Passive House Comes to Brooklyn Heights
[nggallery id=”53667″ template=galleryview] We were invited to tour an in-construction Passive House in Brooklyn Heights, a 1846 brownstone on Sydney Place that was badly remodeled in the 80s and is now receiving a gut renovation to accommodate to the most rigorous energy standard in the world. For details on what a Passive House is, you…
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We were invited to tour an in-construction Passive House in Brooklyn Heights, a 1846 brownstone on Sydney Place that was badly remodeled in the 80s and is now receiving a gut renovation to accommodate to the most rigorous energy standard in the world. For details on what a Passive House is, you can visit this website or listen to this helpful NPR feature. We can tell you it is a house-wide energy system that uses an incredible amount of insulation and effective, insulated windows to create an airtight building. In this particular home, air source heat pumps bring fresh air into the house, filter the air, and then heat or cool the air which in turn heats or cools the house. (This is 80-90 percent more effective than a traditional heating or cooling system.) The contractor on the site, Sam McAfee, told us that the project is the first landmarked Passive House in the US, and the LPC has worked closely with them, especially with the windows. Through the winter, the home could maintaining 55 degrees without heat. Click through the photos to see how certain features in the home work in the system. Construction should be complete by this April.
I used to remember Sidney Place fondly. But this renovation is just another sign of how the neighborhood has lived up to its stereotype. Just a bunch of grown children trying to out-do each other with their state of the art renovations.
Cool hermetically sealed house. Do they walk around in temperature controlled bubbles as well?
Finally, green is the new black! This approval is a statement coming from Landmarks. One can only presume that the facade treatment will be glass-filled which has a very contemporary look, not a very historically preserved aesthetic! Great news that they are willing to look beyond a hard line of rules, but I do wonder about how it will change the character of Sidney Place, presumably the neighbors are satisfied and approve the design. As we all know this is costing the owner a LOT to do, and will be newsworthy when finished. But there are SIMPLE energy improvements the average homeowner can do to make upgrades and improvements to the home – which includes replacing windows, upgrades to heating and cooling systems, alternative energy installations, insulation, EVEN design considerations like kitchen layout, greenspaces/gardens or green roofs or even roof decks with greenery. Everyone has the potential to play a small part in reducing our collective draw on the limited energy resources. We have experience in the neighborhood and with making these important, global, energy improvements to the historic brownstone. We would invite anyone to call us for design assistance or quote on energy modifications that can be made to their brownstones. Kudos Landmarks!
the zehnder units actually come with an ERV – Energy Recovery Ventilator core, that besides exchanging heat will also transfer humidity.
Thus the relative humid outside air will be cooled and dehumidified by the ERV – by making the exhaust air (70F and 40% RH) more warm and more humid.
This means there is no cooling of hot air without dehumidification, which eliminates the chance of condensation or mold issues.
Benson,
Excellent question.
I’m unsure what unit was used in this home (Passive House doesn’t mandate specific products – it is a performance based standard) but I would expect that it has a connection to a condensate drain.
I know that Zehnder units (the preferred ventilation units) do have condensate lines. They also have frost protection.
Typically, these units would be installed in a utility closet (that appears to be the case here, but again, I’m not the architect so I can’t say for sure), which could easily be equipped with a floor drain.
If Sam (the builder) is still on, is there anything you can add, or clarify?
On another note, I wanted to add that these Zehnder units have Energy Recovery options, not merely Heat Recovery. That means that they exchange heat energy and the latent heat energy (air and moisture), which speaks to your previously expressed concern of NYC’s brutal summer humidity.
Young archi;
Thanks alot. One more question, if you would. If the exchanger is also used during the summer to cool incoming air, I would have concern about condensation/mold. If the incoming air is first cooled down in the exchanger, condensation will occur on very hot/humid days, and I am concerned that this condensation would reside in the incoming air ductwork, leading to mold and other nasty stuff.
Would you know the following:
-is there some type of weephole/drip-pan set-up in the exchanger that quickly drains condensation out of the air intake ductwork?
-where is the exchanger typically located? From the photos in this article, it looks like it might be embedded in the ceiling. I would have concerns about this set-up, specifically, the weep-holes becoming clogged and water overflowing from the drip-pan onto the ceiling.
Thanks once again.
@tybur6 you certainly are acting like an immature douche nozzle. i’ve never seen such a overly passionate exchange over such a bland topic, then again this is a forum for yuppie brownstone owners with nothing better to do than one up one another with their “expertise” of something you can read about on Wikipedia. also, last time i checked, hot air moves up not down, unless you are expending the energy to make it do so, then it is no longer passive…or unless it is coming out of tyburg6’s mouth. **Blowhard**
roberto, yes, you are exactly right. I took exception to an inadvertent slip in the wording of the original lead-in – i should have made my point clearer much earlier on, but I’ve enjoyed the ride nevertheless
but still ringing in my ears is ‘the next bubble is the green bubble’ – not that I want that, but let’s just all keep an eye on it
don’t know if i’ll be around for monday’s OT
First off, passive houses are great. It´s about time this technology gets known to the US.
But retrofitting a historic house seems to be a rather ambitious project and it is not going to become a standard for house renovation.
But it is realistic to lower energy consumption by updating some of the outdated features in your house – and THAT should be the standard.
Window replacement / Fix Doors / Insulate outside / Modern Gas burner – will give you a great improvement.
A proper Passivehouse follows strict rules – and a lot of effort goes into reaching the last 10% of efficiency.
It´s great – don´t get me wrong.
But on a more practical approach:
let´s say you can improve your building´s energy efficiency by 50%. You´d probably spend only half on improving it by 40% without the passive house standard.
e.g. good tilt & turn double glazed windows do a great job. But for a passive house triple glazed are required.
Benson — I don’t disagree with you about my coming across as a bit shrill… but Venessa is hardly coming across as someone engaged in “lively critical thinking” about energy consumption.
You’re right, cost benefit is at the core of any endeavor like this. Just like not every rooftop is best suited for photovoltaic panels (exposure, roof lifespan, sunny days, etc.), the same is the case for everything else. And just like everything else, the longer it exists the lower the costs become and the smaller the difference between “new” and “traditional” technologies.
Think fiberglass insulation compared to straw, etc.