Safe at Home | How all-electric, multi-family Passive House buildings deliver comfortable, cost-effective climate resilience

We have an exciting announcement to share. Today, the Passive House Network is releasing a new report, Safe at home: How all-electric, multi-family Passive House buildings deliver comfortable, cost-effective climate resilience, that tells the story of the vitally important role Passive House is playing in bolstering climate resilience while accelerating decarbonization efforts in the U.S. The report finds that all-electric, multi-family Passive House design is ideal for keeping hot air…


The Big Efficiency Opportunities – Domestic Hot Water in Multifamily Projects

Moving from fossil-fuel boilers to other forms of domestic hot water heating can be challenging, but it’s doable. This training, featuring Redwood Energy’s Sean Armstrong and Small Planet Supply’s Albert Rooks, offers field experience and strategies for providing DHW in multifamily projects both with and without Passive House envelope measures. As a result of this training, learners will be able to: Explain the energy efficiency importance of designing for recirculation…


Summer Comfort in Passive House Buildings: Guideline

With warming climate conditions the topic of resilience towards overheating is increasingly gaining importance, especially since high indoor temperatures are not only a matter of comfort, but are also highly related to health. Summer temperatures inside a building are majorly influenced by solar loads, internal heat sources and by the ventilation strategy. Design optimization suitable for the local climate conditions fundamentally influences (a) the achieved thermal summer comfort and (b)…


PHPP vs. Title 24 – Windows

The most thermally-inefficient parts of a high-performance residential building are the windows. The insulating values are usually in the range of R-3/inch (typical) to R-10/inch (very high-quality). When compared to typical wall insulation of R-21/inch, thermal movement is going to take the path of least resistance—the windows. Even more importantly, if you want to realistically understand how a building component performs, you need to accurately evaluate it. Passive House windows…


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…


CASE Passive House Low-rise Multifamily Reach Code Delivers Results!

The California Codes and Standards team (CASE) released their final analysis and review of PHCA's Reach Code proposal and the results are truly remarkable! The summary findings show "In almost all cases, the EDR Margins achieved by the Passive House designs exceed the EDR Margin targets, and in most cases, the Passive House EDR* Margin is significantly higher than the target EDR Margins defined in the report." The report presented…


Reach Code Study reveals big opportunities to improve CA’s multifamily buildings

Passive House California (PHCA) recently submitted their first Reach Codes study to the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) consultant team charged with analyzing the cost effectiveness of all proposed code improvement measures. The study specifically looked at improvements required beyond compliance with the 2019 energy code, for a low-rise multifamily building, to meet the equivalent performance targets set by the international Passive House Standard. The study not only uncovered a gaping…


Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Feist | The Future of the Industry Post COVID-19

Prof. Feist is discussing Passive House, the role of science and ethics in construction and the future of the industry post-COVID 19. This is a recording of a presentation Prof. Wolfgang Feist held for members of the press on Tuesday May 28, 2020. After the presentation, there is a compilation of questions asked in two Q&A sessions. CLICK HERE TO START THE VIDEO PRESENTATION. Power Point Presentation: CLICK HERE Press…


Durability of Building Fabric Components and Ventilation Systems in Passive Houses

Wolfgang Feist & Rainer Pfluger & Wolfgang Hasper The passive house concept specifically improves insulation of exterior building components, utilization of passive solar gains, airtightness and heat recovery from ventilation air. Reducing also heat losses from thermal bridges, the energy balance is improved significantly resulting in net heating demands lower than 15 kWh/(m2a) which is less than one-tenth of the typical heating energy in the average of existing buildings. The…



Are the Energy Savings of the Passive House Standard Reliable? A Review of the As-built Thermal and Space Heating Performance of Passive House Dwellings from 1990 to 2018

David Johnston |  Mark Siddall |  Oliver Ottinger | Soeren Peper | Wolfgang Feist Abstract The Passive House (PH) standard is a voluntary quality assurance standard focused upon maximizing the health and wellbeing of occupants, whilst reducing space heating demand to a very low level. To meet the PH standard, well-defined criteria have to be met. However, given literature that suggests a ‘performance gap’ for energy savings, the question remains, how well…


Passive House Concept for Indoor Swimming Pools | Guidelines

The energy demand of indoor swimming pools can be reduced significantly by consistently applying the high energy efficiency approach of the Passive House concept. This not only contributes to climate protection but also entails savings for the financial resources of a municipality. These guideline documents summarizes the main research findings and provide recommendations to support the design, construction and long-term operation of highly energy efficient indoor swimming pools. PLEASE CLICK…