Kent Hicks presents on making Net Zero homes & energy retrofits affordable, healthy, and low in embodied carbon

Kent Hicks presents on making Net Zero homes & energy retrofits affordable, healthy, and low in embodied carbon

To make a substantial and faster impact on reducing carbon emissions in our built environment, we need to remove the cost barriers of energy efficiency in new homes and of energy retrofitting our massive existing housing stock. Key to this strategy is the methodology of designing and building assemblies and systems that reduce building materials and increase construction efficiency while using healthy and low embodied carbon resources. For twenty years, Mr. Hicks, one of the first Passive House Consultants in the country, has been committed to mitigating climate change and incorporating best practices in building science while developing innovative approaches to affordable, healthy efficiency. Links Kent Hicks Construction East Branch Homes Presentation Video https://youtu.be/MjYiTYVRiCo...
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Ted Sheridan and UMass alumnus Greg Orwat present their passive house projects

Ted Sheridan and UMass alumnus Greg Orwat present their passive house projects

For millenniums Architects have been designing beautiful geometries enhancing our public realm. For perhaps 50 years, to different degrees, Architects have been designing buildings that perform more and more efficiently, reducing both our climate impact and our energy costs. Marrying the two strategies is not an easy task. Ted Sheridan, AIA, and Gregory Orwat (UMass Architecture Graduate) from Ryall Sheridan Architects presented a fabulous group of projects extracted from their firm’s portfolio; each demonstrating the real possibility of achieving the elegance of sophisticated architecture and the rigors of Passive House Standard within one geometry. Synopsis: Tectonic Extremes of Passive House Design. Passive House design offers a radically efficient means for reducing the energy use of buildings of all types but it tends to constrain architectural form making. This does not need to be the case; with careful design considerations and use of advanced performance materials, architectural design can be spatially ambitious and articulated. Links Presentation Slides 'An experiment unlike any other': Father-son duo build first house of its kind...
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