Passive House Institute U.S. and adoption. “A big part of that has been concern about carbon. But an- other aspect is that passive buildings are simply more comfortable, health- ier and more resilient than conven- tional buildings.” “We also advance awareness through our annual conference. This is the largest and longest running North American passive building conclave and brings together leading passive building practitioners who share les- sons learned and successes.” This year’s conference, held in Sep- tember in Chicago, also attracts the leading high performance building components vendors. “The confer- ence is always an exhilarating event. Nothing beats getting a bunch of building science geeks together in the same place. Joe Lstiburek, Marc Rosenbaum — plus developers like Steve Bluestone.” “The buzz this year was multi family – our keynote was Katie Swenson from Enterprise. Enterprise is a major force in affordable housing, and re- cently included passive house in its low income housing criteria.” The conference’s awards compo- nent highlighted projects that “both exemplify best practice and that, by successful implementation, advance the market for passive buildings.” Right now he says the biggest growth is in multi family projects – both affordable and market rate. “Cost has been a real and true concern of Passive House. We’ve solved that, but the notion that passive buildings are substantially more expensive than conventional ones lingers. Today, in practice, multi family projects are being brought in at conventional mar- ket rates. Single family varies, but they’re also closing in.” He says the other misconception about Passive House is that people think the sustainability concept dic- tates esthetics; that they have to look like sleek Euro boxes. The truth is Pas- sive House can be designed in any style. “The Four Square home in Bethesda, MD is a great example of how a passive house can be designed to any esthetic. Orchards at Orenco, which won best overall project in our recent competition, is a game changer. It’s a 57-unit affordable hous- ing project. Phase II is in progress, and it promises to come in at conven- tional costs.” 44 – November 2015 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report Knezovich says several high and mid-rise projects are in the works. Project certification has been one of the institute’s critical roles to date, he says. “Passive buildings present special risks because of the levels of insulation and airtightness. Our PHIUS+ Certification program with its QA/QC component has greatly accel- erated confidence and adoption in the market.” Knezovich says many people don’t realize that passive house concepts actually developed in Canada and the United States, before European work on the concept. “The term super insu- lation was coined at the University of Illinois’ Small Homes Council decades ago. Researchers were among North American pioneers who developed the fundamental concepts that we now label Passive House.” He says super insulation, ERV, air- tightness, elimination of thermal bridges, management of solar gain all originated in the U.S. and Canada. “In fact, the Saskatchewan Conservation House is widely acknowledged as the very first Passive House.” Research is also a growing part of PHIUS’ efforts. He says the PHIUS+ work was critical, and the PHIUS Tech- nical Committee - a group of volun- teers who are advanced practitioners- continues to develop technical re- sources for the community. For more information on PHIUS, visit www.phius.org.