Building for the Future: Designing a Passive House Residence Hall at Emory & Henry College

Jesse FreedmanJoint Energy ManagerHollins 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

Presiden

t's House

Leaky

Moderate

Tight

Passive

House Sta

ndard

Terra

Haus

Hickory

Hall0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Air Tightness (ACH50)

Passive House Standard

Terra Haus Hickory Hall0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

Windows

Elm Hickory0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

U-value

Modular Construction• Click here to see a video of the construction process

Fiscal and Energy Performance

Elm Hall Hickory Hall Average (for <200 beds)

$-

$10,000.00

$20,000.00

$30,000.00

$40,000.00

$50,000.00

$60,000.00

$70,000.00

$80,000.00

$90,000.00

$-

$50.00

$100.00

$150.00

$200.00

$250.00

Costs

Cost/bed Cost/square foot

Elm Hall Hickory Hall ASHRAE 90.1-2010

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

45,000Energy Intensity*

BTU/square ft/year

*Hickory Hall based on modeled data; average based on ASHRAE 90.1-2013

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: