12/4/2008 2:33:00 PM Passive House designer visits Eagle Bluff
Self-acclaimed "window geek" Tim Eian, Passive House consultant, holds one example of a Passive House certified window he recommends.
By Mary Whalen
There was nothing passive about the passion Tim Eian articulated in his presentation at Eagle Bluff near Lanesboro on Saturday, Nov. 15, where area residents, as well as college students, gathered to learn about Passive Houses in the United States.
Jerome "Joe" Deden, director of Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, asked Eian to visit the area after meeting him at a seminar in Duluth.
Deden explains, "We, as a nation, have committed to reducing our carbon foot print by 80 percent by 2050. Sixty percent of existing residential buildings will still be in existence at that time. They will all have to be upgraded in order to meet this challenge.
"Eagle Bluff would like to be proactive on this issue. We would like to assemble a team of consultants - builders, lumber yards, trades people, and other individuals, to help us redesign the Director's Residence at Eagle Bluff to achieve 'Deep Energy Reductions' - the new buzz word in the industry - or to get as close to Passive standards as possible. Interested parties should contact me at Eagle Bluff to become involved!"
Passive House consultant and building designer Eian believes "that it is most important for people to understand the impact that buildings have on the environment. In this context, I feel that Passive House is virtually the only choice to really make a difference and that it holds tremendous potential to conserve energy and help with global warming. In regard to Passive House, I like to drive home the benefits as follows:
"Economy: Cost savings to the homeowner;
"Energy: Significant conservation - up to 90 percent or more on space-conditioning energy, up to 75 percent or more on source energy;
"Environment: CO2 neutrality in reach, dramatically lowered impact;
"Health: Improved indoor environmental quality;
"Comfort: Temperature (no radiant heat loss), humidity, noise;
"Durability: Reduced maintenance (passive approach), less equipment, simpler systems;
"Value: Best product, arguably - "green sells";
"Conscience: Most efficient standard available today.
"All of the aforementioned qualities produce tremendous quality of life, both for the inhabitants of a Passive House, as well as the society as a whole."
Born in Germany, Eian was educated even as a child in an awareness of the policies and practices of environmentally-sound principles. He has an architectural degree, which is more technical in Germany, comparable to an engineer's degree in the United States. Seven years ago he came to this country and started work with LOCUS Architecture.
Concerned that "energy doesn't traditionally play a key role in how we build buildings," Eian founded TE Studio - "a building design firm dedicated to highly-efficient and functional, custom, contemporary, new construction and remodeled projects, as well as buildings that conform to the Passive House building standard - as a way to pursue that conviction while providing true value to his clients."
His program at Eagle Bluff demonstrated how Passive House is "a rigorous, voluntary building energy standard focusing on a high performance envelope with a resulting minimized mechanical system and small space-conditioning (heating/cooling) energy load," states Eian.
Early in his comments Eian clarified that although much attention is focused on transportation, buildings consume a higher percentage of our energy usage. Standards that are well publicized in the automobile industry are unheard of in the world of construction of public or private structures. "We need a gas-mileage for buildings. People don't know what they are getting into."
The Passive House envelope minimizes heat-loss through insulation, windows and doors, and heat-recovery ventilation, therefore retaining space conditioning energy very effectively. It utilizes additional internal heat gains from people and appliances, and combines them with both passive solar heat gains from the sun and a tiny backup system for peak heat-load demand to create a balance between heat-losses and heat-gains.
By setting standards, Eian confirmed the ability to actually measure and maintain standards in building a structure, which is best described as a Passive House. Shading devices and glazing to control solar heat gains as well as thermal mass to absorb and store solar energy are utilized. Superinsulation to retain space conditioning energy, energy and thermal mass to release heating energy is accomplished by a ventilation system that distributes and recovers energy.
"Passive House design utilizes Passive solar design principles but takes them to a higher level, by adding measurable strategies to retain energy and utilizing internal heat gains as well as energy recovery ventilation to create an energy balance. Passive House is a certified building standard - not just a concept," remarks Eian.
Explaining how this concept works, Eian spoke about heat retention and how in moving from the warmer temperatures of summer to the cooler ones of winter, the house, which is already warm inside, needs help to retain its temperature.
He says, "The Passive House minimizes heat loss through insulation, windows and doors, and heat-recovery ventilation, therefore retaining space-conditioning energy very effectively."
In addition, the internal heat generated by the people and appliances in a building actually become part of the heating system. Since data from Europe has been compiled, Eian referred to German measures of success. He asked those attending the evening's presentation to consider how often they look at efficiency by gas-mileage in the transportation industry and suggested a similar line of thought would be beneficial for buildings.
"Instead of MPGs," Eian states, "we measure in kWh/m2 a or Btu/sf year (kilowatt hours per square meter and year, or British thermal units per square foot and year). In the United States we currently use a comparative model: HERS (Home Energy Rating System) which involves an analysis of a home's construction plans and onsite inspections. Based on the home's plans, the Home Energy Rater uses an energy efficiency software package to perform an energy analysis of the home's design. This analysis yields a projected, pre-construction HERS Index. Upon completion of the plan review, the rater will work with the builder to identify the energy efficiency improvements needed to ensure the house will meet ENERGY STAR performance guidelines.
"After completing inspections onsite, a blower door and a duct test are being performed to see how airtight the building is. The results and inputs derived from the plan review, then generate a HERS Index score of that particular home. The lower the score on the index established by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) the more energy efficient it is. "
Passive House standard utilizes energy modeling via software. Each project is individually modeled in the computer prior to construction to meet the tight performance criteria set forth in the Passive House standard. The air-tightness is measured similarly to HERS-rating requirements, however a much tighter envelope is needed to qualify for Passive House standard.
The duct system needs to be tested for leaks and balanced. The construction process is documented. At the end of a Passive House project, all documents and third party test results are submitted to the Passive House Institute U.S. for review and certification.
After expounding on charts comparing data gathered, Eian demonstrated the benefits of Passive House in value, resale, energy conservation, small CO2 footprint, improved indoor environmental quality and comfort in temperature, humidity, noise and reduced house maintenance.
"Think globally, build locally," comments Eian. "Passive House standard performance requirements are always the same, no matter where the building is built. Climate zone and a building's distinctive location impact the design significantly."
Houses across the center of Europe are in basically one zone, houses built in the United States expand across five climate zones creating a need for distinctive designs in order to meet the requirements in each zone.
In stepping through the process of building a Passive house, self-proclaimed "window geek" Eian detailed the importance of windows that are "fully gasketed for air-tightness - 1-3/4" to 2" triple-pane vs. 3/4" double-pane in thermally broken and insulated frames - centered in the wall assembly for thermal performance, with thermal bridge-free installation."
A book entitled "Homes for a Changing Climate" on Passive homes in the United States, authored by Katrin Klingenberg, Mike Kenrnagis, and Mary James with a forward by Professor Wolfgang Feist, of the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and founder of Passivhaus Institut, highlights the relationship that can be built between a natural and constructed environment.
Nine structures from across the United States are expounded on in this paperback which has just been released and can be purchased by contacting: admin@passivehouse.us or writing to: PHIUS, 110 S. Race St. Suite 202, Urbana, IL 61801.
Architects, home builders, building scientists, students, and those interested in state-of-the-art design will be interested in reading about the homes featured and the innovative methods used in building Passive Houses. Chapter eight is on a retrofit, describing the process of taking an existing dwelling and rebuilding it to Passive House standards. At the printing of the book only one retrofit house project meeting Passive House standards - the Nabih Tahan home in Berkeley, Calif. - existed in the United States.
Eagle Bluff asked Eian to speak because of its interest in seeing if the director's residence could be considered for the idea of a retrofit, which Eian touched on in his presentation.
When considering the viability and cost effectiveness of a retrofit, consideration of a good southern exposure is important. If it is determined a retrofit is a positive option then Passive House measures can be implemented. Super-insulation of the dwelling and passive solar adaptations are crucial.
There are many other simple ways people can begin today to start making their homes more eco-friendly. Among these suggestions are reusing "grey" water, drying clothes on lines either outside on lines using solar or indoors on racks, replacing appliances with energy efficient ones, changing the lighting, placing coverings, shades, window and door quilts or plastic to help retain existing heat, using flora to shade in the summer, gathering rainwater, burning wood, replacing windows, caulking, weatherstripping and adding vents to the attic. A retrofit is a major undertaking, yet the idea of being able to remake a home to meet Passive Home standards is intriguing.
Members of an organization from Stout University attended the Passive House presentation and are researching possible options.
A meeting is being planned by the Fillmore County Soil and Water Conservation District, which will be bringing Sarah Nettleton, another architect, to Eagle Bluff to talk about "The Simple Home" on Saturday, Feb. 28.
Nettleton was also at the Passive House conference and has a book out with the same name. Contact Deden at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, 28097 Goodview Dr., Lanesboro, MN 55949 or call (507) 467-2437, ext. 104 for more details.
For more information on Passive House contact Eian by calling (612) 246-4670 or e-mailing tim@timeian.com.
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, December 08, 2008
Article comment by:
Colleen Gorrilla
Dear Tim.,
Although we were unable to attend your seminar at Eagle Bluff ELC in Lanesboro, MN, Joe Deden forwarded the newspaper article featuring the program. I have a question which I hope you might be able to address. My husband and I have remodeled a summer cabin into a year round home in Northern Wisconsin. It is located in a heavily wooded area. We have been vigilant in observing the rules re: insulation, windows, using porches, etc. We do not have a problem with summer cooling, but our winter heating is intense…..we are affected by Lake Superior snow effects and of course very low temperatures from November through March. We rarely go above freezing during December, January and February. Of course, that is subject to change, with the climate issues.
My question for you is a problem with moisture on our windows. When we insulated our home, we were very careful to make sure that the window openings were done very well. But now, I think that our house is too tight and we are getting water/ice on the bottoms of the windows. I have to dry the windows every day, to avoid ruining the wood. We have double pane windows (Pella). Our heat source is a wood burning fireplace (it is a Cozy stove with sealed glass doors) and radiant heat (propane and an outdoor woodburner). The radiant heat is via tubing within concrete (basement and about half of the living space the other half of the living space has radiant wall heaters). Our humidity is in the 30 -35 percent vicinity. We do not use curtains. We keep our indoor temperatures at about 64 F.
Do you think that the house is too tight? Do you have a suggestion for correcting the moisture problem? We are thinking about some form of ventilating fan in the attic. But we don’t want to share our heat with the outdoors!
Is this a common problem you hear about? If you get this message, I would love to hear from you with any ideas, solutions or suggestion as to where we might go for help.
Thank you,
Colleen M. Gorrilla
7595 Annabelle Lake Road
Presque Isle, WI 54557
715-686-2517
