PassivHausGeek

For those interested in designing to a rigorous energy standard that leaves LEED in the dust, become a certified Passive House Consultant, www.passivehouse.us, which is where I met Henry. We both were part of the first graduating class of 17 in the USA (out of more than 30 who started taking the class). I love the photo because it shows Henry so well; soft-spoken, doesn't say much, but everything that comes out of his mouth is thoroughly considered and dead-on in terms of building science. No wonder the little guy looks kind of brow-beaten.

While I wouldn't use the term "fraud" to describe LEED, because I believe that those who created it were well-intentioned though they used processes that resulted in creating misguided policies and less-than-stellar building results, Henry's criticisms (and those of many who've commented above) match with what my experience of LEED has been. It is quite possible to achieve a Platinum LEED rating in any of their programs, including LEED for Homes, without achieving any better energy performance than the minimum pre-requisite Energy Star level of performance, which is currently only about 30% better than minimum code-compliance (and its illegal to do less than that).

I did a little life-cycle environmental and economic analysis as a result of my teaching sideline, and the research clearly shows that operational energy costs far exceed any other factors in environmental and economic impacts of building construction, so that is the major bone I have to pick with LEED. Either the points awarded should be based on the relative environmental impacts resulting from the green improvement to the building, or there should be an increasing minimum level of points in the Energy and Atmosphere category required in order to be able to move to a higher level of LEED certification. If they don't make some changes like that to ensure that exemplary energy efficiency is a requirement, not just a suggestion for achieving a LEED certification level, then they should stop claiming in their marketing that they are an exemplary energy standard, because as currently written, its energy standards are no better than the old Energy Star program. People who buy a LEED building think they are getting something that will save them money and save the environment, but that is often not the case.

The Passive House Standard actually is a rigorous energy efficiency performance standard, in which certified buildings can use no more than 15kwh/sq.meter annually (about 5000kwh/sq.ft annually) for space heating and cooling energy, including all associated fans, pumps & motors in the equipment. This is about 90% savings over code compliance (codes vary by jurisdiction). Instantaneous max. heat demand tops out at about 1 w per square foot, so a 1200 sf Passive House dwelling can be heated by an electric heating element the size of one in a typical hair blowdryer! There is no "point" system to memorize, only software (an Excel spreadsheet) for modeling the project's energy consumption, which has been refined for more than a decade by test results from certified Passive Houses worldwide. The calculations done by the software are submitted by the certified PH consultant to PHIUS for checking, which is what your certification fee pays for. The final step to certifying a building is submitting the third party blower-door test results showing that the building complies with the P.H.Std's max. 0.6 ACH @50 pa requirement for air-tightness, the testing & balancing documentation, and photos showing the project was build to the approved contract document specifications. This certificate is as close to a mpg efficiency tag for buildings as you can get, which is what buyers need.

PHIUS first (Fairview) projects came in for about $120/sf, exclusive of site/infrastructure costs. The original goal of the Passive House Standard was to maximize life-cycle energy and cost efficiency, by increasing the performance of the building envelope to the point at which the mechanicals for the building could be down-sized to offset some of the costs of better building envelope. The 15 kwh/sq.m annually limit is the level at which that mechanical down-sizing becomes possible.

I hope this clarifies for folks the differences between LEED and the Passive House Standard, and encourages others to pursue true building excellence. Achieving P.H. Consultant certification won't turn you into a Henry overnight, but it is a good grounding in the principles of integrated sustainable design and equips you with valuable tools for achieving high-performance, climate appropriate buildings. Check it out!