Passive House: Planning and Design Seminar
DISCLAIMER
Before purchasing, review the rules of your licensing or certifying entity. It is your responsibility to confirm this course meets your CE requirements. See the credit tab on the course page for details.
What’s Included: Full webinar recording, written course materials, expert instruction, a mandatory quiz, and a certificate upon completion.
Deliverability Timeline: All courses are generally available within 1-2 weeks after the live presentation.
CE Credits: AIA and/or LA/CES accreditation is available by request for courses recorded prior to March 11, 2026. All courses after that date include those accreditations by default, if applicable. With these accreditations, our courses qualify for credit in nearly all states for engineers, surveyors, architects, and landscape architects.
Learn more about the on-demand format in our FAQ or contact us at (715) 835-5900 or customerservice@halfmoonseminars.org
Agenda
Registration: 8:00 – 8:30 am
Morning Session: 8:30 – 11:45 am
Lunch (On your own): 11:45 am – 12:45 pm
Afternoon Session: 12:45 – 4:30 pm
Understanding the Energy Efficiency of Conventional Construction
Facts and figures on residential energy use
History of energy-conserving residential construction
Building code requirements
Energy conservation incentives
Passive House Standard: Purpose, Principles and Development
History of certifying agencies in US: PHI and PHIUS
Passive House Standard: voluntary performance-based building envelope energy standard
Energy calculations: how and when to perform them
Energy calculation tools: an introduction to tools and their functionality
Assembling a team to ensure quality and performance
Examining common design features of Passive Houses
Architectural Elements of Passive Houses
Siting, sizing and orientation
Super-insulated envelope with minimized thermal bridging
Efficient ventilation
Ultra-efficient lights, fixtures and appliances
Summer shading and cooling strategies
Winter solar gain and heat retention strategies
Integrating renewable energy technologies
Mechanical Systems in Passive Houses
Optimizing heat gains
• Passive solar heat gains
• Indoor environmental heat gains
Heat exchanger
Supplemental heating
Renewable energy system integration
Energy-efficient appliances
Evaluating Passive House Case Studies
Adapting Passive House for the Midwest
Case studies: in the planning process, under construction and finished projects
Credits
Architects
6.5 HSW CEUs/Contact Hours
6.5 AIA HSW Learning Units
Professional Engineers
6.5 PDHs
Contractors
Non-Credit Continuing Ed.
Continuing Education Credit Information
This seminar is open to the public and offers 6.5 HSW CEUs/contact hours to architects and 6.5 PDHs for engineers in all states. Educators and courses are not subject to preapproval in Missouri and Illinois.
This seminar is approved by the American Institute of Architects for 6.5 HSW Learning Units (Provider No. J885). Only full attendance can be reported to the AIA.
HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for architects in Florida and is deemed an approved sponsor in New York. HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for engineers in Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey (Approval No. 24GP00000700), New York (NYSED Sponsor No. 35), North Carolina, and North Dakota.
Attendance will be monitored and attendance certificates will be available after the seminar for most individuals who complete the entire event. Attendance certificates not available at the seminar will be mailed to participants within fifteen business days.
Speakers
David Horton
David Horton Director of Green Certifications, Sol Design + Consulting
Mr. Horton is a skilled tradesman turned energy geek. He began his journey retrofitting historic buildings. As Mr. Horton saw the care required to restore historic buildings, he hoped to be able to modernize their performance. Through training provided by PHIUS, GBCI, RESNET and other building performance-oriented organizations, he acquired the necessary skills to guide project teams to the highest performing building approach possible. Mr. Horton has done this by working on hundreds of Energy Star homes, more than 300 LEED projects, and Passive House projects spread out across six states. As one of the founding members of Passive House Alliance Kentucky, he aims to bring Passive House and other high-performance building approaches to the mainstream. Mr. Horton has been the CPHC or PHIUS+ Rater on projects in Indiana, Cincinnati, Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri. He provides consulting support on multifamily PHIUS+ projects in central and western Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. He has been the green rater and HERS rater on 300+ LEED projects totaling thousands of units and has acted as field quality assurance for Raters under HERS Providers for multiple years. Mr. Horton has created solutions to a plethora of problems in old buildings, with respect to energy efficiency, and has been part of teams that constructed multiple different building types with multiple uses. Mr. Horton holds CPHC, PHIUS+ Rater, HERS Rater/QAD/Trainer, LEED AP Homes and LEED Green Rater/QAD certifications.