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High Performance Historic Masonry Retrofits
31 Minutes
The goals of historic preservation and energy efficiency and comfort often seem in conflict, as higher insulation levels can pose new risks to these timeless structures. Yet it need not be so. This comprehensive presentation discusses strategies for minimizing the apparent conflict while allowing for the highest possible performance - ensuring that the integrity of the structure won't be compromised and making a more robust structure for the next 100 years: preservation and high-performance working together for a truly sustainable future. The classic brick wall is un-insulated (R-6-ish) 3 wythe thick wall, prone to air infiltration. As many historic buildings fall under some form of aesthetic scrutiny often exterior insulation is prohibited. Therefore, the only option to make these buildings energy efficient is to insulate them on the interior. This presentation takes a close look at how to insulate these walls safely from the interior - considering moisture drive, bulk rainwater issues, and insulation materials - avoiding the dangers of freeze-thaw and mold.
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Foam Free High Performance Building Enclosures
21 Minutes
Foam Free High Performance Building Enclosures presents a clear and practical guide to achieving the highest levels of resilient and sustainable building enclosures while eliminating foam.The growing performance demands of air control, vapor control, thermal control, health and sustainability are examined.Foam insulation,dominant in today's high-performance marketplace, is increasingly recognized as hindering many of these building performance goals. Practitioners are therefore wanting and finding new solutions that virtually eliminate foam and provide greater performance. This presentation is a careful look at how to do it.
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Passive House for Multifamily Buildings
42 Minutes
In this course we address the challenges that building larger, multifamily buildings to meet Passive House standards can pose. This presentation will look at critical goals such as the comfort, health, affordability, reliability, and occupant-friendliness of the building. We will detail strategies to hit these goals and to make the best living environment for the building's population.
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High Performance Roof Daylighting
39 Minutes
Roof daylighting elements and architectural roof glass are striking and desirable building features that historically come at a high cost - leaks, energy loss, thermal discomfort, and condensation issues. Next generation roof glazing is addressing these issues and developing roof glass elements designed to be thermal-bridge-free, and suitable for high performance and Passive House envelope needs. Fenestration of all kinds requires special attention, but failures in roof glazing can unravel the thoughtful planning put into the rest of the building. Potential for thermal bridging, overheating, cold air convective currents and air or water leaks can dampen or destroy the gains of free daylight and visual comfort. In this presentation we cover design considerations for roof daylighting of all types and sizes - commercial or residential, flat or pitched roof, light tube or wall-to-wall roof glass. Proper integration and design decisions result in roof daylighting that addresses energy, light, health, ventilation, comfort, and overall wellness of both occupants and the longevity of the building envelope.
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Designing Foam-Free Passive House Assemblies in Climate Zone 6 & 7
60 Minutes
This webinar is a practical guide to achieving the highest levels of resilient and sustainable building enclosures. The performance demands of the Passive House standard are examined. Foam insulation, dominant in today's high-performance marketplace, is increasingly reconsidered as practitioners search for new solutions that reduce reliance on foam while improving performance. Hygrothermal modeling will be compared to data captured in real world projects located in climate zones 6 & 7 to show the value of such modeling over the dewpoint to estimate the dynamic relationship occurring over time between the assembly and the internal and external environments, over different seasons.
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Smart Enclosure: 21st Century Advanced High-Performance Building Course Description
39 Minutes
With carbon reduction deadlines fast approaching to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, architects, engineers and builders must maximize the positive impact of their work - providing not just optimized comfort and safety but also energy efficiency and negative carbon emissions. By reviewing common assembly types, and how we can make them more durable, ecological, efficient and lower carbon, participants discuss not just a framework of building delivery, but a guide and toolkit for professionals to implement actionable solutions, today.
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Decentralized High Efficiency Ventilation
15 Minutes
Decentralized High Efficiency Ventilation is a high-performance alternative to centralized, ducted systems for whole house ventilation. As buildings are being renovated or built airtight to meet greater demands of low-energy, high-comfort, toward Passive House and similar buildings - they need to be properly ventilated. Often centralized systems are not ideal given equipment and ductwork space requirements. With a decentralized system, there is no ductwork and the units are mounted within the exterior wall assemblies - giving designers and building owners new options for achieving high-performance ventilation. This course examines the component options and design parameters for such a system.
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The Science Behind Adhesive Bonds and Failures
14 Minutes
This video is a portion of a webinar done in partnership with 475 in November 2019. The speaker is Lueder Herms, global export manager and R&D specialist for Pro Clima. Lueder is a world leader in building airtightness and vapor control. Lueder has grown to manage international sales in more than 40 countries in the 13 years since he started with Pro Clima. He is also active in the research and development of new solutions to achieve durable airtightness in mass timber and masonry buildings. Before his time with Pro Clima he spent 5 years as timber framer and studied civil engineering at the Kiel University of Applied Sciences.
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