New PHIUS Standard & Small Homes
jackofalltrades777
| Posted in Green Building Techniques on
Is it true that the new PHIUS standard utilizing WUFI, has a bias towards small houses (under 1,000 sqft)?
Running the software calcs shows that the same small home, with the same R-Values, will FAIL to make the PH Standard while increasing the square footage and keeping all other variables the same, will PASS the PH Standard. Even when the R-Values were increased on the small house, it still failed to make the PH standard.
So it seems that the software has some type of “bias” built in for smaller homes?
Could it be a glitch, since the software is so new or is it something else?
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Replies
Peter,
My understanding is that PHIUS attempted to reduce the small house penalty when their new climate-specific standards were developed. According to my understanding, the energy budgets are applied on a "per occupant" rather than a "per square foot" basis.
I'm interested to hear feedback on this question from designers who have designed buildings to meet the new PHIUS standard.