Five Questions With: Joe Haskett

Joe Haskett, a senior associate at Union Studio Architecture & Community Design, is a certified “Passive House” consultant in Rhode Island. Passive House is a European standard for sustainable construction that has the potential to cut heating energy consumption by 90 percent. Haskett is the consultant for construction of a 2,700-square-foot house in Warren that recently was pre-certified by the Passive House Institute US. The contractor is Swanson Construction Co. Inc. The architect is Stephen R. Nelson Associates.

PBN: What is a Passive House and how do you explain this standard to people who are not familiar with the term?
HASKETT:
If you think about passive, the opposite word is active. What this is trying to do is eliminate as many of the active components as possible in a home, such as a boiler, a fan. A Passive House is a very well-insulated, virtually air-tight building that is primarily heated by passive solar gain and by internal gains from people and electrical equipment. Any remaining heat demand is provided by an extremely small source (i.e. a heat pump) and the avoidance of heat gain through shading and window orientation also helps to limit any cooling load during the summer months. For fresh air, an energy recovery ventilator provides a constant, balanced fresh air supply. Overall, the result is an impressive system that not only saves up to 90 percent of space heating costs, but also provides a uniquely terrific indoor air quality.

PBN: What is the difference between a Passive House and a LEED-certified house? Are they measuring different things?
HASKETT:
Passive House is a ‘performance based’ energy program whereas LEED is a ‘prescriptive based energy program.’ This means that all Passive House homes need to perform to a certain measurable level whereas the LEED accredited buildings can select from a list of options to gain points which then achieves a specific rating; i.e. platinum, gold and silver. Furthermore, the Passive House approach utilizes an energy program called the PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) that allows a designer to be more nimble when deciding which options make most sense. For example, when deciding which type of wall to design, the PHPP allows me to toggle back and forth between various wall assemblies – in real time – and immediately understand the impact on cost, constructability and the overall impact on energy usage.
The similarity resides in the fact that they are both trying to get design professionals, owners and builders to think about energy and sustainability prior to putting pencil to paper.

PBN: How much does Passive House design and construction add to the cost of a house?
HASKETT:
It really depends. The general Passive House concept is to reduce your need for energy to the degree that you can eliminate the costs of installing large, expensive HVAC equipment that will heat and cool your home – which can equate to this being cost neutral. This is ideal in more temperate climates like Darmstadt Germany, where Passive House was founded, but less realistic for more heating dominant climates like ours in the Northeast. Just like anything new, the more people become familiar with this concept, the easier and more affordable it will become. I’m confident that you’ll begin to see this type of building grow in numbers, not because it’s the ‘right thing to do’ but because the economics of it will begin to shift when more products arrive and the knowledge base within the profession increases.

- Advertisement -

PBN: Is the house in Warren being built for someone in particular? What is the purpose of pre-certification?
HASKETT:
The house in Warren is being built for a specific client who is very familiar with the concept. I was the only certified Passive House consultant in Rhode Island. He wanted to keep it local. The purpose of Passive House pre-certification is to have the entire house designed and understood by the project team – including owner, architect and builder – prior to commencing with critical parts of the project.

PBN: Are there applications for this in commercial construction, such as apartment buildings?
HASKETT:
Yes. Passive House is being utilized to design multi-family homes, large-scale residences and even entire cities in Europe. Within the U.S., the Passive House concept has been predominantly utilized for single-family homes. However, the trend is picking up in the arena of multi-family housing – especially in New York. They are finding that the larger scale projects can be easier to build and more affordable in achieving the Passive House designation over single-family homes.

No posts to display