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Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
These two books are the perfect starting place to help you get to grips with one of the most vitally important aspects of our society - our homes and living environment.

PLEASE NOTE: A download link for Volume 1 will be sent to you by email and Volume 2 will be sent to you by post as a book.

Buy individually or both books together. Delivery is free!


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      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2014 edited
     
    • CommentAuthorslidersx200
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2014 edited
     
    Can only comment on the Passive House Academy course as that's the one I took, but my take away thoughts would be as follows:

    Very intensive learning curve, especially if you haven't been in a classroom for a while!

    It was split into a 3 day block, a 4 day block and the international exam was on a separate date. Some time was given to exam prep on the last day, but I think an extra day would have helped enormously; the lectures could go off on a tangent for a while when someone asked a question and this didn't help with the time pressure.

    PHA hold their PHPP training as a separate course, supposedly to help spread the cost, but I think this part is crucial in making the most of the software and with hindsight I would probably choose a learning centre that packaged it all together. There were not enough interested parties from our Designer/Consultant course to run the PHPP course and as a result, I've had to feel my way through it and use the web for help.

    The PHA course literature is comprehensive, but rather disorganised and the content would sometimes differ from the PowerPoint version we followed as a class. Failing to pay attention at the wrong moment could mean not picking up on a mistake in the textbook and taking that mistake to the exam. There was no index or contents page, so I ended up making many page markers to make finding important information easier. You are allowed your notes and textbooks in the exam, but they are like two phone books and very difficult to navigate when under pressure. I made my own condensed version for easier reference.

    The exam is 3hrs and absolutely exhausting. Some multiple choice, some very complex maths and a drawing exercise that counts for 40% of the overall mark. Quite often, it would take a few attempts at reading the question to fully understand what was being asked, perhaps due to the translation from German, but the papers are proof read prior to issue and the invigilator will attempt to clarify anything ambiguous if they are aware of it. This paragraph applies universally as the same exam is sat across the globe!

    Our exam papers were not sent to the Passivhaus Institut when they should have been and students from other learning centres had their results before our papers were even officially marked. I made a bit of a stink about this and have been assured it was a one off case of oversight and not reflective of PHA's usual professionalism.

    For what it's worth, I passed and was told I'd scored on the right side of 80% at the first correction (you never find out your official mark) and PHA said this was the second or third highest mark they'd had in all the years they'd been running. 50% is a pass and we were told most people can achieve 50-60%, sometimes on the second attempt.

    The qualification lasts for 5 years I think, but is extended each time you are successful in creating a Certified Passivhaus. It is possible to gain the title by designing a Certified PH, but this process could be very difficult without a lot of the things you learn as part of the course. PHPP is a rather daunting proposition if you've never been shown how it works and there are many ways in which you could make a mistake without knowing.

    Hope that helps, but ask away if there's anything you'd like elaboration on:-)
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      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeNov 12th 2014
     
    Thanks a lot sliders - invaluable both in facts and flavour. Congratulations on passing so well - a model student obviously, despite "haven't been in a classroom for a while".
  1.  
    Is the PHPP 2007 software worth playing with until buying the full version?

    What is the demo version, is it the full spreadsheet or have certain elements been disabled?

    thanks
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