STEP 2: Connect building science to construction reality.
Apply your Passive House classroom knowledge to a brand-neutral, hands-on workshop – based on research and free of sales pitches.
Open to all Emu CPHT Class alumni and any certified PHI or PHIUS professionals.
Note: the hands-on Workshop is an OPTIONAL add-on that can be experience before or after taking the Exam. It is not part of the Exam prep core curriculum, but for many people it helps continue their education and solidify the classroom learning.
TRAINING ALERTS: Register for the 2024 Online Summer Crew (Live Q&A’s: Wed 3-4pm MT; July 24, 31 + Aug 7, 14, 21, 28). Registration OPEN for multiple Boot Camps in our 2024 Training Tours calendar.
Upcoming workshop sessions:
PREREQUISITES: Anyone registering for an Emu Passive Pod Workshop must be able to demonstrate that they meet one of the following criteria:
- Currently enrolled in an Emu Passive Design/Build course that will end prior to the start of the Passive Pod workshop in question.
- Alumnus of any Emu Passive Design/Build or CPHT course.
- Certified Passive House professional with PHI or PHIUS (designers, consultants, builders and tradespeople welcome).
The purpose of this requirement is that we must all “speak the language” of advanced building science in the pre-construction phase, before jumping into a built project. This ensures the quality of educational experience during the workshop.
Tell us your Passive Design/Build Training wishes! We shall try our very hardest to grant them. We’re on a mission to get more qualified construction professionals and CPHTs in as many U.S. cities as we can.
This is not your typical builder training.
No product sales pitches. No influencer deals. Research to reality.
We are teaching the WHY behind the building science decisions that guide high-performance buildings. The Pods are designed to make you think and collaborate with your team, while recalling the learning objectives from your Passive House classroom training. We do not maintain commission or influencer deals with any manufacturer, so that our Trainers can always feel free to speak the good, the bad, and the ugly about any product that is donated to our Workshop.
Still have questions? Speak to an Emu!
Fill out the form, and we will call you back as soon as we can.
Meet Emu’s Passive Pod
Our textbook on wheels
We’ve spent years developing a proprietary instruction tool that allows our student builders to get their hands on the products and methods we discuss in class, with the support of research-backed advanced building science. The pods are designed to integrate with the learning objectives in our brand-neutral course. All product donated are done so by suppliers who know we will present the good, the bad, and the ugly, in an effort to encourage data transparency.
About the Pods
The Passive Pod is a kitted learning tool that our Trainers use to deliver high quality, research-based, brand neutral instruction.
All of the pods have the same net volume, even the Code Pod. The only difference is that the Code Pod complies with the 2015 IECC code, while the Passive Pods comply with the international Passive House standard requirements for “Cool, Temperate Climate” (similar to US Climate Zone 5). These code standards apply to things like U/R Values of assemblies, thermal bridge requirements, air sealing, and window types. (For example, the Passive Pods all have high performance Passive House certified windows, whereas the Code Pod has a standard regulation, building code compliant window purchased from a local hardware and supply store)
Teams simulate reality with job roles in each Unit.
Each student team is assigned job roles to simulate a construction site, and they have documentation requirements that must be met. Every section of the Passive Pod build coincides with lessons learned in class, red flags they must catch, and design flaws they must recognize that will negatively affect their structure over time.
Passive Pods are brand neutral and sales-free.
We have the fortune of receiving product donations from the best of the best in the Passive House manufacturing world, and we give the students an opportunity to ask questions in a brand-neutral environment where science reigns. We don’t sell any of the products used in the Pod; they have all been donated by manufacturers and distributors who know that we teach the good, the bad, and the ugly of all the options on the market, and they are confident enough in their products to support the #BuildPassive movement.
In the last Unit, we test the Pods to declare a winning Team!
Go to our blog to see the results of the first class to ever use the Pods in class, where the student-built Passive Pods maintained 20°F higher temperatures than the Code Pod in overnight Resiliency Test in the Rocky Mountain snow. At the conclusion of every CPHT course, we run three tests on the team built Passive Pods in comparison to the Code Pod: Airtightness Test – a qualitative test where we pressurize the pods and use smoke to seek out leaks to mitigate Thermal Bridging Test – another qualitative test using infrared cameras to spot weak spots in the thermal envelope of the pods Resiliency Test – a quantitative competition, using temperature and relative humidity sensors to track the performance of the Passive Pods against each other and against a Code Pod when left outside overnight
