Alternative balcony design for low carbon buildings

Global design practice Perkins & Wills has released a beautiful white paper on balconies for buildings concerned with lowering carbon emissions. It considers thermal bridges and overall design considerations. Balconies...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2024

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Build better houses to solve dry year energy problem

Newsflash: using less energy is better than generating more of it. I know that seems obvious given the cost of new electricity generation schemes but it’s even more significantly beneficial...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Revised ASHRAE standard gets serious on building decarbonisation

ASHRAE in the USA is really focusing on building decarbonisation, finally. ASHRAE Journal March 2024 contains a really readable summary of the changes to ASHRAE Standard 100-2024, Energy and Emissions...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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10 Passive House design tips for keeping cool in summer

The high temperatures this past summer have served to sharpen everyone’s focus on how to design Passive House buildings to remain comfortable for longer when the temps spike. The team...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2024

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Siddall’s latest paper does not say Passive House homes shouldn’t use recirculating kitchen extraction

Mark Siddall is a Passive House pioneer in the UK and his latest (collaborative) paper is of course worth reading. It reviews the indoor air quality (IAQ) in residential Passive...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Easier ways to gather data to predict mould growth

Modelling mould growth in domestic environments using relative humidity and temperature is a useful technical paper, as it seeks to modify the VTT model of mould growth on surfaces to...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Feb 2024

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Fine particulate pollution is terrible for human health

Today I learned that lymph nodes are heavily impacted by air pollution. This photo shows lymph nodes specifically associated with the lungs and how they are affected by air pollution...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Feb 2024

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Design Passive House for your individual client

Should Passive House designers be doing more to design buildings that avoid summer overheating? This article from mainstream business magazine Forbes considers Bahnstadt, a Passive House district in Heidelberg, Germany....

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Lee home in Cockle Bay is outstanding but it’s not a certified Passive House yet

The Lee family home in Auckland—all 660m2 of it—is indeed newsworthy but it is unfortunate that Stuff has twice jumped the gun (here and here) by describing it as a...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Feb 2024

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Morning Report: why are NZ homes so damn hot right now?

Morning Report rang me this week for comment about overheating homes, in the face of record temperature spikes. You can listen to the short segment here, or there’s a print...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jan 2024

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New free tool for exploring climate files

I’ve discovered a climate file exploration tool that will be really useful for Passive House designers. Best, it’s open source, so free to use. This is particularly timely given the...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jan 2024

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In the race to net zero, operational carbon remains crucial

Lloyd Alter is a Canadian adjunct professor and writer on sustainability topics. Like a growing number of commentators, Lloyd is brushing off the impact of operational carbon and arguing for...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Nov 2023

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Stepwise energy improvements waste time and money

Neil Savery had a 20 year career with the Australian Building Codes Board, nine years as its CEO. Let’s say that gives him some perspective, and industry experience worth listening...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Nov 2023

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Air transfer solution: ventilated doors

Australian Passive House designer Matt Purves posted online some intriguing photos of bespoke doors he built himself from leftover spruce wall panelling. These were for his home in Tasmania, which...

by Rachel Rose

Updated: Mar 2026

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New plans for Passive House training and certification

Dr Kara Rosemeier has personally trained and certified almost every Passive House professional in New Zealand and her influence cannot be overstated. Kara is preparing for a gradual retirement and...

by Rachel Rose

Updated: Nov 2023

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We need accurate planning tools

The UK’s first net zero energy bills have been introduced by several English councils as part of their response to the climate emergency. That’s good. These requirements need to be...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Nov 2023

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Jason Quinn in Wellington speaking on high-performance glazing

Jason Quinn will be speaking in Wellington on 7 November on the latest developments in high-performance glazing. The industry event, hosted by Metro Performance Glass, is on the waterfront, with...

by Rachel Rose

Updated: Oct 2023

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Makeup air in a Passive House

Here’s a good summary on make up air for rangehoods, from HVAC consultants and designers at Energy Vanguard. It’s worth reading in full. The quick summary goes like this: Good...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Oct 2023

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