PHIUS Releases Schedule of Sessions at Upcoming Conference

Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) released the schedule of breakout sessions for the 9th Annual North American Passive House Conference. The two-day main conference sessions will be held Sept. 12-13 in San Francisco. The full schedule is online.

“The PHIUS Technical Committee received more top-notch proposals to present at the 9th Annual North American Passive House Conference than ever,” said PHIUS Executive Director Katrin Klingenberg.” So many, Klingenberg said, “We had to add four two hour sessions to make room for all great work the passive house community has been doing over the past year.”

Passive building principles produce fantastically energy efficient and resilient buildings – and they provide the best path to Net Zero. Passive building is quickly gaining adoption as a mainstream design method and energy standard. The 9th Annual North American Passive House Conference brings together a roster of experienced passive building practioners and leading policy makers. They will present case studies on a selection of cutting edge Bay Area passive projects, as well as projects from across the United States, Great Britain, and Europe and Japan.

Keynote speaker William Rose will provide a visionary keynote informed by a unique viewpoint on building science history. From there, the conferences will span two days, four tracks and 70+ unique presentations of the latest, greatest knowledge on passive building. Sessions will range from very technical such as Dr. Hideki Shibaike’s hygrothermal analysis of passive houses in hot humid environments in Japan, to the Builders’ Hootenanny where folks who’ve built passive houses across North America talk about on-site challenges. Sessions will also include policy experts, including the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sam Rashkin. And for raters and quality assurance professionals, RESNET Executive Director Steve Baden will be presenting.

Three themes run throughout the program:

• Passive building as the best route to Net Zero.
• Large scale multifamily and commercial passive buildings growing strong
• Climate-specific standards, including the release of the report from PHIUS/BSCs research project

AIA Continuing Education Units are pending for all sessions, and PHIUS Certified Passive House Consultants (CPHCs) will earn 14 CPHC CEUs for attending.

In addition, PHIUS announced a one-week extension to early bird registration rates.

The early bird rate will now be available through Thursday, July 17, 2014.

The conference will be held at the San Francisco Airport Waterfront Marriott Hotel. The core conference will be bookended by intensive technical workshops on Sept. 10 and 11, and a tour of Bay-area passive projects on September 14.

The 9th Annual N. American Passive House Conference is presented in partnership with Passive House Alliance US (PHAUS) and Passive Buildings Canada. The leading passive building conclave in North America, each year the conference draws hundreds of architects, policy makers, developers, builders, engineers, building scientists and energy consultants from around the world. Dozens of high-performance building component manufacturers will also display their products at the conference trade show.