Building for the Future:
Designing a Passive
House Residence Hall at
Emory & Henry College
Jesse Freedman
Joint Energy Manager
Hollins University/Emory & Henry College
Introduction
•
•
•
•
Who I Am
What We Did
How We Did It
What We Plan To Do
Who I Am
• Joint Energy Manager
• Made possible by a generous grant from the Jessie Ball duPont
Fund
• Direct a three-year collaborative energy conservation project
• Two hours (120 miles) between the two campuses
• Modeled loosely on the Five Colleges joint energy manager
What we did
• Second of three
residence halls
• Nearly identical to it’s
predecessor (LEED
Silver spec)
• Built using modular
construction
• Approximately $4.7
million
• Seeking Passive House
Certification
What is Passive House
• World’s most stringent
building energy code
• Airtight building
envelope (<.6 ACH50)
• 4.75 kBtu/sf/yr heat
demand
• 38.1 kBtu/sf/yr
primary energy
• Heat recovery
ventilation
Source: http://www.passivehouse.us/passiveHouse/PassiveHouseInfo.html
How we did it
• R-30 walls, R-50 roof
• Triple-glazed windows
• Ground-source heat
pumps (15 tons)
• 18 Energy Recovery
Ventilators
• Air-tight building
envelope
• preliminary blower door
test <.2 ACH50
Building Envelope
Air Tightness (ACH50)
0.7
30
0.6
25
0.5
20
0.4
15
10
5
0
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Passive House
Standard
Terra Haus
Hickory Hall
Windows
U-value
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
Elm
Hickory
Modular Construction
• Click here to see a video of the construction process
Fiscal and Energy Performance
Energy Intensity*
Costs
45,000
$90,000.00
40,000
$80,000.00
35,000
$70,000.00
30,000
$60,000.00
25,000
$50,000.00
20,000
$40,000.00
15,000
$30,000.00
10,000
$20,000.00
5,000
$10,000.00
$250.00
$200.00
$150.00
$100.00
$50.00
$-
0
Elm Hall
Hickory Hall
BTU/square ft/year
ASHRAE 90.12010
$Elm Hall
Cost/bed
*Hickory Hall based on modeled data; average based
on ASHRAE 90.1-2013
Hickory Hall Average (for
<200 beds)
Cost/square foot
What we plan to do
• Comparison energy
study of Elm and
Hickory
• Short-term and
longitudinal behavior
study
• Measure student
behaviors and
academic
performance
Thanks to: