Passive Energy Designs focuses on the building envelope as one of the best energy conservation measures.  Detailing the envelope for airtightness, thermal bridging and hygrothermal (heat and moisture) performance is of critical importance when building effecient, healthy and durable sustainable buildings.  Through various modeling programs including THERM, WUFI, and the PHPP, Passive Energy Designs can determine r-values and u-values of assembly components and the risk of durability issues and building failures due to condensation (including mold and rot).  Both of these issues can be shown graphically and reinforced with numerical outputs.

 

THERM allows for modeling of given building details and sections to determine the impact of thermal bridging between building components and within the details themselves.  The WUFI software suite allows both component and whole building simulations to determine moisture content in different materials of a given assembly, which allows for a determination of mold risk and durability concerns.