Master the principles of Passive House design to create ultra-efficient, healthy, and resilient buildings that deliver superior comfort and long-term value.
This six-hour course explores the history, purpose, principles, certification criteria, and compliance methods of the Passive House Standard. The course analyzes the architectural, mechanical, and electrical systems used in passive house design and examines relevant case studies highlighting common issues and best practices.
The course begins by exploring the foundational elements of the Passive House building envelope. Instructors detail the critical control layers—thermal, air, vapor, and water—required to prevent moisture issues and energy loss. Through detailed discussions on continuous insulation and thermal bridge elimination, learners will understand how to secure the building shell. The curriculum also introduces essential software tools, such as WUFI Passive, used to model energy performance and verify design viability before construction begins.
Moving from the exterior shell to internal operations, the course analyzes the mechanical and electrical systems unique to high-performance homes. Because Passive Houses have significantly lower heating and cooling loads, traditional HVAC sizing methods often result in oversized, inefficient equipment. This course provides strategies for selecting appropriate systems, including air-source and ground-source heat pumps, mini-splits, and critical ventilation solutions like Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs) to ensure superior indoor air quality. Finally, the instruction covers active solar design, photovoltaics (PV), and battery storage, illustrating the path from Passive House to Net Zero energy.
This course covers the following key topics:
Whether you are an architect, builder, engineer, or energy consultant, this course provides the technical knowledge required to design and build the next generation of energy-efficient housing. Join us to bridge the gap between theoretical building science and practical, on-site construction application.
Online Courses for Engineers
HalfMoon Education is a nonprofit continuing education provider offering live webinars and on-demand courses for engineers, architects, landscape architects, land surveyors, attorneys, paralegals, accountants and others. Since 1996, we’ve helped thousands of professionals nationwide stay current with industry standards and codes, earn CE hours, and advance their expertise through practical, expert-led learning experiences. Learn more about us at: www.halfmoonseminars.org
President, RE:source Design, LLC
Paul Westbrook designed his own solar home in north Texas in 1996, which won the Energy Value Housing Award for Innovative Design (https://enerjazz.com/house). It still ranks as one of the most efficient homes in Texas. While serving as Sustainable Development Manager at Texas Instruments International Facilities, Mr. Westbrook was the LEED AP for the 1.1 million square foot Texas Instruments factory, which was the first LEED Gold semiconductor factory in the world. He led the effort to improve the energy and water efficiency of TI’s 20 million square feet of existing global facilities. They were able to double the company’s energy and water efficiency in less than 10 years. In 2012, Mr. Westbrook was named a Senior Fellow for the US State Department’s Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas program. He visited Honduras, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru where he worked with governments, universities, and industry on efficiency and renewable energy. Mr. Westbrook received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA in 1982.
Certified Passive House Consultant and Owner of DwellGreen
Mr. Taylor is a certified Passive House consultant and Passive House rater. He is a HERS Rater and is certified by Energy Star, DOE Zero Energy Ready Home, IECC, and BPI. Â Mr. Taylor has served on the ANSI/RESNET National Committee for Water Efficiency, on the Environmental Committee for the town of Fairview, Texas, and as a project manager for large commercial data centers. This is a second career after the US Navy, a computer science degree, and 35 years in the computer services industry.
