This webinar provides an advanced, residential-focused look at HVAC design for high-performance homes, with an emphasis on comfort, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and aesthetics. Participants will explore how modern homes differ from older housing stock and why conventional forced-air design can fall short in areas such as cooling performance, duct leakage, zoning, ventilation, filtration, humidification, and whole-house comfort.
The session also examines practical design considerations including window performance, radiant temperature, stratification, advanced ductwork, grille selection, radiant floor systems, HRV/ERV selection, range hood design, dehumidification, filtration, net-zero readiness, battery storage, and EV charging. By treating the house as an integrated system, the webinar helps participants connect HVAC decisions to occupant comfort, building performance, and long-term residential design quality.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the major factors that influence residential comfort, including air temperature, radiant temperature, humidity, air movement, stratification, and occupant behaviour.
- Identify common limitations of conventional forced-air HVAC systems, including duct leakage, poor zoning, basement cooling imbalance, and inadequate coordination with modern building envelopes.
- Evaluate advanced HVAC design strategies such as zoned forced-air systems, high-side wall or ceiling supply, improved return-air planning, and airtight ductwork.
- Compare heating, cooling, ventilation, filtration, humidification, and dehumidification strategies for high-performance residential buildings.
- Assess how window ratings, radiant floor systems, HRVs/ERVs, filtration, net-zero readiness, and EV infrastructure affect whole-house performance and occupant comfort.