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Making a haus a home

Austria Passive House sets a new standard
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Matheo Dufeld has decades of experience building log homes, but he knew he had a lot to learn about building a passive house - a combination of insulating and air circulation technologies that can reduce energy consumption and heating demands by more than 90 per cent.

So, as the local contractor selected to bring together the elements of Austria Passive House in Whistler - the home of the Austrian Olympic Committee and Austrian broadcasting company ORF during the 2010 Games - Durfeld traveled to Europe to see the technology and building process first-hand.

What he saw was exciting, he said, because of the reliance on wood and the opportunities that exist in B.C.

"This may well be the future of the building industry," said Durfeld, adding that the proponents of the technology are already meeting with government officials regarding changing the B.C. Building Code to allow for more passive construction.

"Wood is readily available in Austria, but I think we have some here too."

Durfeld was one of the speakers in attendance at the Nov. 26 open house at Austria Passive House, which included a media presentation and tour in the morning and opening up the venue to the public in the afternoon.

After the 2010 Olympics the building will be turned over to the Resort Municipality of Whistler, which will run it as a day lodge for the Lost Lake cross-country and snowshoe trail network, while providing needed office and meeting space upstairs to the Whistler Nordics and the Whistler Off-Road Cycling Association. The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation contributed $150,000 towards the project to secure that legacy.

It's the first certified passive house of its kind in all of Canada and will be used to showcase the technology on behalf of all the Austrian companies that contributed prefabricated pieces of the house and labour to the project.

Austrian Trade Commissioner Robert Luck says the 2010 Games were recognized as an opportunity to "show what Canadian builders and Austrian companies are capable of.

"We are looking forward to working with Canadian companies in the future. This house was shipped in parts from Austria, but in the not-too-distant future we hope to have many more houses like this house built in Canada."

A lot of the technology in Austria House seems obvious, but the concept is to build an airtight structure that is free of thermal bridging - heat stays in and the cold stays out. All of the windows are triple glazed to prevent heat loss and completely sealed around the frame. The insides of doors - themselves over four inches thick - are oversized to completely cover the door frame when closed, while steps within the frame allow for several layers of insulated lining to create a seal.

The entire house is built on an interlocking insulation system with concrete poured over it, followed by another layer of insulation and the cross-laminated, mass wood flooring system. Mass wood is the Austrian term for interlocking pieces of thick wood that form the solid floors and walls of a passive house. The walls are then covered with more insulation and another barrier, such as the black thermal shingles on the Whistler example that trap heat, or poured concrete barriers.

The building also uses geothermal field technology to heat the building and a heat recovery ventilation system to provide fresh air, heat, cooling, and hot water.

While there are no Canadian companies making windows or insulation slabs similar to Austria Passive House, Durfeld says that wood accounts for most of the materials used in passive house and he believes that it can be milled in B.C. to the same standard as developed in Austria.

The cost is slightly higher. The construction costs in Austria are between $250 and $300 per square foot, he says, but the money saved on energy lowers the cost of ownership significantly. The price would likely be even higher in Canada in the beginning, but he expects that prices would come down once more builders are trained to build homes and more of the construction materials are manufactured in Canada.

The home's future tenants are excited to have the chance to move in after the Games. WORCA president John Blok said it would take a while to sink in.

"I don't think anyone understands yet the benefit that this is going to have to Whistler, and all the kids and adults that are going to come through this building with different programs," he said.

Councillor Tom Thomson spoke on behalf of both the mountain bike and Nordic skiing communities, remembering when the very first cross-country ski and bike trails were built through what is now Lost Lake Park.

"I remember we attacked the old trails in here with chainsaws, first to build a trail network for cross-country skiing, then everyone got into mountain biking. In my opinion this is one of the greatest areas for mountain biking in the park, we had a big cake in here and this building is the cherry on top of it.

"For cross country it's a place where people can go to get warm, and all the kids can get a hot chocolate after skiing. It's going to be a great amenity for us all."

Dave Brownlie, the chair of the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, said the project met all of the foundation's criteria when deciding to award the $150,000 grant.

"This is for Whistler and everyone who works and plays here. And we also know that sustainability is a part of everybody's life," he said. "When we heard Austria wanted to come and showcase this technology in this country we thought that this would be a great idea... to create a legacy for the Whistler Nordics club and WORCA. It really fit our mandate."