by Lisa DiCaprio, Sierra Club NYC Group
On October 17, 2020, the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter Executive Committee voted unanimously to update its January 25, 2019 resolution on Passive House to highlight the public health as well as environmental rationales for promoting this green building design.
The resolution, which I introduced, states: “It is the position of the Atlantic Chapter that all new buildings in NYS that receive any form of public financing and, optimally all new buildings, shall be designed and built to Passive House standards.” [1]
The implementation of this resolution is technically and financially feasible, and will facilitate the greenhouse gas emission reduction goals of the NYS Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. [2]
Our next steps are to “Make contact with appropriate lawmakers to promote this idea for legislation, if not statewide, then in local areas at first.” Contact person: Lisa DiCaprio, lisa.dicaprio@nyu.edu [Indicate Passive House in the subject.]
PASSIVE HOUSE: AN INTERNATIONAL BUILDING EFFICIENCY STANDARD
Passive House is an international building efficiency standard, developed by the Passive House Institute (PHI) in Darmstadt, Germany, that saves up to 90% of the energy required for heating and cooling conventional buildings and 60 to 80% of all energy usage when electricity is included in the total. The first Passive House building was built in Darmstadt in 1991.
In addition to aggressive energy conservation, Passive House certification leads to superior interior user comfort. Even room temperatures, elimination of drafts, superior acoustical separation from outside noise and cleaner, healthier air are all benefits to Passive House design. While each of these benefits improves the user experience, the current coronavirus pandemic has brought forward the importance of cleaner, healthier interior air. Passive House design requires the constant delivery of filtered fresh air to every habitable room — balanced with exhaust. This constant air flow is required to pass through an Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) unit which is an essential feature of Passive House design. Incoming air passes through MERV 13 air filters. (MERV refers to the Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value of an air filter based on its ability to capture particles between .3 and 10 microns.) [3] This is especially important given the airborne nature of viruses, such as the novel coronavirus, that can potentially spread through ventilation systems in buildings. [4] By contrast, conventional HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems may have to be retrofitted or replaced to comply with recommendations or mandates for the installation of MERV 13 filters. [5]
Passive House certification ultimately requires meeting criteria in three main areas: (1) Heating and Cooling/Dehumidification energy per square foot per year (2) Primary Energy per square foot per year or Source EUI (Energy Use Intensity) and (3) Air tightness, as measured by a pressurization test limiting air changes per hour through the building façade. [6]
Since 2015, the Passive House Standard has included three certification options: Passive House Classic is the traditional standard, Passive House Plus requires the on-site generation of energy from renewable sources to equal consumption over a one-year period, and Passive House Premium, for which the on-site generation of renewable energy must exceed its consumption, also on an annual basis. [7]
Currently, Passive House construction is somewhat more expensive than conventional buildings. The higher upfront costs, which can be offset over time because of reduced maintenance expenses and energy savings, are decreasing as Passive House is scaled up throughout the world and new materials are developed to meet its specifications.
We can also advocate for Passive House by considering the social cost of carbon. This key environmental concept, which was utilized by the EPA during the Obama administration, assigns a monetary value to the social cost of climate change impacts caused by carbon pollution that are now affecting all sectors of the global economy. [8] Applying the social cost of carbon to a building means assigning a specific dollar amount to each metric ton of CO2e that the building does not emit because of its low-carbon design. This valuation is multiplied by the number of years projected for the life of the building.
Although Passive House certification does not include criteria on materials, some Passive House architects also focus on how to reduce the embodied energy in building materials. [9] Phillipe St-Jean discusses the increasing significance of this approach in his December 7, 2020, Passive House Accelerator article, “Can Buildings Be Leveraged to Help Reverse Climate Change?”:
As buildings become ever more efficient and utility grids decarbonize, the role played by operational emissions will be surpassed by the role played by emissions embodied in the buildings themselves. In construction, embodied emissions are defined as the GHG emissions released during the extraction, transportation, manufacturing, construction, demolition, and disposal of a given material or product. These GHG emissions are primarily released prior to and during the building’s construction, with a fraction of the emissions released at the end of a product’s service life.
NYC is now a global leader in Passive House design and construction, and provides a model for what can be achieved in a relatively short period of time by the collaboration of architects, engineers, [10] real estate developers, environmental activists, policymakers, and manufacturers of materials and equipment for Passive House buildings. [11]
Innovative Passive House projects in NYC include retrofits and new buildings.
Casa Pasiva is a Passive House retrofit in progress comprising 9 buildings and 143 apartment units in Bushwick, Brooklyn. [12] Architect Chris Benedict is designing the retrofit, which does not dislocate the tenants and provides a model for compliance with Local Law 97. This 2019 law sets fossil fuel caps on buildings exceeding 25,000 square feet and covers 50,000 of NYC’s one million buildings, which are responsible for 67% of NYC’s greenhouse gas emissions. [13]
As of December 2020, almost 200 new Passive House residential, commercial, mixed-use and institutional buildings are completed or in progress in NYC. Currently, The House [14], a 26-story residential building designed by Handel Architects for the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island, is the tallest Passive House building in North America. [15]
KEY RESOURCES
Websites and articles
Passipedia — The Passive House Resource
Deborah Moelis AIA CPHD Principal; Louis Koehl AIA CPHD, Associate, Sustainability Report Issue, #3, “What is Passive House?,” June 23, 2020, Handel Architects Research & Education website.
Handel Architects, Sustainability Report Issue #4, “Bending the Curve: An Approach to Radically Cut Emissions from the Building Industry,” Handel Architects Research & Education website.
Sydney Gladu, “Passive House Schools on the Horizon,” Passive House Accelerator, December 30, 2020.
New York Passive House (NYPH)
- New York Passive House Publications & Tools
- For photographs and descriptions of Passive House buildings in New York State, see the New York Passive House (NYPH) projects website and Mary James, ed., From Small to Extra-Large: Passive House Rising to New Heights (Low Carbon Productions, 2018). [16]
- New York Passive House (NYPH) organizes an annual conference and expo in NYC. This year’s conference was virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic. See: Passive House 2020 — Choose Your Future — A Virtual Conference.
North American Passive House Network (NAPHN)
- The 24th annual International Passive House Conference: Building the future — sustainably! was held virtually from September 20 to October 8, 2020.
Passive House Institute US (PHIUS)
International Passive House Association (IPHA)
- Passive House Buildings
- Passive House Buildings, spring 2020: Climate-Conscious Building: Retrofit Revolution
Steven Winter Associates, Inc. (Passive House consultants)
Videos, Webinars and Podcasts
- Passive House Podcasts
- Global Passive House Happy Hour videos (April 1, 2020 to the present)
Deborah Moelis AIA CPHD Principal; Sustainability Report Issue, #2, webinar, “Why Passive House Dormitories are Healthier and More Energy Efficient,” June 01, 2020, Handel Architects Research & Education website.
North American Passive House Network (NAPHN)
- Ken Levenson, “An Introduction to Passive House,” November 20, 2020.
Building Energy Exchange (BEEx)
- “Buildings of Excellence: Large-Scale Passive House,” February 12, 2020, featuring Sendero Verde and The House at Cornell Tech; Speakers: Lois Arena, Director, Passive House Services, Steven Winter Associates; Deborah Moelis AIA CPHD, Principal, Handel Architects; Moderator, Daniel Piselli AIA, LEED, CPHD, Director of Sustainability, FXCollaborative.
Examples of government agencies and non-profit organizations that support Passive House affordable housing projects:
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
NYC Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) [17]
NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC)
NY State Division of Housing and Community Renewal
New York State Association for Affordable Housing
- Enterprise Green Communities
- Enterprise Community Partners Where We Work - New York Programs
- Enterprise Green Communities Criteria
RiseBoro Community Partnership
Examples of Passive House affordable housing projects in NYS (in progress and completed as of December 2020) listed on the New York Passive House (NYPH) affordable housing projects website. [18]
425 Grand Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx
Sendero Verde, East Harlem, Manhattan
Knickerbocker Commons, Bushwick, Brooklyn [19]
HANAC Corona Senior Residence, Corona, Queens
Chestnut Commons, East New York, Manhattan
1675 Westchester Avenue, Soundview, Bronx
Melrose Park, Morrisania, Bronx
Beach Green Dunes I and II, Far Rockaway, Queens
Park Avenue Green, Bronx
Dekalb Commons, Brooklyn
North Miller Passive Multifamily, Newburg, Hudson Valley
Chappaqua Fuller Center for Housing, Chappaqua, New York
Examples of government agencies, recent NYC government initiatives and legislation, and organizations promoting building energy efficiencies
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
NYC Mayor's Office of Sustainability, Buildings
The NY City Council website on the 2019 Climate Mobilization Act: NYC Buildings and Climate Change
Building Energy Exchange (BEEx)
Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA)
Urban Land Institute Greenprint Center for Building Performance
Architects Advocate Action on Climate Change
American Institute of Architects (AIA) NY
Association for Energy Affordability
Industrializing Deep Energy Retrofits
Advance Building Construction Collaborative
Association for Energy Affordability
UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Energy Efficiency in Buildings
NOTES
[1] For an overview of Passive House design and the factors facilitating Passive House buildings, see Lisa DiCaprio, “High-rise Passive House in NYC,” Sierra Atlantic, fall 2017.
[2] The NYS Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) includes these mandates: (1) an economy-wide 85% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, (2) the sourcing of 70% of NYS’s electricity from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, by 2030, and (3) a carbon-free electricity sector by 2040. See, Roger Downs, “Albany Update Summer 2019,” Sierra Atlantic, Summer 2019.
[3] For a description of the public health benefits of Passive House design, see Deborah Moelis; Ryan Lobello; Louis Koehl, Sustainability Report Issue, #5, “Why Passive House Buildings Create a Healthier Interior Environment,” July 21, 2020, Handel Architects Research & Education website.
[4] On the airborne nature of the novel coronavirus, see Linsey C. Marr, “Yes, the Coronavirus Is in the Air,” New York Times, July 30, 2020. (Marr is “a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech.”)
[5] School buildings in the US exemplify the various challenges involved in retrofitting or replacing HVAC systems to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In her article, “School Ventilation Must Be Addressed in Reopening Plans,” neaToday, August 20, 2020, Cindy Long states: “The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report in June that to prevent the spread of the coronavirus when inside schools, more than 41 percent of school districts need to update or replace their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in at least half of their buildings.” (neaToday is a publication of the National Education Association.)
For a discussion of NYC Department of Education initiatives to ensure adequate ventilation in NYC school buildings, many of which are over a hundred years old, see Valeria Ricciulli, “New York Kids Will Be Shivering In Class All Winter,” NY Curbed, December 12, 2020. As Ricciulli states, “These prewar school buildings built during the Spanish flu pandemic were designed to keep airborne illnesses at bay with steam radiators overheating rooms and the windows always open — but a century later, that doesn’t always work in practice…Newer school buildings have better ventilations systems, but the problem is that schools — old or new — now need the kinds of systems found in hospitals.” (MERV 13–16 air filters are used in hospitals.)
[6] Source EUI (Energy Use Intensity) is measured in kBtu/square foot/per year. (kBtu refers to a kilo or 1,000 British thermal units, a measurement of heat energy. One Btu is the amount of energy required to increase the temperature of a pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit.) The blower door test, carried out at 50 pascals of air pressure difference, cannot exceed 0.6 air changes per hour (ACH). This is 7 to 10 times the air tightness of a conventional building, which typically has 6 to 8 ACH.
[7] See, Christina B. Farnsworth, “Passive House Options Now Include Classic, Plus and Premium,” posted March 21, 2015 on the Building Science website. The R-951 Residence on 951 Pacific Street in Brooklyn, a row house with three apartments designed by Paul A. Castrucci Architects, is the first Passive House and Net-Zero-capable building certified in NYC. In 2018, a Passive House townhouse in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, renovated by Baxt Ingui Architects became the first Passive House Plus certified building in the US.
[8] On the social cost of carbon, see Lisa DiCaprio, “The Social Cost of Carbon & Why It Matters,” Sierra Atlantic, summer 2018.
[9] For an explanation of embodied energy in buildings, see Fred A. Bernstein, “Embodied Energy: A Primer for Architects,” Oculus, fall 2019. On the environmental impact of concrete, for which the main ingredient is cement, see: John Vidal, “Concrete is tipping us into climate catastrophe. It's payback time,” The Guardian, February 25, 2019 and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), ”Cement companies must more than double efforts to meet Paris climate goals,” April 9, 2018. On the replacement of concrete with cross-laminated wood, see: Alex Ulam, Oculus, Mass Timber Going Mainstream,” fall 2019; Keith Schneider, “As Concerns Over Climate Change Rise, More Developers Turn to Wood,” New York Times, September 22, 2020; and Mike Eliason, Mass Timber and Passive House, Together at Last,” Treehugger Voices, July 14, 2020. (Treehugger Voices is the publication of Treehugger.)
[10] For example, Lois Arena, PE, the director of Passive House Services at Steven Winter Associates, Inc., was a consultant for The House and is now serving as a consultant for the Sendero Verde and the Passive House undergraduate dormitory at the University of Toronto Scarborough Passive House projects. Passive House projects. See Lois Arena’s, “Passive NOT Houses - Applying the Standard to Other Building Types,” September 2, 2020 Passive House Accelerator presentation.
[11] For an overview of the advocacy for Passive House and building energy efficiencies during the past 10 years that facilitated NYC’s leading role in Passive House, see Richard Yancy, “New York's Path to Scaling Up Passive House,” Passive House Buildings, spring 2019. (Yancy is the executive director of the Building Energy Exchange.)
[12] The Casa Pasiva apartment buildings are owned by RiseBoro Community Partnership, a non-profit organization, “committed to providing communities with high-quality affordable housing.” The project is receiving funding from NYSERDA’s RetrofitNY program, which aims to “bring a large number of affordable housing units to or near net-zero energy use by 2025, and provide new business opportunities in the State of New York.” For a detailed description of Casa Pasiva, see: Patrick Sisson, “New York's Real Climate Challenge: Fixing Its Aging Buildings,” New York Times, December 29, 2020. See also the NYSERDA RetrofitNY website on Casa Pasiva: RetrofitNY In Action: RiseBoro's Casa Pasiva Project.
[13] For more information on Local Law 97. which is one of 9 laws in the NYC Climate Mobilization Act, see Lisa DiCaprio, “NYC's Green New Deal,” Sierra Atlantic, summer 2019 and the NY City Council website on the Climate Mobilization Act: NYC Buildings and Climate Change.
[14] On The House, see Handel Architects, Designing and Building the Largest & Tallest Passive House Building in the World, October 17, 2017.
[15] Special thanks to Deborah Moelis for inviting me to participate in two group tours of The House, speaking in a December 2016 Sierra Club NYC Group Sustainability Series program on Passive House and in my classes at the New York University School of Professional Studies, Division of Undergraduate Applied Studies. Moelis is an AIA CPHD (Certified Passive House Designer), Principal and founding member of Handel Architects; the Project Manager for The House and Sendero Verde, a Passive House 700-unit, multi-family, 100% affordable building and multi-use development, which will include a 37-story all-affordable Passive House building that received the 2019 Best of Design Award for Unbuilt - Green Building; and is overseeing the design of a new 750-bed Passive House undergraduate dormitory at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
[16] For an article on From Small to Extra-Large: Passive House Rising to New Heights, see, Lloyd Alter, “Passive House Buildings Go From Small to Extra-Large,” Treehugger, October 11, 2018. See also, CityRealty staff, "Future New York, The Ultimate Map of NYC's Passive House Movement Includes 45 Energy-Efficient Overachievers in the Works," CityRealty, April 22, 2020.
[17] See, for example, the NYC Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC) February 17, 2017 press release about the Sendero Verde Passive House project.
[18] For a discussion of several Passive House affordable housing projects, see Patrick Sisson, “In these super-sustainable new apartments, you may never pay a heating bill,” Curbed, March 6, 2020, and “Environmental Justice Begins at Home,” Oculus, fall 2020.
[19] This six-story, 24 unit building on 803 Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn, designed by Chris Benedict, is the first mid-sized Passive House apartment building in the US and the first affordable Passive House multi-family building in NYC. See, Alison Gregor, “The Passive House in New York,” New York Times, March 29, 2015. (I participated in a tour of the building in progress led by Chris Benedict and Henry Gifford.) For a September 14, 2020 Passive House Podcast by Benedict and Gifford, see: Passive House Podcast Ep. 4: NYC Trailblazers Chris Benedict and Henry Gifford Move Beyond Boilers.
For my previous Sierra Atlantic articles on related topics, see
"High-rise Passive House in NYC," “Key Resources on Recent Climate Change Reports,” Key Resources on Climate Change Reports: Part II,” “The Drawdown Project to Reverse Global Warming,” “The Social Cost of Carbon & Why It Matters,” “Ecological Footprints and One Planet Living,” “Five Years of Activism: NYC Commits to Fossil Fuel Divestment,” “NYC's Green New Deal,” “Carbon Footprints and Life-cycle Assessments – Educational Resources,” "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature -- Educational Resources," “The Circular Economy – Educational Resources (Part I),” and “Earth Day 50 and the Coronavirus Pandemic – Educational Resources”*
* On the various measures required for protection from the novel coronavirus even after the widespread availability of vaccines, see Siobhan Roberts, The Swiss Cheese Model of Pandemic Defense, New York Times, December 5, 2020 and Apoorva Mandavilli, “Here's Why Vaccinated People Still Need to Wear a Mask,” New York Times, December 8, 2020.