Resources and Tools!

Here are some software tools and publications that the CPHC community has found (or created!) to assist in quality passive building design.

New! PowerWise inView Passive Monitoring System--Recommended for PHIUS+ Certification

Discounted for PHIUS+ projects!

Track and analyze building performance with the PowerWise inView Passive House Monitoring system. Co-developed by prominent passive building experts, this complete monitoring solution is now endorsed by PHIUS.

Gain insight into performance, costs, and environmental conditions of entire buildings or individual HVAC and hot water systems. Easily monitor energy use, renewable power, water use, air quality, temperature, humidity, and more. PowerWise is a leading provider of monitoring hardware and software for high-performance buildings.

inView Passive includes dashboards for typical passive house systems and components and indoor air aspects. Even a closed ground loop defrost system dashboard is included.

PHIUS has negotiated a 5% discount for projects that have been submitted for  PHIUS+ certification. (Just use your project number as a promo code when ordering at the PowerWise site.)

1. •Visit the PowerWise inView site for more information
   

Climate Data

Datasets for more than 1,000 locations for use for designing and certifying passive house projects.

Proceedings: 7th Annual North American Passive House Conference New!

The 2012 conference was the biggest and best yet--PHIUS collected and edited summaries, including detailed graphics, of all the breakout presentations from the Denver event September 28-29. Sessions spanned monitoring, affordable development, multifamily, commercial, the business of passive house and more.

North American Passive House Conference Presentations

Most .ppt presentations from the 2010, 2011, and 2012 PHIUS North American Passive House Presentations are available for download as pdf--free. Links go to program schedule--download from schedule entries.

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2. •7th Annual North American PH Conference-Denver, 2012
   

3. •6th Annual North American PH Conference-D.C., 2011
   

4. •5th Annual North American PH Conference-Portland, Ore., 2010
   

ZEROS New!

Zeros is a modeling tool, from Professor Ty Newell and colleagues, that has been validated with actual residential building performance data and compared with results from Energy Plus, a detailed standard used for building performance prediction.

WUFI ORNL/IBP

WUIF ORNL is powerful tool that allows hygrothermal analysis of wall assemblies and other multi-layer building components. It’s a must in many of the U.S. humid climate zones. Downloadable from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (See installation notes on the PHIUS CPHC training page.)

Therm

Using THERM, you can model two-dimensional heat-transfer effects in building components such as windows, walls, foundations, roofs, and doors; appliances; and other products where thermal bridges are of concern. Download from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

BEopt

Offered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, BEopt is a tool for energy and cost optimization (also runs on Energy Plus): https://beopt.nrel.gov/download. Also see the DOE description.

Air-Source Heat Pump Calculator from Energy Information Administration

The actual heating efficiency and seasonal performance of a "conventional" air-source heat pump may vary significantly

from its rated heating season performance factor (HSPF). The EIA offers an XL calculator and a procedure for determining an adjusted HSPF for your location for an air-source heat pump that uses only electric resistance heating as the auxillary heat source. You may also find useful Manual J Residential Load Calculation/Outdoor Design Conditions.

Global Warming Impact Calculator

There are lots of such calculators; we like this one. You’ll find it and other useful tools from CPHC David White here.

Solar Shoebox and Other Handy Tools

Troy Peters, Assistant Professor of Architecture at CalPoly, has developed a nifty, intuitive add-on for the EnergyPlus modeling package. You can download it and some other useful tools at the Archiphysics site.

Metric/US Converter

This link goes to a handy sliding metric/US unit conversion tool that is courtesy of Wolfgang Moeller.

Know of other tools that you think passive house professional would find useful? Email us: phtools@passivehouse.us

Literature

This is a great introductory book describing the ways Passive House techniques have been implemented on various buildings in Europe cost effectively. There are many color pictures as well as detail drawings showing the thermal bridge-free construction techniques that provide a comfortable living environment without negatively impacting the architecture of the building. There are nine buildings presented, not only do they have great energy performance, but can be built within the financial requirements of low-cost housing. CEPHEUS is a European-wide consortium of experts dedicated to Passive House techniques. Out of print!

You can download the book in pdf format :

Link to downloads of CEPHEUS project pages  (includes English!)