A look at Phius' plans for 2024, including a collaboration with USGBC and a technically focused gathering in Rhode Island.
If you haven’t heard, we are changing things up in 2024.
In lieu of our annual PhiusCon conference, we will be participating in two different events with the goal of expanding our audience while best serving our existing constituents. This change is only for 2024 – we will reassess after the events to formulate our plan for 2025.
We will be partnering with the U.S. Green Building Council to present a Phius-exclusive track, a Phius pre-conference summit, and a Phius pavilion of exhibitors at the Greenbuild 2024 show Nov. 12-15 in Philadelphia. The Phius programming at Greenbuild will focus on introductory content as we look to provide an entryway into the passive building community for Greenbuild attendees who are otherwise unfamiliar with Phius and passive building.
One important note for those interested in submitting abstracts for the Phius Greenbuild track is the submission period will run from early January through February. We will be sending more information on the submission process in the coming weeks. Make sure you’re on our mailing list to receive the latest updates.
The second event will be a separate, more advanced gathering that will include a combination of in-person trainings and intensive workshops in Providence, Rhode Island in October. This “geek fest” (official name to be announced at a later date) will cater to our core constituents and focus on the fast-moving passive house market in the Northeast and other emerging areas.
In 2011, our database showed about a dozen certified projects in the US and Canada. Today, it's more than 400 projects, nearly 5,000 dwelling units, and more than 5 million square feet of conditioned space—in North America and beyond. Passive building is being adopted as best practice and yes, even as code. The development of a code focused-ASHRAE standard will accelerate that trend.
But we still need to expand our community significantly if we hope to hit our climate and carbon goals. The USGBC approaching us with the idea for this partnership signaled to us that there is a sizable untapped pool of potential passive building practitioners among the Greenbuild community, making it the ideal opportunity to expand to a broader audience that is aligned with our mission.
With that in mind, we also want to continue providing the industry leading, scientifically focused content our passionate community has grown accustomed to at PhiusCon. Our aim with the Rhode Island event is to satiate the desire for advanced passive building content while also creating an immersive training hub where practitioners in the Northeast and beyond can earn all sorts of Phius Certifications. We will always create a space for our dedicated community to come together.
Details are still being worked through, but please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.