EESI to Speak at “Passive House” Conference on Energy-Efficient Buildings

EESI’s Ellen Vaughan will share her expertise on energy efficient buildings at the North American Passive House Conference , to be held October 28-29, 2011 in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Buildings that meet the Passive House standard use 90 percent less energy for heating and cooling compared to conventional buildings. They achieve this by maximizing the use of heat from the sun and from people and electrical equipment inside the building with optimal site design, greatly enhanced insulation, high performance windows, energy recovery ventilation (ERV), and other energy efficiency strategies. The Passive House concept (which can be applied to all types of buildings, not just homes) originated in Germany and is starting to gain popularity in the United States.

“We have a huge opportunity to make our buildings more energy efficient with existing technology and design techniques,” says Ellen, "but most building professionals do not have the key ingredients or expertise on how to put these elements together to maximize energy performance. The voluntary Passive House standard is like a good recipe. If followed carefully, it could make a real difference in reducing building energy use, operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

The 6th Annual North American Passive House Conference will bring together building experts – from architects to engineers to contractors – to share the latest technology developments and best practices for building sustainable, comfortable and affordable Passive House buildings and retrofits. The conference also will focus on adapting the German-based standard to the U.S. climate, culture and market.

At the conference, Ellen will join the Passive House Policy Panel to address the pursuit of a Passive House standard at the federal level as well as the potential impact of a Passive House federal standard on the growth of this market. The panel, which will also include Sam Rashkin, chief architect at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies program, will speak on Saturday, October 29, from 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

To register for the conference please click here .