Regenerative Construction Ecosystems Symposium on Mass Timber Passive House Building Planned for Jan 26-27
The free online event will examine and highlight the intersection of community economic resilience, the urgent need for more effective forest management, new industrial development opportunities and healthy high-performance Passive House homes, schools and office buildings.
HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif., Jan. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Passive House Network is pleased to announce a free symposium titled Regenerative Construction Ecosystems, accessible live-online, January 26 & 27, 10 AM - 1 PM PT / 1-4 PM ET. The symposium will gather experts in mass timber design, planning, construction in combination with Passive House, embodied carbon tools, wood components, and industrialized construction. It will focus on fostering an ecosystem that serves forest sustainability and wild fire prevention, while producing leading edge building technologies and results. This symposium offers educators, designers, consultants, and policymakers the opportunity to gain insights in connecting these emerging market trends.
Wood as a building material is durable, affordable, and light. It holds the potential to radically transform our carbon-heavy building infrastructure while improving upon health, quality, and comfort. When integrated with Passive House design, these benefits are expanded, occupant resilience is strengthened and the climate impact is maximized.
"California's climate, megafire, and affordability crises are forcing us to think holistically and find solutions that work across these interrelated challenges. How do we prevent unnaturally massive wildfires with sustainable forest stewardship, while positioning rural communities as key partners and beneficiaries of cutting edge construction and climate jobs?" said event co-organizer, and founder of FABRIC Workshop, Scott Ehlert. "Part of the answer must be a robust, wood-based construction industry that utilizes mass timber and other wood components, industrial prefabrication, and high-performance Passive House methodologies."
The symposium kicks off on 26 January with discussions on making industrialized and mass timber construction a reality. Participants learn mass timber from production to design to development. While also being keyed into industry developments in education and new leaders in the field.
On 27 January the symposium showcases the tools necessary for low-carbon building construction. Presentations will overview effective planning and design, and how to connect consumers to this exciting opportunity. The Passive House Network will provide early insights to their new PHribbon embodied carbon calculator with an emphasis U.S.-specifics. These tools will transform how we plan our building design, paving the way for a sustainable built environment.
"Mass timber industrial production is uniquely powerful in driving down the embodied carbon footprint of buildings, while Passive House drives down operational carbon emissions, making the pair an unbeatable strategy in tackling climate change and forging a resilient future for our families and communities," said Michael Eliason, co-organizer, founder of Larch Lab, and the symposium moderator. "This symposium will demonstrate that we already have the knowhow, and that we are now looking at large scale investment and implementation of these strategies."
The symposium is made possible in part by the financial support of Blue Lake Rancheria, A Federally Recognized Tribe, and the North Fork Lumber Company, both of Humboldt County, California.
"The Passive House Network is proud to host this symposium because there is a growing realization in California and across the country that business-as-usual is not going to deliver a livable future," said Bronwyn Barry, Board Chair of PHN and founder of Passive House BB. "And we have a message of hope - that transformation is possible - that smart wood use and smart building methods, integrated as a system, can drive a better future. Let's embrace it!"
Find out more and register: https://naphnetwork.org/wood-symposium/
# # #
About PHN:
The Passive House Network (PHN) is an independent national 501c3 non-profit educational organization affiliated with the International Passive House Association (iPHA) and the Passive House Institute (PHI), located in Darmstadt, Germany.
PHN has chapters based in New Jersey and Washington DC (http://www.naphnetwork.org), the Rocky Mountain Region (http://www.phrockymountains.com), Minnesota (http://www.passivehouseminnesota.org) and Pennsylvania (http://www.passivehousepa.org).
PHN supports the widespread adoption of the international Passive House design and construction standards, building science principles and protocols, as a critical response to our climate crisis - providing unparalleled effectiveness in mitigating climate disruptions and adapting to rapidly changing environmental conditions.
PHN is focused on the inflection point between policy and implementation. We partner with leading stakeholders across all building sectors, including governments, professional associations, manufacturers, owners, builders, labor organizations, and educational institutions – to make the transformation complete.
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
Ken Levenson, The Passive House Network, +1 (917) 837-8487, [email protected]
SOURCE The Passive House Network
Share this article