By Dona Pfeffer, NAPHN
Portland, Maine to Host Global and Local High Performance Building Experts
North American Passive House Network 2014 will gather Passive House leaders from across the continent and around the world to share new developments in the future of low carbon construction.
Portland, ME will host the North American Passive House Network 2014: Conference and Expo (NAPHN14) at the Holiday Inn By the Bay on September 22nd and 23rd. Leaders in this future-proof building methodology will converge to share solutions on how to address resiliency, carbon reduction and climate change for the built environment. The Passive House Standard has fast gained momentum here in the North East and across North America with leading proponents participating in this event. Local NAPHN
chapter, passivhausMaine, is thrilled to play host to this conference.
Founder of the Passive House Institute, Dr. Wolfgang Feist, will keynote NAPHN14 with a presentation on how the Passive House Standard is evolving to incorporate Plus Energy buildings with renewable energy sources. In a recent press release on the new rating system, Dr. Feist stated, “A building that produces more energy than it consumes is not only possible, it is often very sensible.”
With the North East’s challenging climate and strong history of environmental building design, the region has fomented a hotbed of Passive House innovation. Pre-fabrication and the use of non-petroleum-based building materials have surfaced as strong themes here. Local Passive House proponents will be represented in both presentations and two post-event Passive House Projects Tours. Projects on the tours include schools, a co-housing development, multiple residential projects along with retrofits of existing
homes.
Presentations have been selected from the broad spectrum of climate and building traditions across North America including NAPHN members from Colorado, New York, California, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Massachusetts. International presentations from Austria, Germany, Ireland, the UK, Belgium and China will exemplify the diversity and adaptability of this building methodology and make this the most globally-diverse Passive
House Conference ever hosted on US soil.
NAPHN14 closing plenary speaker Gernot Vallentin, who's firm ArchitekturWerkstatt Vallentin founded by he and partner Rena Vallentin, was awarded the prestigious Best Educational Passive House Building at the 18th International Passive House Conference in Aachen, Germany. The Pulmuone Seminary and Training facility, located in Goesan, South Korea, was designed and completed in 2013 (see below).
The Passive House Standard has come to represent a universal level of quality and performance and it is this that will be showcased at NAPHN14 in Portland, Maine.
NAPHN14: Conference & Expo website (with offered trainings, social events & tours).
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| The Pulmone Seminary and Training Facility in Goesan, South Korea |
Global Head of Sustainability, Superior Essex
Sustainability Director, Steven Winter Associates
PE | Associate, LeMessurier
Vice President, AEW’s Architecture & Engineering group
Interior Designer, Jacobs, Boston
Senior Vice President, Market Transformation and Development U.S. Green Building Council
AIA LEED AP BD+C | Senior Associate, Gensler Boston 
LEED Fellow, WELL AP | Founder and Principal, Ecoworks Studio
AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP
LEED AP BD+C | Environmental Sustainability Manager, Armstrong World Industries
Assistant Professor of Exposure Science | Director of the Healthy Buildings program
Managing Director, Harvard University Office for Sustainability
Principal & Director of Certifications and Consulting, Epsten Group, Inc.
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Vice President of Sustainable Development, Shaw
Founder and President, Board of the Healthy Building Network
Building Technology Director, Kingspan North America
LEED® AP ID+C, BD+C, USGBC Faculty, WELL® AP, WELL Faculty and Fitwel Ambassador
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Principal, Integrated Ecostrategy
Senior Vice President, International WELL Building Institute
Principal, Bruner/Cott
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