Mapping residential heat demand and resulting emissions

This is a new paper by Jack et al looking at how residential space heating and hot water varies across New Zealand regions with a focus on the amounts and carbon emissions....

Updated: Jan 2026

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Palmerston North’s first Passive House

Heartland city Palmerston North now has its very first certified Passive House project, Hokowhitu Passivhaus....

Updated: Jul 2025

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Electrification is the future (and the future is now)

While electrification will drive up electrical consumption, it will simultaneously lead to a vast decrease in overall energy demand. This is primarily because of the far greater efficiency of electric...

Updated: Apr 2025

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Replicable design for energy-efficient homes in India

It’s interesting to see how other nations tackle energy efficiency in buildings. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)’s Handbook of Replicable Designs for Energy Efficient Residential Buildings in India provides...

Updated: Apr 2025

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Assessing feasibility of commercial PV generation

EECA recently published guidance for businesses weighing up commercial PV generation. As always, the devil lies in the detail, and understanding the methodology used to assess the viability of solar...

Updated: Apr 2025

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Tech overview for ECCHO now available

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...

Updated: Mar 2025

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Primary Energy Renewable (PER) is misunderstood

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...

Updated: Jul 2025

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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...

Updated: Jan 2025

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Keep designPH up-to-date to avoid Passive House certification hitches

Passive House designers: do you know what version of designPH you are using? It’s important you are using, if not the latest version (2.2.24 at time of writing) then 2.1.15...

Updated: Jan 2025

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Help coming for PHPP heat pump worksheet

Every Passive House designer who has modelled in PHPP10 knows what a pain it’s become to enter heat pump data. To solve this, we’re developing a heat pump webinar with...

Updated: Jan 2025

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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....

Updated: Dec 2024

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Owl Woods: complex form, superb Passive House performance

This Australian Passive House home is such a stunning departure from a simple rectangle and a great example of how complex forms can still be extremely energy efficient. It goes...

Updated: Dec 2024

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Kara’s last tradies course

It was the end of an era last week, when Kara Rosemeier taught her last CET (certified Passive House tradesperson) in Auckland . Knowing Kara, hers will be a very...

Updated: Nov 2024

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Wanted: Passive House champions

We want more Passive House champions! Resources will be released this summer to make it easier for select professionals to present the benefits and details of the Passive House standard....

Updated: Dec 2024

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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...

Updated: Jan 2025

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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...

Updated: Nov 2024

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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...

Updated: Nov 2024

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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...

Updated: Nov 2024

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