Category: Passive House
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The Energy Model vs The Real World
After 2 years of living in our cold-climate Passive House, how is its real performance measuring up to the energy model used during the building’s design phase? An energy model is a digital replica of a building that simulates heat gains and losses based on the building’s characteristics and climate. It allows us to optimize…
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TEUI G.2 Solar Gains (and Defaults)
If you had a million years on this Earth, you might find time to read every possible research paper on energy modelling and come up with a pretty good understanding of window and door behaviour. But having spent nearly 30 years in this field, nothing has gotten any simpler. The closer you look, the more…
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TEDI and Ventilation, the tail that wags the dog
I will keep this post as short as possible because it is complex, and because it is complex I’ve made a calculator. Without discussing the dynamic interplay of 8 key variables pertaining to TEDI and Ventilation, it is impossible to separate facts from opinions. Here’s how I see it: An idling car or truck with…
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Hybrid Heating
We were initially under the assumption that we had to make an all-or-nothing choice: basically a) go 100% electric to get to zero carbon, or b) replace a gas furnace with a new gas furnace and lock in to a carbon-emitting heating system for the next 20 years – the estimated life of the system.…
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Mid-Century Matters
Mid-Century Modern design has always appealed to me, the low pitch, butterfly roofs, big beams that shoot through floor-to-ceiling glass, consistent ceiling to soffit transitions, natural materials, quirky cantilevers, open concept Kitchen-Living-Dining areas, what’s not to love? For houses that were designed in this style from the 1940’s through to the 1970’s, the ‘Atomic Ranch’…