Passive House buildings still need heating

Here in New Zealand climates, people living in certified Passive House homes need to turn the heater on sometimes. To me as a building scientist and Passive House certifier, this is a blindingly obvious statement. But when a well-informed friend was grizzling about having to run heating in late May in their new Passive House, I had to think about …

Streamlining Passive House design

There’s some anticipation about the release of easyPH, understandable given its promise to make Passive House design easier. Here’s some advice for new designers about how to streamline and simplify Passive House design, some of which is applicable to either PHPP or easyPH. Firstly, make sure you’re familiar with the subset of projects that can be designed using easyPH. This …

Be a certification pro

Passive House certification offers many benefits and the cost is tiny relative to the whole budget for a new home. As a Passive House designer, you can make the process faster, easier and contain costs for your client by being well-organised and diligent when it comes to the details required for certification. I’ve prepared a guide for documentation for new …