The technical overview for the NZ Green Building Council Energy and Carbon Calculator for Homes is now available. The guide was put together by me and NZGBC’s Sam Archer. It’s a free download, available here, plus there’s general information about the guide here. We developed the first version of ECCHO in Excel using PHPPv9 as the engine, then Sam Archer …
Primary Energy Renewable (PER) is misunderstood
How PHI calculates eligibility for Passive House Plus and Premium certifications seems to be unclear, even to some experienced Passive House designers. There are many factors that impact the amount of energy generated by a specific renewable energy system on a day-to-day basis. But none of that matters for PH Plus or Premium certification. It’s about Primary Energy Renewable. And …
Visiting The House, a giant NYC Passive House housing complex
There’s so much to see in New York City, including lots of certified Passive House buildings. Here’s another side trip I did during last year’s family holiday. The House is a 26-storey apartment building on Roosevelt Island, housing 352 rental apartments for Cornell Tech students, faculty and staff. It was the world’s largest certified Passive House building when it was …
What’s to like in the MBIE H1 consultation document?
After painstakingly researching, consulting on and citing improvements to thermal performance in the NZ Building Code for years, MBIE was directed by its incoming minister to investigate rolling back changes. Chris Penk cited anecdotes from a couple of Tauranga group home builders that more insulation was causing overheating as his rationale, all while banging on the housing shortage drum. In …
H1 insulation requirements are not expensive
How much cost does upgraded insulation required under the revised H1 add to a new build? Much less than anecdotal figures bandied about in the media, according to some solid research released last month. “EBOSS and New Zealand Certified Builders (NZCB), with design input from Architects Designgroup Stapleton Elliott (DGSE), teamed up with quantity surveying firm YourQS to put real …
Wellington Passive House meet up
The Wellington chapter of PHINZ is hosting a social event on 3 December at the Southern Cross hotel. No presentations or talks, just a relaxed drink with friends and like-minded people. If you’re interested in Passive House (either as a professional or a home owner), this is a great chance to chat to architects, designers, tradies and other homeowners. The …
The independence of Passive House certifiers
Jessica Eyers was the architectural designer and Passive House designer for this month’s featured case study, a groundbreaking prefab straw home. Jessica ran her own architectural design company from 2012 to 2023, when she wound up the practice and we welcomed her to the Sustainable Engineering Ltd team. The independence and impartiality of Passive House certifiers is absolutely vital. The …
To advance Passive House, stop myth-busting and start reframing
Presentations by Jess Berentson-Shaw from The Workshop were a highlight of this and previous year’s PHINZ conferences. She offers science-based advice on how the Passive House community can most effectively influence the adoption of a building standard that creates warm healthy buildings and solves a lot of social problems. In 2019, when she first delivered a keynote address, I’d just …
Temperature extremes impact personal productivity
This idea that productivity at work is linked to comfortable temperatures has been studied for many years. There’s plenty of data we can draw on to make the case for designing work environments to the Passive House performance standard, which makes thermal comfort mandatory. Offices are one thing, but warehouses, factories and stores are typically less well heated or cooled …