4,000 lbs of ice will go up against the early September heat in a live demonstration of the power of energy-efficient Passive House standards.
DENVER, Sept. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- As part of their efforts to engage the public with the energy-efficient power of Passive House building standards, the Passive House Network is bringing the Ice Box Challenge to Denver.
The Ice Box Challenge is an internationally recognized way of demonstrating the extreme energy-efficiency of Passive House building standards, especially when compared to local code. Other organizations have put on similar challenges in places like Brussels, Melbourne, and Vancouver.
The Denver Challenge will feature two boxes, each protecting a 2,000 lb block of ice from the heat. One box is built to the international Passive House Standard. The other is built to Denver's building requirements. The boxes will come together on September 9th outside of Union Station, and they'll stay there for two weeks as a public exhibit. Those wanting to connect with others who are interested in Passive House can stop by on September 12th at 5PM for the Ice Box Challenge Social, co-hosted by the Colorado Green Building Guild.
"Locating the Ice Box Challenge in Denver's living room, Union Station, enables us to expose tens of thousands of people to the power of Passive House over the course of two weeks," said Jonathan Fertig, the Denver event team leader. "Denver is already a national leader in energy efficiency through building code, and Passive House is the next logical step for the city. Whether it's further improving energy efficiency, thermal comfort, or the provision of excellent indoor air quality in a region plagued with air pollution and forest fire smoke, Passive House demonstrates that we know how to design buildings to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow."
The reveal ceremony will take place on September 23rd to see how much ice is left in each box after the two-week period. The amount of ice left in each box at the end represents how well each box kept out the heat.
In addition to attending the public exhibit and Social, those interested can get involved by entering a contest to guess how much ice will be left in each box at the reveal. Prizes include complimentary registration to the 2023 Passive House Network Conference, which begins online on September 28th and continues online and in Denver on October 4th-5th.
The Ice Box Challenge is sponsored by Xcel Energy and 475 High Performance Building Supply.
For more information on the Ice Box Challenge, visit www.passivehousenetwork.org or email [email protected].
About PHN:
The Passive House Network (PHN), formerly known as NAPHN, is a 501(c)3 that provides Passive House high-performance building education and resources to professionals across the U.S. that transform how they think and work with buildings. PHN provides professionals a complete skill set to reliably produce new and renovated buildings that use dramatically less energy for effective and affordable climate action. https://naphnetwork.org/
About Passive House:
Passive House is an international building standard and methodology, applicable to buildings of all kinds from office buildings to hospitals, new-build and renovations, that results in a dramatic drop in operational energy use, and more comfortable and healthy occupants - meant to aggressively mitigate our climate crisis while providing resilient adaptation.
The Passive House Standard was developed by the Passive House Institute (PHI), an independent scientific research organization, located in Darmstadt, Germany, and includes specific requirements for energy use and comfort of occupants. The Passive House Standard is being successfully applied to thousands of buildings and millions of square feet around the world, from Boston to Beijing.
The Passive House methodology starts with reducing cooling, dehumidification, and heating loads by focusing, not on gadgets and active technology, but instead on fully integrated durable passive building components, such as proper continuous thermal-bridge-free insulation, continuous airtightness, high-performance windows and doors, and ventilation that includes a high-efficiency heat/energy recovery core, carefully calculated, and all integrated with the entire architectural process of design and construction. http://www.passivehouse.com http://www.passipedia.org
The International Passive House Association is a membership, communications, and global community-building arm of the Passive House Institute with over 30 affiliated regional Passive House organizations around the world. https://passivehouse-international.org/
Media Contact
Kim Ravold, The Passive House Network, 1 609-410-1308, [email protected], https://passivehousenetwork.org/
SOURCE The Passive House Network
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