PHCA Community Meeting | Renovation and Resilience: Lessons from a Panelized Deep Retrofit

By Passive House California , October 3, 2025 -

Deep retrofits of existing buildings play a key role in meeting greenhouse gas emission reduction goals in North America and beyond. Currently no deep retrofit solution exists in North America that is readily deployable at the scale of the existing building stock. Challenges include structural integrity, contamination, and implementing upgrades without disrupting tenants. This presentation delivers takeaways from the REALIZE-CA projects supported by the California Energy Commission. In these low-rise…

Criteria for the Passive House, EnerPHit and PHI Low Energy Building Standard

By Passive House California , December 16, 2020 -

Passive House Standard  Passive Houses are characterized by an especially high level of thermal comfort with minimum energy consumption. In general, the Passive House Standard provides excellent cost-effectiveness particularly in the case of new builds. The categories Passive House Classic, Plus or Premium can be achieved depending on the renewable primary energy (PER) demand and generation of renewable energy.    EnerPHit Standard  The Passive House Standard often cannot be feasibly…