Pumping up the Volume: Multi-Family, Passive House and Net Zero Energy as Standard Practice

Please note: The attached file below contains a presentation in pdf format from the BEST5 conference. Open with Adobe Acrobat for best results.
This presentation discusses the work of Onion Flats and their unique Development/Design/Build model of practice in Philadelphia and how that work inspired a national initiative in the Affordable Housing industry in PA and 11 other States to incentivize Passive House in their funding applications. The presentation focuses on two projects by Onion Flats: Belfield Townhomes - the first Certified Passive House project in Pennsylvania (and their first affordable housing and modular construction project) and then Capital 2, a 25-unit, market-rate apartment building, designed to the Passive House and Net Zero Energy Standard (with a 80 kw PV array on its roof, geothermal for heating/cooling and domestic hot water), which will have an integrated array of LED lights tied into its robust energy monitoring system which will provocatively "display" the energy consumption in the facade. Capital 2 is meant to be a "prototype" for Onion Flats, one which they intend to replicate on two more sites in the next two years. Several months of utility data are displayed. Topics covered include: cost effective and prefabricated high-performance building envelops with triple pane windows and doors pre-installed; the benefits of centralized versus de-centralized heating/cooling, DHW, electrical and ventilation systems for multi-family projects; the role of affordable housing as a catalyst for transforming the entire housing industry toward a carbon neutral future by 2030.