Connect research to reality.

Apply your Passive House classroom education to Emu’s unique hands-on Passive Pod Workshop. Open to all current Emu students and any PHI or PHIUS certified professional.

  • Trainers deliver high quality, unbiased instruction.

  • Brand neutral environment free of product plugs.

  • Hands-on learning of best practices & building science.

This is not your typical builder training.

No wall mockups. No product demos. No sales pitches.

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.

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.

STOP! Have you taken the Pre-Requisite Class yet?

The Pod Workshop is open to all Emu CPHT alumni or anyone who already has a PHI or PHIUS professional credential. Building Passive House is like speaking a language. We all need to be able to communicate before we dive in! Luckily we offer In-Person and Online options of our CPHT course:

Included perks of joining the Emu Mob

That's right. A group of emus is actually called a "mob"! #NeverStopLearning

  • Boost Your Skills

    Our hands-on approach will reinforce your construction skills and passive house knowledge.

  • Alumni Forum

    Access to the Emu Alumni Forum, a network of all the construction professionals who have taken courses with Emu - your ecosystem of PHriends and collaborators.

  • Directory

    A profile listing in Emu's Mob Directory, where we direct potential clients who are seeking trained builders and project team members.

Passive Pod Job Role Simulation

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.

Each team is given a manual and job roles. And a fun team name.
The Site Supervisor oversees the work of the Air Sealing Sub and Window Installer, and reports the correct documentation.
The most important part of a Passive build is an integrated team. The Passive Pod Workshop is designed to reinforce that concept.


Our Passive Pods are brand neutral

No sales pitches or product plugs allowed. Just science.

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.

Testing the pods

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



Interested in signing up two or more people?

Two or more Emus are better than one!

Are you looking for group pricing on training for your company? If you are interested in signing up more than one person we have a special page for that, because it is such a good idea! Click here for more info:

Meet your Trainer

Crew Trainer

Ben Leer

Prior to becoming a full-time Emu Trainer and Building Science Geek, Ben has had a diverse career focused on sustainability and the urban environment. He graduated with a MS in Sustainable Architecture from the City University of New York and has since consulted on numerous projects, ranging from ecological infrastructure to Passive House design. Ben specializes in high performance daylighting systems and has given numerous talks and workshops on the topic. He has taught collegiate building science courses at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the City College of New York, and has been a Trainer for The Passive House Network’s Certified Passive House Designer and Tradesperson Courses. He has a passion for creating environmentally friendly buildings, and is deeply committed to the Passive House movement.

A BIG thank you from Emu and our CPHT students to:

Our advanced builder training courses and workshops would not be possible without the support and product donation of several Product Partners from the Passive House materials industry. A big thank you to the following companies for donating materials to our workshops so that builder students can explore their options in an education-based, brand neutral environment.

Alpen Windows
SIGA Cover
475 Building Supplies
Havelock Wool
Enersign
Johns Manville
Partel
Rothoblaas
Sensor Push
Thermal Buck
Vonderhaus
Zehnder
Zola
Advantage Architectural Woodwork
SMT Research
Rockwool

FAQ

  • Are there any prerequisites to take the Passive Pod Workshop?

    I'm so glad you asked! Because the answer is YES, you will need to have completed the Emu CPHT course, online or in-person.

  • What is Passive House?

    Passive House is an international construction standard maintained and continuously developed by the International Passive House Institute (PHI). Residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings constructed to these guidelines are characterized by significantly increased comfort and health for the occupants, extremely low energy consumption, durable construction quality, and knowledgable project teams at the forefront of the construction industry.

  • If I have already taken the CPHT course will I get anything out of the workshop?

    The Passive Pod workshop is an extension of what you learn in the CPHT course. You will be taking that knowledge and putting it into practice with your own hands. Our students feel this solidifies the CPHT curriculum into practical skills. And they have a blast taking it.

Due to COVID-19, we've been working hard to provide affordable online CPHT course content and safe in-person training.  Learn more about our "hands-online" blended learning platform, or call/email questions to +1 (833) WILD-EMU / [email protected].