This session will begin by introducing the Passive House building concepts and we will focus on the impact of Passive House and other high performance very well insulated and air-tight building envelops on mechanical systems. We will show the effects it has on annual and peak heating and cooling loads. The presentation will highlight the additional mechanical benefits of low load homes, including space saving small form factor mechanical equipment and supply register placement flexibility without impacting comfort. It will show the indoor air quality benefits of a tight mechanically ventilated envelope versus a leaky envelope with uncontrolled ventilation. We will discuss cooking ventilation, the importance of exhausting range hoods on indoor air quality, and how to do it well with make-up air in a tight envelope. Lastly, we will discuss the thermal resiliency benefits of a very well insulated and air-tight building to power outages during extreme cold and heat events.
