Blog - Page 33 of 34 - Sustainable Engineering Ltd.

Fundamental of Building Science – The Building Enclosure and the Four Control Layers

Understanding of the building enclosure and the four control layers that make up the building enclosure is vital to understanding how the building enclosure will perform Enclosure The building enclosure...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Technical Notes

How to estimate of the R-value of unconditioned spaces

Several Passive House projects undergoing certification have requested a way to estimate the additional R-value of an adjoining unconditioned spaces (such as garage). A good example is a garage which...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Certification Guidance

Technical Notes

DHW Tanks – W/K from kWh/day

Summary The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) requires that energy losses from Domestic Hot Water (DHW) Storage tanks be entered as Watts per degree Kelvin (W/K) rather than the more...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Certification Guidance

Technical Notes

How to scale HRV data to ERV for use in Passive House Planning Package

Summary Several Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) systems available have HRV performance data for the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) but do not have Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) performance data. Knowing...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Certification Guidance

Technical Notes

Hygiene Criterion applied to a thermal bridge

PH certification criteria requires that a minimum surface temperature be achieved. Steps: 1. Determine the exterior temperature to use – call this the Hygiene External Temperature. This temperature can be...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Certification Guidance

Technical Notes

05 July 2018 Opinion’s Jessica Berentson-Shaw: KiwiBuild risks embedding wealth and housing inequalities

“It is feasible for people in government to ensure the next generation of children has more choice.Building standards need an overhaul. We are lagging behind other similar countries.Mr Twyford should...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Feb 2019

03 July 2018 Australian Passive House Association: A zero-energy home is not as challenging as you might think, with the right toolkit

In this article, Clare Parry from the Australian Passive House Association points out how it’s really a simplicity introduced by Passive House that allows these homes to easily meet zero-energy...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Oct 2018

06 June 2018 Stuff Piers Fuller: A tenth of New Zealand houses not fit to live in, health researcher says

I met Dr Pierse at University of Otago’s Public Health Summer School on the day of the release of the World Health Organisation’s International Housing & Health Guidelines (25 February...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Jun 2019

Technical Notes

27 May 2018 Wanganui Chronicle – Home is where the heart(and the heat) is by Rachel Rose

I think the epic quote from this article could be paraphrased as “Your brand new home might still be cold, damp, and bad for your health”. I think that’s a...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

23 April 2018 Stuff’s Will Harvie: The applied science of super energy-efficient Passive Houses

“Building a super energy-efficient Passive House requires careful planning, design and applied science. “ “It’s just a house,” says Glenn Murdoch, design director at Theca Group. “There’s nothing special that...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Apr 2019

10 April 2018 South Pacific Passive House Conference

If you missed it, the South Pacific Passive House Conference in Melbourne this year was a fantastic conference. We participated through leading a workshop on advanced PHPP the day before...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2018

06 April 2018 Superhome Movement’s April Newsletter

At the request of the Superhome Movement, Sustainable Engineering Ltd. has put together a technical proposal to build the mathematical model underlying the cool Superhome housing performance dashboard. “Superhome housing performance...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2018

13 March 2018 Stuff’s Rexine Hawes: First Passive House concept in Matamata helping to change building industry

Good article on a great house. Brick veneer is tricky to get right without creating the potential for mould at the slab edge. This design team got it right on...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Dec 2018

14 February 2018 The Harvard Gazette’ Colleen Walsh: Your building might be making you sick. Joe Allen can help

“We watched how they made plans and decisions and accessed information relative to what was happening to see if they could be strategic in their thinking and we found really...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

Technical Notes

12 September 2017 South Pacific Passive House Conference

Our director, Jason Quinn, presented a joint paper with Clare Parry on lessons learned on the South Pacific Passive House Conference in 2017 in Christchurch. Their presentation “Lessons learned from...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2018

2016 August 1 Prefab NZ: Unipod Open Source Bathroom Pod

This is one way to save a considerable fraction of build costs if it is done at scale. Of course, I’d argue for putting those savings into a better building...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2020

Technical Notes

March 2016 Organic Magazine’s Low Energy Homes

This article features our Director, Jason Quinn, there was a lot to condense into this article. The one additional comment he wishes had made it into the article was that...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Mar 2026

20 September 2012 InHouse Magazine: Your Client Wants a Passive House?

We drafted this article for InHouse Magazine back in 2012 on our first Passive House project, Passive House Taupo. Kim Feldborg, who is now a friend of ours, has designed...

by Jason Quinn

Updated: Aug 2018