Lisa White and Aaron Smith: Phius 2021 is the next progression of the Phius passive building standards which were created to guide builders to success in the design and construction of passive buildings.

The well-known Phius performance path now has two levels related to overall building impact: the CORE target to acknowledge aggressive load reduction and energy conservation and the ZERO target to build upon CORE but also fully electrify and net out operational energy use with renewable energy. Phius ZERO marks the next step towards making net zero universal.

The Phius ZERO standard has other provisions to reduce emissions and support decarbonization efforts including banning on-site fossil fuel combustion and using a future predicted electric grid emissions scenario for calculating the impact of using electricity versus natural gas on site. Learn more about the mandatory requirements of the standard, renewable energy options to get to zero, building your project team, and next steps if you choose to pursue this for your project.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the history and origin of high performance passive buildings, passive principles, and how the standards are derived from and built upon these principles & concepts.

2. Recognize the core passive principles and how they are applied in various climate zones and result in varying passive building solutions and lay the foundation for net zero energy buildings.

3. Examine the recommendations and performance requirements for buildings pursuing Phius Certification for CORE or ZERO.

4. Recall the suggested timeline, project team members, their roles, and the Phius Certified professionals that must be involved if pursuing Phius Certification.

What is a High-Performance Home?

Better Homes, Better FutureBy Energy & Environmental Building AllianceJun 09, 2021