We will be presenting the design development decisions for the Full Revolution Farm a Positive Net Energy Passive House Project the First Commercial Hospitality Passive House Project.  Follow the design development into construction as we move forward with this project over the next 6 months.

Project; Full Revolution Farm Initial Design Considerations Part 1

Project Intent; Passive House, Design Build, self sufficient Bed and Breakfast

Project Team; Eco Smart Building LLC – Land Plan, Programming, Architecture, MEP,      

                        PHI Certification, Energy Star Version 3 Certification, and submission to    

                        the BuildingAmericaProgram.

Project Intent;

To be positive net energy in the best case and net zero in the worse case; Passive House building design withthePassive House International asthecertification body, additional design requirements are Energy Star Version 3 and Building America Version 2.

Renewable Energy Options Considered for the Project;

On site Renewable Energy considerations fortheproject are as follows; passive solar, solarthermal, photovoltaic, small wind/community wind, ground coupled geothermal system, air to air, water to water, and air to water heat pump, on site biogas generation, andthermally active transfer.

Iowa Geothermal best management practices http://www.iowadnr.gov/epc/09may/12.pdf 

Iowawell water and geothermal drilling http://www.iowadnr.gov/water/npdes/gp6.html 

On site biogas generation information, can be found in the book Ultimate Fire Digester

Programming land plan;

Site Topography;

There are currently two lots that have naturally occurring high spots which arethebuildable spaces forthelots.  The site has a natural flow for other storm water and I would suggest that it be maintained or enhanced inthedevelopment ofthesuite.

Existing trees onthesite are alongthenaturally occurring swale onthenorth end ofthesite and an old fence row.  The intent is to incorporate as many oftheexisting features intothenew site plan. 

Utility connections and easements;

There is currently no natural gas, electric or low voltage service totheproposed building sites.  Other buildings inthesubdivision are using LP for natural gas,theelectric, cable, and phone provider needs to be contacted for connection location, cost and timing forthese services.  All electric, cable and phone are trenched intheother subdivisions.

Municipal connections;

Currentlythecity is installing a municipal water and waste water system tothesubdivision.  There needs to be follow up withthebuilding and or engineering departments and or streets and sanitation onthesite requirements for connection location, cost and timing.  

Utility and municipal connections should be coordinated withthedevelopment ofthedrive easement intothetwo sites.

Storm water management;

Site Storm Water Management

There is a natural bio-swale onthenorth side ofthelots that runs northwest to Southeast, site drainage should be maintained or enhanced to direct water totheexisting natural swale, this could includetheuse of culverts undertheproposed drive to work withtheexisting sit drainage.  At this time it is unknown iftheexist swale has flowing water.

IowaInformation http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/pubs/stormwater/index.cfm 

Hardscape

Drive, parking, turnarounds traffic surfaces are Asphalt Paving -swale to catchment along all hardscape a final collection point will require a Perk test to determine permeability additional information can be found at http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/naturalresources/DD0583.html 

Plantings heights to be reviewed withtheState and Municipal code limits.  Native plants and no-mow space is preferred, trees are a preferred planting material for all hardscape to limit heat island.

Roof Drainage – Main House and attached Garage direct storm water to a gray water Cistern with an over flow leach field TBD.  Out buildings and additional hardscape storm and blackwater drainage TBD depending on building location, municipal, and county code requirements.

Black and Gray water systems;

Black water – Clivius Multrum is thepreferred treatment system for thesite, themanufacture also has a gray water system.  Additional information http://www.clivusmultrum.com/what-we-do.php  I have requestedthe design requirements for black and gray water systems.

Secondary plan – Ifthelocal municipality will not approvetheClivius Multrum system, we should review septic system requirements for both gray and black water systems.  My concern is that fromthesoils report thattheclay soil is two dense for proper drainage andthefield will need to be redesigned increasing cost.  Exploring on site biological treatment requirements and wet land generation for treatment can be accomplished in heavy clay soils.

We will have additional information fromthelocal municipality on timing, cost, and building code requirements where we can do a cost benefit analysis.

Landscape Windbreaks

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/landscaping/index.cfm/mytopic=11950 

Current Buildings/structures on the site;

House/B&B attached 3 1/2 car garage

            Household trash storage and recycling

Out Buildings maximum combined sq. ft. is 3,000 per building code requirements

Pole building

            Large storage/animal barn, pole barn

Dairy/cow shelter – house, etc

Equipment storage – small tractor

Hay/other storage

Green house – attached 15’ x 20’

Mobile chicken coops & yard 6’ x 12’

            Square foot/chicken

Large animal pen/paddock

Orchard fenced in

Compost bin location – close to animal housing, 3 bin enclosed size to be determined depending onthetype of animals on site as well as garden location

Additional information http://ag.arizona.edu/animalwaste/awcompost.html 

Composting yard waste http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07212.html 

Composting requirements http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/composting.htm 

Home composting http://web.extension.illinois.edu/homecompost/building.html 

State ofIowaPlant Program

Iowaplants http://www.iowadnr.gov/forestry/files/10catalog.pdf 

This is the first Commercial Hospitality Passive House in the US to meet the German Passive House Standard once built, tested, commissioned and Certified by Passive House International. Guests will enjoy breakfasts and hand-crafted goods produced from on-site sources as well as exploring the extensive grounds and wildlife habitat.

Unique design features;

Thermal Bridge Free Construction;

SIP Curtain Wall System

Basement Construction is thermally broken structural basement walls and structural slab

Passive and Active Mechanical Systems:

Passive Horizontal Geoexchange System for intake air tempering and dehumidification for the balanced Energy Recovery Ventilation Systems.

Earth Tube Supply and Return for all ventilation system requirements

Passive and Active Chilled Beams and Water to Water Heat Pump Energy Balancing System

Passive Chilled Beam Solar Thermal Green House

Advanced Air Sealing Protocol

This is a great introduction to the design considerations for a Commercial Passive House Project.

The project has an advanced monitoring system, which will be reporting to the project web site as well site environmental data. We will be linking to the data reporting and the web site as soon as they are posted.

You will find project photos in our project page!!

Hafele Chicago’s Showroom will be running a series of presentations once a month, here is the show room contact information;
Häfele America Co.
154 W. Hubbard St.
312 467 2225   http://www.hafele.com/us   http://www.hafele.com/us/news-and-events/showroom-events/chicago-hardware-showroom-hafele.asp

The First Group of projects that will be posted on the Project Page;

Full Revolution Farm – First Commercial Hospitality Positive Net Energy Passive House Project in the US!

Jordan Passive House – Our First International Passive House Project, this is an interesting cast in place concrete project!

Japan’s First Energy Star Version 3 Project – Receives a HERS Score of 37

Stay tuned there are several major projects yet to be uploaded after they are pre-certified by our Passive House International Certifier.

Graham Irwin is a fellow board member of the National Passive House Alliance and shared this presentation with everyone on a comparison of REM/Rate, Energy Gauge, Manual J and D, and the Passive House Planning Package.  I would suggest that it is an overview of all of them and general comparison. 

As a nPHA Board Member and a Certified Passive House Consultant I would suggest the Passive House Planning Package.  As the Passive House Institute US Quality Assurance/Quality Control and RESNET Provider for PHIUS we are in the middle of the REM/Rate and Energy Gauge software reviews John Steil has been key in making this work

Here are the links

Group:

 I thought you might want to see the press we are getting as we prepare for the Solar Decathlon.  Groundbreaking was yesterday.  We are also in the design process for our (2) 3 unit Passive Townhouses that we expect to be going vertical on in June 2012, assuming the District of Columbia can get through the permitting process.  We expect to have a conference in June of 2012 to invite Habitat affiliates, practitioners, consultants, construction directors and engineers/designers to tour the Solar Decathlon Duplex and to actually spend a day physically constructing the exterior walls for the 2 townhouses.  The event will also include a charette and RFP process on a 5 unit Passive Townhouse that will follow the (2) 3 unit townhouses.

http://www.tbd.com/articles/2011/06/teams-looks-to-bring-cutting-edge-house-design-to-low-income-families-63010.html

http://deanwooddenizen.blogspot.com/2010/09/passive-solar-house-site-warming.html

http://www.bisnow.com/washington_dc_the_scene_news_story.php?p=14298

http://parsit.parsons.edu/2011/06/june-29-groundbreaking/

http://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2011/empowerhousegroundbreaking.htm

Our wide varity of partnerships in our development of the PHIUS QA/QC process and Eco Smart Building QAD function has been critical in the development of the Passive House (Low Energy Use) Rater and QA/QC Programs. We are working with both REM/Rate and Energy Gauge to ensure thatPassive House Projects not only meet the energy standard but receive an accurate HERS Score. 

Japanese Energy Star Council and Passive House Japan have agreed to work on developing a weather data base for Japanese Energy Star Council and Passive House Projects in Asia Pacific. JESC and PHJ are working on developing a shared model data base to ensure the accuracy of the HERS Rating for the Asia Pacific market.

Upgrading the web site has been a lot of work by Celeste Karan and I would like to take this chance to recognize all of Celeste’s hard work and support on a number of fronts assisting us in our continued growth and development of the company.

We look forward to the continued development of new classes and partnerships in order to bring high-performance building into the mainstream.