcomes being felt in the building and utility industries?

Presentation 1: Passive House is Shaping the Housing Stock in Massachusetts

Presented by Alexander Gard-Murry, Passive House Massachusetts

Massachusetts is a leader in Passive House code requirements, and a study of housing production and permitting in communities that have adopted Passive House codes found that production remains robust after code adoption. There need not be a trade-off between Passive House code requirements and housing affordability. Instead, Passive House can be part of a comprehensive state affordability strategy, one that encourages housing development while also bringing down energy costs for owners, occupants, and all ratepayers.

Presentation 2:

Mass Adoption of Passive House can Deliver Grid-Level Savings

Presented by Paul Ormond, Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources

Passive House is undersold. The scope of the value proposition typically presented – the value to the building, though valid and worthwhile, misses a much larger value proposition. That is, if we “zoom out” and examine, at a utility scale, how Passive House radically reduces both heating and cooling peaks, we would see that Passive House helps us avoid expensive electric grid upgrades that would otherwise be required. We need to shine a bright spotlight on this value and demonstrate that mass adoption of Passive House unlocks grid (and by extension ratepayer) savings.

1.25 AIA & 1 PHI CEUs

Moderated by Jimena Fernandez, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify Passive House code requirements in Massachusetts and how they have been designed to maximize effectiveness through voluntary adoption by municipalities, a focus on the most favorable building typologies, and a supportive ecosystem of training and incentives.
2. Describe the impact of Passive House code requirements on housing production in Massachusetts through real data from communities that have adopted these requirements.
3. Investigate examples of mass adoption of Passive House that is already underway.
4. Explore policy tactics Massachusetts used to help advance mass adoption, including pairings of Passive House policy with attention to EV managed charging infrastructure and adoption and utilization of new pathways in the national electric code.