First Bushland Park homes certified, go up for auction

The certification of 8 and 10 Bushland Place is a milestone the entire Passive House community in New Zealand should celebrate. These are the first certified Passive House homes to...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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UK progress on Passive House

The UK is way ahead of New Zealand in terms of numbers of certified Passive House buildings so it’s certainly instructive to see what we can learn. A recent article...

by ike saniel

Updated: Mar 2022

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Passive House social housing transformative for NYC tenants

Passive House social housing in New York City is taking off, according to this Guardian feature story. Two things stand out: the extent of the uptake (dozens of affordable Passive...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2022

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Evaluating embodied carbon of solar panels

Elementa Consulting has released a very easy to follow report on a very complex topic: how good are PV panels and what matters when you consider their embodied carbon? The...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2022

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Carbon budget modelled for NZ new builds and existing stock

This is an excellent paper on modelling the carbon emitted by New Zealand homes during construction and use against the IPCC 1.5 degree emission targets. The authors follow population weighting...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Time for deep retrofits

MBIE’s Building for Climate Change programme is going to drive greater energy efficiency in new buildings. Among other things, it will introduce actual performance modeling for New Zealand buildings. This...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Feb 2022

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Luggate Hall delayed

It’s a shame to hear about delays in construction to Luggate Hall but supply chain issues are a huge issue across the industry. Delays in shipping the Passive House certified...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Feb 2022

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Zero-energy building sector vital to addressing climate change

Buildings have a big role in addressing climate change. This nice and short technical paper shows how reducing consumption is the only way to address climate change that does not...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Finally, NZ new homes are shrinking

Happy news in this thoughtful article from Stuff about why the average new dwelling is getting smaller in New Zealand. (How it’s getting smaller is obvious: smaller stand-alone homes but...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Feb 2022

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Fuel poverty harms mental health too

Living in a cold house you can’t afford to heat causes physical health problems, up to and including premature death. There’s plenty of evidence supporting this and I’m grateful to...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Free thermal bridge modelling training

If you’re working on Homestar V5 projects, this free webinar is for you. (It’s also ideal for all those newly qualified Passive House designers!) Sustainable Engineering’s Jason Quinn is teaching...

by Rachel Rose

Updated: Feb 2022

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Why Passive House costs more

If you’ve met Christchurch Passive House builder Peter Bielski, you’ll know he’s a man of few and well-chosen words, not minced. His company is involved in an ambitious project to...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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What’s it like? Passive House homeowners tell

Another in-depth article from the Stuff network about Passive House, that talks to people about their experience living in a (mostly certified) Passive House. It gets into the thorny cost...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jan 2022

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Healthy Homes Standard tweaked

A December 3 announcement on changes to the Healthy Homes Standard solves one of the issues caused by this well intentioned legislation. We were designing absolutely best practice apartments, which...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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Better school buildings get closer

Architect—and newly graduated PH designer—Murray Robertson wrote a really insightful piece about his experience designing a mass timber school building to the Passive House standard. Things were looking good: “We...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Dec 2021

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New thermal performance data for NZ timber window profiles

Consulting with building component manufacturers to help them make good products even better is a favourite activity for the Sustainable Engineering team. Lunds Joinery, a highly-regarded family-owned company in Timaru,...

by Rachel Rose

Updated: Dec 2021

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Loopholes in H1 changes?

To be clear folks: H1/AS1 housing changes apply to all housing, even apartment buildings of any size**. BPI (Building Performance Index) is no longer a permitted compliance method. Curtain walls...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: May 2022

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NZ “outsulation” guide now available

Now available: the Outsulation Guide for High Performance Walls, brought to you by Outright, suppliers of continuous insulation. Sustainable Engineering provided the thermal modelling calculations and I enjoyed the discussions...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

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