Resource Library

Phius Certification Manager Al Mitchell utilizes energy modeling tools to examine the future of building construction through the lens of passive building.

Phius Senior Scientist Graham Wright provides details on the release of ASHRAE Standard 227 - Passive Building Design for public comment.

Phius Associate Director Lisa White discusses the Architect's Guide to Ultra-Low-Energy Buildings, Microgrids & Direct Current, developed for the AIA by Phius through funding provided by an Upjohn Research Initiative grant.

Technical write-up of the research and methodology used to create the Phius 2021 passive building standard.

Technical write-up of the research and methodology used to create the PHIUS+ 2018 passive building standard.

This document outlines the methodology behind calculating the U.S Grid-Electricity Source Energy Factors for the Phius 2021 standard.

Resilient building design is becoming increasingly important as occurrence and duration of extreme weather events increase. These events cause disruptions in building operation and safety due to lack of electric power or fuel. Several resilient design strategies exist, many of which are also sustainable or energy saving design strategies. Specifically, passive building strategies that favor energy conservation in buildings also have a positive impact on the building’s resilience. Passive survivability is a key element to resilience, which can be assessed by simulating interior conditions during power outages in building energy modeling software. This paper will address passive survivability metrics and assessment protocol for passive survivability including a proposed methodology to derive climatic resilience design weeks. Additionally, it will cover simulation results from dynamic modeling completed in WUFIplus. These simulations assess passive survivability during power outages in varying multifamily building designs and inform the audience on how building design influences a building’s ability to maintain desirable interior conditions during outages.

This report, published October 29, 2019, was prepared for the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP). It is an evaluation of energy modeling methodology and analysis using WUFI® Passive V.3.2.0.1 software in comparison to test procedures described in ANSI/ASHRAE 140-2017, Standard Method of Test for the Evaluation of Building Energy Analysis Computer Programs. Predictions generated by WUFI Passive software are evaluated against predictive benchmarks from ASHRAE 140-2017. Elaboration of software variances is provided, in addition to a comprehensive report of test procedures and results. WUFI Passive results fell well into the suggested acceptance ranges in all test cases when following Class II Procedures of ASHRAE Standard 140. When WUFI Passive is referenced in this document, it is in reference to version 3.2.0.1 which was used for all the computations described. This report is intended to be used by accrediting agencies or jurisdictions for validation or acceptance of this software.