Passive House Ventilation: Humidity Considerations in Multifamily Residential Buildings

The Passive House concept continues to scale up in North America, in both number and size of projects. Passive House buildings benefit from airtight construction, as minimizing winter infiltration directly lowers energy consumed when heating the building. Airtight construction also hinders airborne moisture from escaping through the building skin, thus requiring new thinking about the requirements of the ventilation system. This session examines the causes and solutions to humidity buildup in Passive House buildings and is for those interested in learning how to achieve peak energy performance from their ventilation system while minimizing the risk of excessive moisture buildup.

Session Speaker(s): 

Mike Woolsey

Session Chair(s): 

Keirstan Entriken

Event Time: 

Thursday, August 13, 2020 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm

Room / Location:
Harbor III

Experience Level: 

2 (some prior experience/knowledge helpful)

CEU Information: 

AIA 1.0 LU/HSW
BPI 1.0 hour
GBCI BD+C, ID+C, WELL 1.0 hour
MA CSL 1.0 hour, Energy
PHI 1.0 credit

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the sources of indoor humidity in multifamily residential buildings
  • Determine the best method of managing humidity in airtight buildings
  • Understand the impact of airtight construction on heating energy use
  • Describe in basic terms the different types of systems used to ventilate airtight buildings

Session ID: 

BOS20-222

Session Documents: 

PDF icon 222_-_passive_house_ventilation.pdf (1.93 MB)

Past Conferences