passive house consulting

Passive House Incentives for Multi-Family High-Rise Buildings

Mass Save recently announced financial incentives and assistance to support the construction of multi-family high-rise buildings with Passive House certification or similar levels of energy efficiency.

Why Passive House?

Passive House Building techniques provide the occupants with shelter from rising energy costs through a building envelope that requires only a fraction of the heating and cooling energy consumed by a typical new building. The super-insulated structure eliminates drafts and temperature swings throughout the building thereby ensuring maximum thermal comfort and also helps with noise attenuation by mitigating any surrounding outdoor noise. Additionally, houses built in accordance with Passive House standards require a smaller investment in mechanical systems and have a lower carbon footprint compared to buildings built to code.

Eligibility Criteria

The Mass Save Passive House incentives are available to projects that enroll prior to reaching 100% Schematic Design. Eligible buildings should be four stories or higher with at least five units and pursue Passive House certification and monitor and provide the Sponsors with whole-building gas and electric consumption as well as on-site production. A PHI or PHIUS-certified Passive House consultant is required to conduct a feasibility study and serve as consultant throughout the design and certification process.

Buildings will be eligible to receive post-construction incentives if they at least achieve pre-certification. If the building does not achieve pre-certification, you will be eligible for the standard Multi-Family High-Rise incentives.

Passive House Consulting by ZED

ZeroEnergy Design provides Passive House Consulting services for developers and architects seeking exceptional energy performance and targeting PHI or PHIUS+ certification.

ZED will guide building envelope improvements and mechanical systems to best accommodate project goals such as comfort, durability, indoor air quality, aesthetics, cost effectiveness, efficiency, and certification.

Depending on project goals and requirements, ZED can assist with:

  • Passive House FEASIBILITY

  • Passive House ENERGY MODELING

  • Passive House PRE-CERTIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION FACILITATION

Greenport Passive House - New Passive House Consulting & Mechanical Design Project

ZeroEnergy Design is excited to present a new Passive House Consulting and Mechanical Design case study - the Greenport Passive House in Greenport, New York.

Designed by the Turett Collaborative, the architect’s decisions regarding the home’s orientation and upside-down layout maximize natural light and passive solar gain in the upper level living-areas. ZED then assisted with consulting for the Passive House-aligned airtight building envelope, continuous insulation, meticulous air sealing, triple-glazed windows, and high-efficiency HVAC and hot water systems - all of which work together to ensure exceptional energy performance, improved indoor air quality, and first-rate comfort for the occupants.

Read the full case study below.

MORE: GREENPORT PASSIVE HOUSE

Chicago Passive House Listed in the Passive House Database

The Ellis Passive House, which was the first PHI certified passive house in Chicago, is now officially listed in the international Passive House database.

The Passive House database is a joint project of the Passive House Institute, the Passivhaus Dienstleistung GmbH, the IG Passivhaus Deutschland and the iPHA (International Passive House Association) and contains a detailed overview of realized Passive Houses from around the world.

In this case, the antiquated 1890s greystone was renovated by Kenwood Construction Services with ZeroEnergy Design providing Passive House Consulting and Mechanical Design. The Passive House EnerPHit certified project is an excellent example of the renovation possibilities for an aging, residential masonry building. It proves that families who wish to live in a sustainable city home need not be limited by the age of the building nor do they have to compromise on style, space or comfort.

The Ellis Passive House was also recently featured on the Treehugger website for its impressive performance throughout the past winter.

MORE: PASSIVE HOUSE DATABASE | ZED CASE STUDY

Greenport Passive House featured in Inhabitat

Popular green architecture and home design website, Inhabitat, just published an article on the Greenport Passive House, designed and built by architect Wayne Turett of The Turett Collaborative. ZeroEnergy Design’s Jordan Goldman provided Passive House Consulting and Mechanical Design for this project.

The airtight dwelling was created in alignment with the Passive House standard, which focuses on the building envelope and passive solar gain to achieve exceptionally low energy consumption and operational carbon footprint. In addition to the airtight building envelope and continuous insulation, the all-electric home features a ducted air source heat pump for heating and cooling and an energy recovery ventilation system for fresh, filtered indoor air.

MORE: INHABITAT