The new Carnegie Library branch in Carrick is crawling with laborers priming, painting, hammering, measuring, cutting, fitting drywall and going up and down on work platforms.

In three weeks, the new, 8,000-square-foot building at 1811 Brownsville Road will be one stop on a tour of the area’s most energy-efficient buildings during the North American Passive House Network conference Oct. 17-21 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

This is its first conference in Pittsburgh. More than 1,000 people from around the world are expected to attend. (More information is at naphnconference.com.)

Passive House is a certified standard by which energy efficiency is built into the design, with thicker insulation, triple-pane windows placed for maximum use of sunlight and an air exchange system that passes stale air out and fresh, filtered air in. This system works in place of a traditional heating and cooling setup but saves the owner from 70 percent to 90 percent.

Brandon Nicholson, founding principal of Nicholson Kovalchick Architects, said the library branch in Carrick is on track for up to 70 percent of energy savings.

It will be North America’s first certified Passive House library branch, and it is on track to be certified, said Laura Nettleton, principal architect at Thoughtful Balance and co-designer of this project with Mr. Nicholson.

The new library, a $4.34 million project, is one of two local Passive House branches in the Carnegie system. The other is in Hazelwood, but it has not been certified.

Ron Graziano, the library system’s director of facilities development, said the old Hazelwood branch was 3,500 square feet, half the size of the current one, where energy costs have decreased by 40 percent.

The former library in Carrick was half the size the new one will be. Built at street level and into a hillside, it felt like a basement and “it was a noisy, crowded space,” said Mary Monaghan, assistant director of Neighborhood Libraries for the Carnegie system. “We were not able to do programming.”

When the Lauterback Dental Lab moved to Brentwood, it sold its building beside the old library and the Carnegie system purchased it, clearing the land to double the size of the new one.

One priority among Carrick residents was to have a community meeting room. It faces Brownsville Road from the second floor, with a bank of windows and a metal awning for shade.

Adults, teens and younger children will all have separate areas. The adult section sits behind the youth sections and is wrapped by a ramp curving around the perimeter to the second floor.

The design incorporates a rain garden in front and an underground tank to collect and release stormwater into the ground. Mr. Graziano said the system is expected to collect from 85 percent to 90 percent of all stormwater, keeping that much out of underground pipes. 

Mr. Nicholson and Ms. Nettleton said more contractors are being certified in Passive House design as demand grows.

Four years ago, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency upped its consideration of Passive House applicants for low-income housing tax credits, awarding 10 points to those who meet its certification standards. Applicants who meet Energy Star efficiency ratings are awarded five points.

Massaro Construction Group and Imperial Construction Services are building the library.

Mr. Nicholsons said “their quality control is 33 percent better than is required.”

Passive House is one way to get to “zero energy” costs, Ms. Nettleton said. “If you are doing a new construction or a gut renovation, there is no reason not to do it.”

Other Passive House buildings in the area include three that ACTION-Housing developed: a housing retrofit of the McKeesport YMCA, the Hazelwood Center and a test model in the new Uptown Lofts on Fifth Avenue.

Passive House is different from LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) in that Passive House status depends on energy savings performance while LEED status depends on energy-saving designs and the materials used in the construction, such as low-emissions paints and carpets.

Diana Nelson Jones: djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. Twitter@dnelsonjones.

First Published: October 1, 2018, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: October 1, 2018, 11:12 a.m.