Passive House's Growing Influence on North American Energy Codes

In June of this year, California’s Codes and Standards (CASE) team released a list of measures it will explore for the 2022 code cycle. The list included a proposal to explore a ‘Passive House Prescriptive Pathway’ in the Single Family category, reflecting the growing influence on energy code development being made by the Passive House standard in California. Also listed for review in the commercial and multifamily sections were a host of measures integral to Passive House building design, including the addition of heat recovery ventilation systems, a proposal to set and test air infiltration (AKA air-sealing) and an ambitious proposal to require thermal bridge calculations.   

The above announcements were preceded by a review by CASE for a Passive House Low-Rise Multifamily Reach Code. This review added to a host of previously approved options and now offers California’s cities a remarkable opportunity to accelerate building efficiency well beyond the fuel-switching codes already adopted by many. Passive House California (PHCA) - an affiliate of the North American Passive House Network (NAPHN) - offered this review of the CASE report, which clearly highlights a plethora of unexplored opportunities to expedite the adoption of cost-effective building decarbonization. 

Figure 1: PHCA’s Reach Code showing all-electric Passive House low-rise multifamily building improvement compared to the baseline EDR margins required to qualify for a 2019 Reach Code.

Orchestrated Efforts

These announcements form part of a growing number of signals being sent by California Codes and Standards, indicating that Passive House is on the rise. The above CASE reviews, combined with regular mentions of Passive House by popular California Energy Commissioner, Andrew McAllister, sends a clear signal to local policymakers, professionals and code enforcement agents. Californians are being actively encouraged to educate themselves on the details, tools and protocols utilized by the Passive House standard, for good reason. The results shown above, extracted from PHCA’s Low-Rise Multifamily Reach Code report, reveal why California’s energy code developers are clearly eager to support the acceleration of all Passive House building types in California. [Hint: read the comparison table footnotes in the report to understand how California's current energy compliance model is unable to credit a number of high performance measures common to Passive House and other high performance buildings.]

(2020 UPDATE: California's Codes and Standards elected to not move forward with the development and implementation of the PH Prescriptive Pathway proposal. They reason stated was "insufficient users to justify the expense to develop this pathway." This of course, was highly disappointing, particularly given that their own review exposed existing code barriers that prevent Passive House projects from being accurately credited.)

Passive House Momentum Elsewhere

Across North America, similar measures are being proposed and advanced by many other NAPHN chapters and affiliates. This collective action is having a force-multiplier effect on North America’s building codes. In New York, the members of New York Passive House (NYPH) have been diligently supporting and promoting efforts at state and local levels to incentivize Passive House acceleration. Based on the number of projects identified on this map, their efforts are clearly working! 

PHPP use for code compliance

Additionally, NYPH is inches away from having the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) accepted as an alternate compliance energy model. This comes on the heels of the successful validation of the PHPP via the ASHRAE 140 energy modeling protocol, which was collectively supported by network members, Passive House Canada, PHCA and NYPH, acting alongside the Passivhaus Institut. We anticipate other regions will soon accept the PHPP as a compliance modeling tool, to follow the lead taken by Canadian policy-makers in British Columbia, where this is already in place. 

Across the Hudson River, New Jersey Passive House members are actively engaged in driving their State Climate Action plan towards higher performance measures. We anticipate some advances there as a result. Other NAPHN chapters in Minnesota and Washington DC are providing similar support to their local policymakers, which NAPHN is actively encouraging. Further out west, Passive House Rocky Mountains has recently supported a Reach Code that steps up to Passive House metrics for the City of Denver. NAPHN is actively collaborating with the New Buildings Institute (NBI) to deliver this policy for representatives of the City of Denver. PHRM will share details as they emerge.

Policy Resource Guide

Much of the above policy and code activity has been influenced by the programs and policies outlined in NAPHN's Policy Resource Guide. This guide is proving to be an invaluable advocacy tool for our extended community, providing excellent resources and ideas to share with their progressive policy maker colleagues. We look forward to expanding this guide in the future, and providing updates on the progress being made to utilize the clear framework and effective protocols already embedded in the Passive House standard.

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About NAPHN  

The North American Passive House Network (NAPHN) is leading the transformation of the building industry to high-performance, all renewable Passive House design and construction. We support the widespread adoption of the international Passive House standards, building science principles, tools and protocols.

As a non-profit educational organization, NAPHN’s work is internationally recognized. NAPHN 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. See NAPHN's About Us document here.

Local Professional & Trades Trainings

We recognize that policy makers are only able to implement great policies to meet their required climate action goals when local professionals can reliably deliver performance targets. For this reason, NAPHN has focused its efforts on offering exceptional Passive House trainings and is committed to providing accessible training options across the continent. Courses directed at building professionals and tradespersons are now regularly hosted at a growing number of venues across the country. Locate your nearest training here.

Customized Trainings

NAPHN has developed customized training programs to address specific building types and specialized program needs. We are pleased to be working with a number of cities, counties and school districts to support their local climate action goals and programs. Contact NAPHN to enquire about customized trainings or workshops in your region: info@naphnetwork.org.