This Canadian retrofit project is encouraging: it’s an old timber-framed and clad building with single-paned glazing in timber frames. Built in the 1850s, it’s older than the New Zealand homes built from the same materials. Regardless, it’s this kind of construction that offers the best retrofit potential in New Zealand—even better if they are two-storey like this Nova Scotian example. …
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 at Sustainable Engineering Ltd is working on detailed energy modelling in order to produce building specification guidelines. We’ve also been thinking about what could be implemented right away: finding the …
DefignTalks podcast talks operational energy
The first episode of a new podcast for architectural designers launched this week, and its first guest is Sustainable Engineering Ltd’s principal Jason Quinn. Hosts Glenn Murdoch and Casey Curtis kick off by considering operational energy (really, operational carbon) and ask, how big is the problem? As we design more durable buildings, does the balance between operational and embodied energy …
The Heights Whare keeps gathering attention
Newly certified LEB The Heights Whare has been featured in an extensive two-page (broadsheet) story in the Otago Daily Times. It can only be read online by subscribers (the ODT is the last independently owned major daily in the country and doesn’t give away its content) but these pics of the layout show the attention lavished on this terrific project. …
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 House dwellings and it contains lots of good news. It confirms much of what drives us to design MVHR (ventilation) systems well in high-performance buildings. Much of the immediate discussion …
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 make it easier to use in built homes. The research also suggested the existing VTT model underestimates the risk of mould in domestic settings. The authors surveyed a large number …
Bader Ventura is a certified Passive House project
Oddly, this write-up about Kainga Ora’s Bader Ventura project doesn’t make it explicit that the building did achieve Passive House certification. You can read a detailed case study by Sustainable Engineering here—our team certified this project and provided lots of technical support. The result is all the more impressive because Passive House performance wasn’t a focus from the very beginning …
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 as we age. It’s gruesome. I already knew fine particulates were bad, but this image has visceral impact and I’ll strengthen the advice I give to clients about how to …
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. The story quotes residents who were struggling to stay comfortable as summer temps soared in 2023. The two residents have different motivations for living there and different experiences of their …