July Retrofit Doubleheader

Retrofits on my mind...and climate change...thoughts part two to add to my last post.

Made huge progress yesterday. Early morning meeting at architect's office...contracted...we have a plan.

The energy retrofit and thermal envelope figured out in my mind. Complicated building...a bit like Tetris, boxes on top of boxes intertwined with boxes and more boxes...advanced level continuous air barrier design (in addition to intertwined boxes old split wooden beams, do I have to say anymore?), thermal layer (only interior insulation on brick possible), water control layer (mostly already there, yay), fire protection, sound...and oh yes, ventilation system and duct design, heating system from existing house extension, no cooling...I love it, I admit. Applied 3D riddling (for all those of you who are right now sitting on their couches solving the New York Times Saturday cross word puzzle, try this for a change, wink wink!)

Fun aside, back to serious biz...unfinished attic with separate entrance (it is almost its own little town house slice between two main building blocks), will be turned into a Phius REVIVE prescriptive project...it is R&D, applying the new standard in another climate and on another continent as proof of concept.

Not to be confused with the Phius REVIVE Pilot. Phius is also working on a new framework for deep energy retrofit standards and a strategy for how to assess and get to over time to Absolute Zero (operational and embodied energy) which we have to ultimately get to to avert the worst of climate change. The coolest thing since we've worked on the "Climate Specific Passive Building Standards" in 2015.

The core question for this rethink...if we have to retrofit the ENTIRE building stock to somewhat reasonable energy efficiency levels in a very short amount of time (the next couple decades) then the embodied carbon materials have to be carefully balanced with the operational carbon saved in that time period of time to not all at once overwhelm (or carbon kick in the butt) the planet. We are reassessing the levels of insulation really needed. But more on that elsewhere, might try some of those ideas on my project as well. And without going more into the details of the Phius REVIVE Pilot come to PhiusCon 2022 in Chicago in October to learn more on that.

Here is why I was wide awake in bed this morning thinking I need to write a doubleheader...

Cooling! Europe is yet again experiencing incredible temperatures in the South currently, wild fires, water shortages, the whole shebang. And for the first time ever even London England has issued a red flag heat warning for the very first time in history as the heat dome moves up and East over Europe.

Most buildings have no cooling. And if you remember, the Passivhaus standard has its birth place here in central Europe, a moderate heating dominated climate originally...so far people here in Germany and up really only had to deal with one aspect of having to condition homes: heating.

When we first applied the ideas 20 years ago in the US lessons were quickly learned. Most regions already had more severe heating needs also significant cooling degree days and de-humidification needs! That complicates things quite a bit. In the midst of summer, who wants to wear a down coat that you can't take off? Insulation levels had to be re-callibrated and balanced to meet both needs: heating and cooling.

If one now looks at a climate graphs of London one can see that the climate is already moving (which will get worse)...you'll see a bell curve that originally had moderate heating needs on the left, few very hot days on the right but mostly no conditioning needs in the middle. That curve now is shifting right towards the hot periods, resulting in less cold days during the winter and much more hot days that are now becoming cooling degree days in the summer.

My building is 100 years old, brick walls, basement, lots of thermal storage capacity and ground coupling. Despite the climate shifting, the nights still cool off significantly and if the heat does not persist for too long, night cooling works like a champ. Windows are triple pane, all new, in the main house. Some insulation was blown into the air space between two courses of brick previously.

So, strategy for the new space in the back will be to insulate of insulation recommended for Phius REVIVE in the roof and walls but to leave the project coupled to the ground. Nice concrete floor. Yes, this will increase heating some, but also decrease cooling significantly. I'll try to optimize carbon and will do an ADORB (Annualized Decarbonization of Retrofited Buildings) calculation to assess what it takes to get to Absolute Zero (for embodied and operational carbon).

I already made it through a few really hot days here. When I grew up in Europe temperatures of 32 C were outrageous and everyone was suffering profusely. Now 36, 39, 41 are the new normal. Crazy, really.

But why am I writing about all this? Because all my efforts over here over the last few weeks, they really have been about shoring up a place to live in comfortably and safely as things start to change very quickly. And I feel the time pressure as well. How long will I have the ability to invest in measures? How long will materials and components be available? The industrial capacity is already going down some, let it be to lack of gas or war or ripples through the global supply chain due to COVID...the sands are beginning to shift...

A dear friend reminded me of the "Limits to Growth" the other day, a report on the interaction of human activity with environmental resources, commissioned by the Club of Rome in 1972 from MIT. And I was reminded of their finding then which have remained largely correct. Looking at the quintessential graph that, without action and a shift to a more sustainable lifestyle...it predicts a sharp drop of industrial capacity (and drop of food prodution and population for that matter as well) and that picture actually prompted my previous post...industrial scale retrofits...ok we might have the technology, but what if the predictions of LTG have already progressed too far, if the industry can not scale up then the core premise to the solution is flawed. And we are starting to feel those hickups in the system, it is beginning to stutter...

Somehow I have a sense that this might be a last wake up call, a last chance for us, for humanity, to reconsider a new sustainable lifestyle...I am calling upon all big thinkers, philosophers, visionaries to envision and to set in motion. My friend called it "swarming"...let those visions "swarm", please, soon...