Passive House: Planning, Design and Construction 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
Conceptual Design Process for Passive Houses
Prioritizing the design process for zero energy
How a zero energy building differs from business as usual
Step by step process for attacking design problems
Overview of creating a single family zero energy dwelling
Effect of climate, internal loads, ventilation loads, thermal bridges
Effect of converting single family to multifamily dwelling
Overview of Passive Building
What is passive house and PHIUS?
PH Certification standard explained
History of passive building
Passive House principals and performance pillars
Continuation: Overview of Passive Building
Source energy vs. site energy
Onsite inspections
Multifamily case studies
Sustainable Building Shell, Thermal Transfer
and Mechanical System
Sustainability and emissions due to buildings
2000 Watt Society/fair share principal
Conservation as abatement measure
Optimizing thermal gains and losses
Fresh air mechanical ventilation design for homes
Envelope design
Insulation materials and moisture flow
Thermal bridges and high performance windows
Residential space conditioning systems
Utah Single Family Case Studies
Pipsqueak Passive House in Salt Lake City
Wasatch Passive Cabin
Emery Street Affordable Passive House: Salt Lake City
Provo Passive House: first certified home in Utah County
Pinebrook Passive: Park City
Credits
Professional Engineers
6.5 Professional Ed. Hours/PDHs
Architects
6.5 HSW Continuing Ed. Hours
6.5 AIA HSW Learning Units
Continuing Education Credit Information
This seminar is open to the public and offers 6.5 professional education hours/PDHs to professional engineers and 6.5 HSW continuing education hours to architects in all states.
This seminar is approved by the American Institute of Architects for 6.5 HSW Learning Units (Sponsor No. J885). Only full attendance can be reported to the AIA/CES.
HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for engineers in Florida, Indiana (License No. CE21700059), Maryland, New Jersey (Approval No. 24GP00000700), North Carolina, and North Dakota.
Attendance will be monitored and reported, as required. 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
Dave Brach
Principal Architect, Certified Passive House Consultant, Brach Design Architecture, Salt Lake City, Utah
Mr. Brach started working in the construction industry in 1994 as a grunt worker (“carpenter’s helper”) and worked for a total of six years on residential building sites as a framer, roofer, finish carpenter and cabinet maker/installer for new construction and renovation projects in Colorado, Wisconsin, Chicago, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Mr. Brach has worked at architecture firms in Chicago, San Francisco and Minneapolis and he has owned an architecture firm in Salt Lake City since 2005. He designed and built the first Certified Passive Building west of the Mississippi River (the 3rd in North America) in Millcreek in 2009. Mr. Brach has since completed five certified passive projects and has three pre-certified projects currently under construction. He is a former instructor for The Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS) and a national expert in residential energy efficiency, zero energy design and passive design and construction.
AIA Info
AIA Provider Statement:
HalfMoon Education Inc. is a registered provider of AIA-approved continuing education under Provider Number J885. All registered AIA/CES Providers must comply with the AIA Standards for Continuing Education Programs. Any questions or concerns about this provider of learning program may be sent to AIA/CES (cesupport@aia.org or (800) AIA 3837, Option 3).
This learning program is registered with AIA/CES for continuing professional education. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA of any material of construction or any method or manner of handling, using, distributing, or dealing in any material or product.
AIA continuing education credit has been reviewed and approved by AIA/CES. Learners must complete the entire learning program to receive continuing education credit. AIA continuing education Learning Units earned upon completion of this course will be reported to AIA/CES for AIA members. Certificates of Completion for both AIA members and non-AIA members are available upon request.
Course Title: Passive House: Planning, Design, and Construction.
Delivery Method: Live
Course Description: This 6.5 hour live lecture presentation examines the principles and objectives of Passive Houses, their design features, including thermal bridging, ventilation, shell construction, and insulation. In addition to single family Passive House design and construction, this course will cover how to achieve Passive House outcomes in multi-family structures.
Learning Objectives:
Learning Objective 1:
Learners will be able to able to explain the theory and techniques to achieve a Passive House and what distinguishes then from LEED-certified construction.
Learning Objective 2:
Learners will be able to define and explain thermal bridges in the building shell, why they are important to understand, and how to calculate them.
Learning Objective 3:
Learners will be able to evaluate and select high-performance windows, determine window frame psi value, and determine the optimal sizing, siting, location and orientation of windows
Learning Objective 4:
Learners will be able to install Passive House-appropriate insulation systems for walls, floors, and roofs and achieve the proper air tightness and moisture and mold control.
Learning Objective 5:
Learners will be able to discuss challenges to means to address them for achieving Passive House design in multi-family structures.
LUs: 6.5 LU Type: LU|HSWs.
Prerequisites: Experience with residential design and construction
Advance Preparation: None
Program Level: Intermediate
Course Expiration Date: 04/23/2022
Complaint Resolution Policy:
Complaints regarding this course can be emailed to doug@halfmoonseminars.org or by calling (715) 835-5900. A HalfMoon Education representative will respond within 72 hours to resolve the complaint, which will include, but not limited to, access to another CE activity at no or reduced cost, or a full or partial refund. Each instance will be resolved on a case-by-case situation.