This is a stand-out article from San Francisco Bay area Passive House builders, One Sky Homes. These guys are the real deal, coming to Passive House over a decade ago already having considerable experience in zero-energy, green builds. They now have a great deal of expertise in designing and building single family Passive House homes in California … and their …
Westpac get behind Raglan PH build
An in-depth Passive House case study … from a major bank? Good to see Westpac recognising the value of Passive House certification and providing finance for this Raglan project. This off-grid Passive House home is for owner/builders Toby and Catriona Tilsley and their two young kids. The Tilsleys run a sustainable building company, Craft Homes. Their new home in Raglan …
SIP build a good PH option
“How much space do you need? Do you need a TV room, a rumpus room, a dining room, and a living room? New Zealand is an amazing country: get out of your house, get in amongst it.” That’s James Clarke talking (English builder and owner of NZSIP), and as a fellow immigrant, I have to agree. First rule of “eco-homes”: …
Ngā Kāinga Anamata announced
Kāinga Ora’s first Passive House pilot project was a great milestone but we knew far more was in the works and today we are happy to be able to share the news. Ngā Kāinga Anamata, previously known as the Five Systems Project, is five three-story apartment buildings in Glendowie, all designed to reach Passive House performance. Sustainable Engineering Ltd is …
Passive House subdivision in Christchurch blazes a trail
Interesting perspective here on materials from an experienced builder of certified Passive Houses. Peter Bielski of Ethos Homes is a fan of panelisation—in a shed on site, in the case of the ambitious and inspiring 11-home Passive House neighbourhood he is currently involved with in Christchurch. His post lists the reasons why he likes prefab timber panels and prefers them …
ALL certified PH builds in NZ have been written up
Here’s a handy short cut to case studies on all certified Passive House projects in New Zealand to date. Phcert.nz will take you to the Sustainable Engineering website’s case study section. The case study initiative began with my book, Passive House for New Zealand, in 2019, which included case studies up to the award-winning Kowhai House. Once the case studies …
PHPP10 launched
Update [June 2022] PHPP10 is now available in English. In case you hadn’t heard, PHPP10 was released at the 25th International Passive House conference in Wuppertal last month. That’s the good news. The catch is, only the German-language version is out yet, so technically it’s PHPP10.0DE. The English version isn’t expected until around Easter next year. Now I don’t read …
Why bigger is easier
There’s still lots of talk about the cost premium to build a detached family home to the Passive House standard and how much that premium is. Let’s not overlook that it is much easier for large buildings to meet the Passive House performance targets. The physics is easier and that usually means it costs less too. I like to use …
We won’t get to zero carbon without energy efficient homes
It’s great to see this piece in popular media, outlining research that shows that, like the rest of the world, New Zealand’s path to a zero carbon future requires homes that need nearly no power for winter heating. The Passive House standard is measured and verified in New Zealand as needing 90% less energy to heat both new homes and …