Post-Occupancy Evaluations in Passive House Multi-Unit Residential Buildings.

This project evaluates the post-occupancy performance of two multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs): one which was newly constructed to the Passive House standard and one which was retrofit to EnerPhit Standard.

Status: Current

Research themes: Energy and GHG emissions Health and comfort

Research areas: Building design and retrofits for performance improvement; Wellbeing and comfort in the built environment; Enclosure and building materials performance characterization

Project Objective

The goal of this project is to evaluate the performance of two multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs): one which was newly constructed to the Passive House standard and one which was retrofit to EnerPhit Standard. Building performance is assessed from the perspective of energy use, air leakage, acoustic characteristics, ventilation system function, enclosure thermal performance and occupant satisfaction. This project

Approach

A variety of approaches are used in these two buildings including air leakage and acoustic testing, air flow measurements and monitoring, energy submetering and infrared thermography. In-suite monitoring is also conducted in some suite including temperature, relative humidity, various IAQ parameters, differential air pressures between zones, heat flux, surface temperature and window/fan operation. Building automation system data and local weather is also being collected.  Various parameters such as IEQ, energy performance of subsystems, air leakage rate, etc. are then compared to standard or design values to identify the existence and magnitude of any performance gaps.  Surveys of residents and interviews with the design, construction and operation teams are also conducted to supplement and better understand the quantitative data.

Findings

The findings of this project will likely reveal various unmet performance targets and ideally identify the reasons for these gaps through interviews and surveys.  The aim is to help building designers, contractors and operators more effectively achieve their performance goals in future Passive House MURB projects.