Small Planet Supply renews as a Platinum Sponsor

By Passive House California , June 14, 2021 - Sponsor

Small Planet Supply is a North-American company that provides high-performance building products.  They are dedicated to the mission of creating both classic and modern high-performing buildings, including those designed and built to both Zero Net Energy and Passive House standards. In addition to supplying high-performance building products and systems they provide education, and training in the use of energy-efficient building materials and practices. Small Planet Supply is passionate champion of the…

Treehugger | The Passive House Institute has a new campaign to promote energy efficient buildings.

By Passive House California , June 8, 2021 - Member News

The International Passive House Association (iPHA) launched a campaign—"Efficiency: The First Renewable Energy"—with the goal "to raise awareness for the vital role energy efficiency in buildings plays in meeting our climate goals." The iPHA is a global network of 22 affiliate organizations promoting the concept of Passive House; it has been promoting energy efficiency for its entire existence—it is the raison d'être of the movement. The new campaign raised some…

Passive House For All Conference

By Passive House California , June 2, 2021 - Conference, News

Passive House for All is a call to action. Our existential environmental, health, and social crises demand that we look beyond isolated symptoms and tackle interlocking systemic causes; across disciplines, from buildings to communities. The event will take on the full range of specialized technical, process, and policy aspects of Passive House one can expect from a NAPHN conference – and it will challenge us to make Passive House benefits, tools,…

Happy Birthday, Passive House!

By Passive House California , June 2, 2021 - News

Passive House is celebrating its 30th birthday this year! Starting as an experiment, great credit can be given to this pioneering project by Professor Wolfgang Feist: at a time when only very few people thought about climate protection, it paved the way for energy efficiency in buildings. Today, the Passive House standard has been implemented throughout the world and shines particularly brightly in beacon projects globally. More reasons for celebrating:…

Is Cost the Barrier to Passive House Performance

By Passive House California , May 20, 2021 - Decarbonization, News, Passive House 101, Research

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…

Is Efficiency a Renewable Energy?

By Passive House California , May 13, 2021 - EpiPHany

Recently, the International Passive House Association (iPHA) and the North American Passive House Network (NAPHN) have introduced the concept that “efficiency is the first renewable energy”. For several years, we have been told that “the least expensive energy is the energy we don’t use.”  From a technical perspective, neither phrase is accurate, but if you compare the relative outcomes of employing renewable energy versus applying energy efficiency measures, they are…

Passive House Air Quality

By Passive House California , May 10, 2021 - Indoor Air Quality, Ventilation

Passive House buildings rely on a constant supply of filtered fresh air, provided by a heat or energy recovery ventilator (HRV/ERV). Fresh air is delivered to the primary living areas, and stale air is exhausted from the “wet” areas—bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms. (Note—the kitchen exhaust is not a replacement for a properly-sized range hood.) There are several important characteristics of this equipment: Fresh air is delivered and stale air…

Municipal Green Building Conference and Expo (MGBCE) 2021

By Passive House California , April 28, 2021 - Conference, News

Passive House California (PHCA) has a virtual booth at MGBCE 2021. Any questions about the international Passive House construction standard please come and visit us or just stop by to say hello. The time is now! Join us virtually at MGBCE 2021! This year the community and conference are coming together online to build a greener future for all with action-oriented sessions, interactive expos, workshops, and more. Learn more about our…

How does a 10% change in efficiency have a 100% impact?

By Passive House California , April 26, 2021 - EpiPHany

“Value engineering” is a term that is familiar to those involved in the design and construction of buildings and generally involves the substitution of a specified component or system with an alternative solution that is similar, but less expensive. Consider the following: A building is designed to include a heat recovery ventilation system (HRV) in order to provide a balanced exchange of continuous fresh air to the occupants and, at…

Passive House Residential Ventilation in California

By Passive House California , April 23, 2021 - Indoor Air Quality, Member News, News, Ventilation

Passive House residential ventilation seems like a fairly straightforward topic on the surface. You install a whole-house heat-recovery ventilator (HRV) or energy-recovery ventilator (ERV), exhausting stale air from the wet areas of the house and supplying fresh air to the primary living and sleeping areas. (I’ll use the term HRV to represent both types of equipment throughout the remainder of this article). Unfortunately, the Passive House design guidelines don’t always…