Passive House Building Certification Guide 10 – Now Available

Passive House Building Certification Guide 10 - Now Available. Published by the Passive House Institute. Welcome to the Building Certification Guide! We are delighted that you are interested in the Passive House Institute's building certification quality assurance program. To date, thousands of builders around the world have already certified their buildings as Passive House projects or EnerPHit retrofits. Twenty years of experience shows that the high level of comfort and…


Putting the Punk into Passive House

Can Passive House design and construction help achieve a Solarpunk future where people can thrive? In this first video of a four-part series, Zack Semke summarizes what the scientists are telling us about climate change today and pushes back on the fifth form of climate denialism: climate doomism or, "it's too late". Join in this exploration of the climate crisis, the clean energy transition, and how buildings will play a…


Passive House | Building Criteria Update

Coinciding with the launch of the English PHPP 10, the Passive House Institute has published updated building criteria, which define the requirements for certification relating to the Passive House, EnerPHit and PHI Low Energy Building standards. Among other things, the calculation of the limit values now takes into account the boundary conditions of a specific building. This applies to the primary energy demand of densely occupied residential and office buildings…


You are not Alone – International Passive House Affiliates

You are not alone !  The International Passive House Association (iPHA) is the international umbrella organization for Passive House.  Passive House California (PHCA) is a proud iPHA member since 2012. All iPHA affiliates are independent, member driven organisations. An affiliate organization does not exclusively represent a geographic region and multiple affiliate organizations can be, and are, active to promote the Passive House Standard in the same country. Click here to meet…


PHPP vs. Title 24 – Thermal Bridging

Thermal bridging is a complicated topic for two reasons: it has multiple aspects, and it often requires complex calculations. Let’s look at a simple case first—exterior wall framing. An exterior wall has multiple layers. For instance, from outside to inside, it may have: Stucco or some type of siding An air gap or rain screen designed to help drain bulk water A bulk water barrier Sheathing, typically ½” plywood or…


PHPP 10 has been released !

The Passive House Planning Package version 10, which at the moment is only available for purchase in German, has lots of new interesting features such as the summer stress-tests, heat pumps and split-units, and much more. We let you know when the English version is available! The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) is an MS Excel-based energy balance and efficiency design tool for highly energy efficient buildings and retrofits, which…


PHPP vs. Title 24: Shading Analysis

One critical aspect of building performance is shading. With a properly designed building shell, the amount of solar radiation hitting the building’s opaque surfaces usually aren’t a problem. However, the windows are the weakest link in the shell. The presence or absence of shading can have a huge impact on cooling and heating loads, even with excellent quality windows. You can control radiation intrusion to a certain extent by tuning…


Is Cost the Barrier to Passive House Performance

A new NAPHN report by Bronwyn Barry, NAPHN Board Chair, looks at cost assumptions, barriers, and the reality of cost in achieving Passive House buildings. “Most non-profit developers we work with are all passionately seeking ways to build better for less. In our advocacy work at NAPHN, we’ve found that these developers are most concerned with two things: first cost to build, and operating costs for their occupants. Of these…



Passive House – A Workable Solution | Video

This 45 minute video "Passive House - A Workable Solution" was recorded on December 5th as part of a virtual meeting, hosted by "Communities for Sustainable Monterey County" (sustainablemontereycounty.org). CSMC is an "umbrella" organization that includes Local Action Groups from eight different jurisdictions within Monterey County. Jay Gentry, a PHCA Board Member was invited to present at the CSMC December Brunch. The presentation includes a basic overview of Passive House activities…



What is a Thermal Bridge?

A thermal bridge ‘free’ design is one of the 5 fundamental principles of Passive House design and construction. But, what even is a thermal bridge? Why are they important? And how do we go about reducing or eliminating them? We hope to answer some of these questions and more with this post, which has been adapted from the 2016 iPHA Factsheet “What is a thermal bridge?“, originally authored by PHI’s…