Building Energy

An affordable Passive House monitoring system

The Passive House approach uses passive building strategies to create an indoor climate that requires minimal energy to maintain comfortable living conditions. During the design phase, energy modeling software is used to engineer the building enclosure based on regional climate data and optimized solar orientation. The resulting energy model predicts annual energy consumption and operating cost for the building. Testing during construction verifies the building is meeting the requirements for…

Scranton Passive House Party

Scranton Passive House Party

On Saturday November 8th and Sunday November 9th Richard Pedranti Architect, participated in our first International Passive House Days event showcasing our first Passive House project, the Scranton Passive House. International Passive House Days is a global event organized by the International Passive House Association (IPA) and locally by the New York Passive House Association (NYPH)….

the client: Delcan and Christie with Richard

The Scranton Passive House

In June of 2013, after just completing my Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC) training with the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS), my firm, Richard Pedranti Architect, received a call from Christie Karpiak and Declan Mulhall inquiring about helping them with a new home design in Scranton, Pennsylvania. After describing this new approach to designing and…

Scranton Passive House Poster

What is a Passive House?

Passive House is today’s most energy efficient building standard. Buildings that meet the Passive House standard use 80% less energy than conventional buildings. A Passive House conserves energy by creating a virtually air-tight, super insulated, compact building envelope that uses the sun and internal gains to achieve space conditioning. A heat recovery ventilator (HRV) is…

newspaper, coffee cups and pop rocks

Newspapers, Coffee Cups, and Pop Rocks

One of the major differences in Passive House buildings is insulation. Passive House buildings typically use 2 to 3 times the amount of insulation of a conventional building. Using more insulation in the floor, walls, and roof slows down the transfer of energy and prevents the losses that plaque typical buildings. Conventional buildings require large…

International Passive House Days

Tour the Scranton Passive House

Please join us for International Passive House Days Richard Pedranti Architect is excited to announce we are participating in International Passive House Days to showcase our Scranton Passive House project.  Please join us between 11AM and 2PM on Saturday November 8th and Sunday November 9th for an opportunity to see first-hand the world’s most comfortable…