Van Roo Presents at NESEA BuildingEnergy Boston 2025 Conference

On March 21, 2025, Andrew Van Roo, Associate Principal will be presenting “Creating Harmony: Overcoming Challenges in Passive House Multifamily Design” alongside Positive Trace Architecture’s Nicole Schuster at the 2025 Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) BuildingEnergy Conference in Boston, MA.  

The presentation explores team collaboration and the challenges that arise when creating a Passive House Building by looking through the lens of the Cold Spring Apartments project. The 56-unit apartment complex located in Tannersville, NY includes a mix of senior and affordable housing as well as fitness centers, community rooms, offices, and storage units. The project recently received the PHIUS CORE 2021 design certification and is set to receive the full certification following the completion of construction. 

Andrew and Nicole will discuss how the team with many members who are new to Passive House projects are tackling challenges related to ground source heat pumps (GSHP), custom climate data, and peak load balancing. The presentation will also share details on how to incorporate Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERV) most effectively while using GSHPs, addressing thermal bridging, Passive House Institute (PHIUS) requirements, and best practices. 

Presentation Learning Objectives: 

  • Outline ways to bring team members into the world of high-performance building 

  • Explore how different systems and components work together and balance each other relative to the overall performance of a building 

  • Describe the impacts of climate and building use on building performance 

  • Identify opportunities for making high-performance strategies also cost-effective 

Join Andrew in the Westin Boston Seaport District’s Harbor 3 room at 4:00 PM to learn about Passive House in Multifamily design! 

Derek Goodroe