• Review pioneer projects of the Passivhaus movement, and a number of built examples including different climate zones, building typologies and sizes.

• Learn the definition of the Passivhaus building standard, and compare it to other concepts e.g. Passive Solar and Net Zero.

• Appraise the cornerstones of the Passivhaus building thermal envelope, and how they affect health and comfort as well as energy efficiency.

• Familiarise yourself with different players of the Passivhaus landscape, including research, training, quality assurance and certification.

• Compare Passivhaus to the National Construction Code (NCC).

• Learn to identify values for quality thermal envelopes in terms of energy, health, comfort, and indoor air quality.

• Compare capital and operational savings for Passivhaus buildings.

• Review key factors in the economics of high-performance building, including investment timeframe, energy market and thermal discomfort.

• Identify key performance differences between thermal insulation and thermal mass, and how they impact different types of buildings.

• Familiarise yourself with the thermal resistance and thermal transmittance of building assemblies, and compare the Passivhaus method with the NCC.

• Compare typical U-values for Passivhaus buildings in different climate zones, and compare them with the NCC.

• Review typical insulation materials, and their application depending on different construction methods.

• Familiarise yourself with the definition of “thermal bridge”.

• Learn about the consequences of thermal bridges on building energy performance and the risk of mould and condensation.

• Review climate-specific metrics to verify the avoidance/mitigation of thermal bridges, and suitability for Passivhaus.

• Identify typical thermal bridges for different construction methods, their risk level, and cost-effective ways to mitigate them.

• Familiarise yourself with the comfort criterion Passivhaus requirement, and compare it to the hygiene criterion.

• Compare the thermal performance of Passivhaus windows with NCC ones, and the consequences on thermal comfort and heating/cooling demand.

• Identify subcomponents of windows and transparent components, and understand their implications for heat losses and solar gains.

• Review different typical installation details for Passivhaus windows, and how detailing impacts performance.

• Recap Passivhaus quality goals in the context of retrofitting existing buildings.

• Understand the potential energy savings in building retrofits, and best practices to achieve the most cost-effective solutions.

• Analyse risks associated with retrofitting different types of building structures, and ways to mitigate those risks.

• Learn to apply the principles to a range of building typologies.

• Familiarise yourself with different air and moisture transfer mechanisms, and their consequences in terms of energy efficiency and building damage.

• Learn about PHI’s airtightness requirements, depending on different energy efficiency goals.

• Review key factors of the blower door testing method, including Passivhaus-specific requirements.

• Evaluate best practices for durable airtightness depending on different assemblies and construction methods.

• Identify key metrics for indoor air quality and typical sources of air pollution inside buildings.

• Learn about PHI’s requirements for mechanical ventilation systems, including energy consumption and heat recovery efficiency, air filtration, and noise control.

• Evaluate common types of mechanical ventilation systems, including pros and cons depending on project application.

• Review balancing and commissioning procedures for mechanical ventilation systems in Passivhaus building applications.

• Familiarise yourself with key concepts of mechanical systems including heating, cooling and dehumidification, and domestic hot water.

• Evaluate how the energy efficiency of Passivhaus buildings influences the suitability of specific systems and their operation.

• Review innovative types of mechanical systems.

• Learn about Primary Energy in relation to different energy vectors, and how that affects the energy offsetting process to meet Net Zero.

• Review of construction photos.

• Identify lacking or poorly executed details regarding Passivhaus construction in terms of airtightness and thermal insulation.

• Provide brief instructions on how to solve these quality assurance issues.

The exam is based on the following learning targets and includes multiple choice questions, building site pictures, as well as small calculation and drawing exercises.

Once accredited, your certificate will be valid for 5 years and is internationally and nationally recognised.