A Decision-Making Toolkit for Passive Affordable Housing

The session will explore a unique toolkit approach to guide affordable housing design teams toward informed, cost-effective decisions for Passive House design. Created in response to the feasibility planning incentive within the Mass Save Multifamily Passive House Incentive program, the toolkit derives performance targets for building envelope, MEP, and renewable systems based on early-stage energy modeling to determine feasibility within the context of affordable housing development. A range of options to meet these targets for each system is then evaluated considering pros and cons for first costs, constructability, utility metering arrangement, spatial configuration, durability, maintenance, and operational costs. Additionally, the presentation will daylight air leakage and thermal bridging challenges as well as approaches to mixed-use program for preliminary coordination. The speakers will present examples of in-progress projects using the toolkit early in the design process as a decision-making framework to advance high-performance affordable housing.