Chicago, IL — July 14, 2017 — The Department of Energy announced Thursday it will provide up to $3.7 million in Building America Industry Partnerships to seven projects focused on high performance housing, including the Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI) Experimental Envelope Fabrication Process for Integrated Zero Energy Ready Multifamily Renovations, in which PHIUS and the Net Zero Energy Coalition (NZEC) are partners.
This grant allows RMI, PHIUS and NZEC to develop high performance building envelope assemblies for new and retrofit buildings. PHIUS will take the lead in developing retrofit standards and industry guidance for single family and multifamily homes, and will oversee monitoring, measurement, and quality assurance for prototypes and pilot projects.
“Tailoring envelope assemblies to climate zones is critical to making high performance buildings affordable and effective,” said Katrin Klingenberg, Director of PHIUS, “It is the most cost effective route to zero. We are excited to help in creating standards and design guidelines that make zero energy buildings possible everywhere.”
David Nemtzow, director of the Building Technologies Office, added, “The Building America program brings together leading building science experts and industry partners to tackle major technical challenges in real homes. These innovative projects will advance our understanding of building performance, help U.S. industry innovate, and provide the public with reliable, unbiased technical information on home innovations.”
The grants continue work begun in 2015 and 2016 by Building America teams and are intended to reduce energy use of new homes by 60 percent and existing homes by 40 percent relative to an average 2010 home in each U.S. climate zone.
About PHIUS
PHIUS is a 501(c)(3) organization committed to making high-performance passive building the mainstream market standard. PHIUS is transforming the building sector by developing and promoting North American specific standards, practices, and certifications for buildings, professionals, and products to create structures that are durable, comfortable, healthy, and super energy efficient.
Founded in 2003, PHIUS has trained over 2,000 architects, engineers, energy consultants, energy raters, and builders in the passive building standard. The organization is the leading passive building research and information provider in North America. PHIUS released the PHIUS+ 2015 climate-specific building standard, developed under a DOE grant in partnership with Building Science Corporation, in March of 2015. In addition to the DOE, PHIUS has also established strategic relationships with key organizations including RESNET and the Home Innovation Research Labs, among others. The organization has received funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and, more recently, the John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation.
Through its Passive House Alliance US (PHAUS) program, a membership-based organization with over 800 members across 18 local chapters and dozens of corporate sponsors, PHIUS is building a robust national network of passive building communities across North America.
Learn more at www.phius.org.
CONTACT:
Christopher Hacker
PHIUS Communications
312.561.4588