Subject

Practice and business

Passive House changes how a project is designed, priced, built, and run. The standard should be set from day one. The team should have done it before or be trained for it. The design should be compact, and the certifier brought in early. A project redesigned partway through costs more than one designed for the standard from the start.

There's usually a cost premium, and it falls as teams gain experience. Part of it is money moved rather than added: a smaller heating and cooling system helps pay for better walls and windows. Bidders new to the work tend to price in their uncertainty, which training and early engagement reduce.

The building should be judged on life-cycle cost, not first cost. Lower energy bills last as long as the building and hedge against price swings, and a lender should see a lower-risk loan. Comfort, quiet, clean air, and resilience are real value even where they're hard to price.

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Cost
Related subjects
Policy and codes · Certification and verification · Resilience

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32 courses and sessions

Specialized courses 1

Paid sessions 7

  • Session · Practice and business

    The Business Case

    David Komet, Urban Earth; Bruce Becker, Becker + Becker; Mike Doty, Nuveen Green Capital; Stuart Decrew, Yale University (moderator)

    1.25 AIA LU · 1 PHI credit

    $19

  • Session · Practice and business

    Care for Kids

    Andrew Peel, Peel Passive House; Mike Fowler, Mithun; Sarah Smiley Smith, Yale University (moderator)

    1.25 AIA LU · 1 PHI credit

    $19

  • Session · Practice and business

    Journey of Improvement

    Brandon Pietras, Bernheimer Architecture; Adam Watson, L&M; Cheryl Saldanha, SGH; Carlos Cardoso, Beyer Blinder Belle (moderator)

    1.25 AIA LU · 1 PHI credit

    $19

  • Session · Practice and business

    Middle Matters

    Hilary Padget, pHdesign; Anthony Harrington, pHdesign; Craig Toohey, Collective Carpentry; Nicholas Jones, Eversource (moderator)

    1.25 AIA LU · 1 PHI credit

    $19

  • Session · Practice and business

    Passive House Value

    Jessica Grove-Smith, PHI; Vanya Chan, PHI; Timothy Lock, OPAL

    1.25 AIA LU · 1 PHI credit

    $19

  • Session · Retrofits and EnerPHit

    Opening Plenary

    Bruce Becker, Becker + Becker & Hotel Marcel; Vanya Chan, Passive House Institute; Mike Woolsey, Swegon; Katelyn Meehan, Wells Fargo; Darren Macri, Wythe Windows; Ken Levenson, The Passive House Network

    1 AIA LU · 1 PHI credit

    $19

  • Session · Certification and verification

    Lessons Learned

    Sarah Lewis, Passivhaus Trust; Beth Campbell, Passive House Massachusetts

    1.25 AIA LU · 1 PHI credit

    $19

Free sessions 24

Writing on Practice and business 12

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