Barriers to Incorporating Passive House Concepts in Residential New Construction
Whitepaper: December 11, 2019
By Rick Winch, Ellen Steiner, Ph.D., and Jen Loomis, Ph.D.
This white paper presents findings from a research effort to identify barriers to, and opportunities for, incorporating Passive House (PH) principles into California’s Energy Code. Opinion Dynamics conducted a literature review and interviews with 16 subject matter experts in PH principles, beyond-code programming, and residential new construction to identify such barriers and opportunities.
Several organizations promote PH in the US. The momentum behind PH has given rise to an entire industry with PH training and certification programs for designers, consultants, builders, raters, and verifiers. More widespread application of PH construction principles has the potential to reduce buildings’ energy use and help California meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals. At the same time, there are a variety of market, economic, and regulatory barriers that make codification of PH principles a challenge.
