The latest book from APHA is the Passivhaus Playbook and it’s great. I love the focus on the team and a successful process. The publishers describe it as “a nine-step pathway that covers everything from funding to design coordination and supply chain to storytelling … [providing] a process for a technically feasible, buildable, cost-effective Passivhaus approach to new buildings in …
Deep retrofits of commercial buildings make good sense
The deep retrofit at 80 Willis Street, Wellington is featured in a just-released NZ Green Building Council publication, A practical guide to upfront carbon reductions. This is a project dear to my heart, as I worked on it years ago as the Green Star professional. This was the very first NZGBC project to submit carbon modelling using LCA Quick …
In the race to net zero, operational carbon remains crucial
Lloyd Alter is a Canadian adjunct professor and writer on sustainability topics. Like a growing number of commentators, Lloyd is brushing off the impact of operational carbon and arguing for the need to radically focus on lowering embodied carbon: building with low carbon building materials and methods that are low or zero carbon and retrofitting and renovating existing buildings rather …
Stepwise energy improvements waste time and money
Neil Savery had a 20 year career with the Australian Building Codes Board, nine years as its CEO. Let’s say that gives him some perspective, and industry experience worth listening to. In a story on Fifth Estate, he’s quoted as saying that Australia would have done better to ‘bake in’ the highest energy codes into its building standards from the …
Air transfer solution: ventilated doors
Australian Passive House designer Matt Purves posted online some intriguing photos of bespoke doors he built himself from leftover spruce wall panelling. These were for his home in Tasmania, which is targeting Passive House Plus certification. Ventilation systems need air to be able to move freely between rooms even when doors are closed. This is most often achieved by the …
New plans for Passive House training and certification
Dr Kara Rosemeier has personally trained and certified almost every Passive House professional in New Zealand and her influence cannot be overstated. Kara is preparing for a gradual retirement and to this end, her Passive House Academy New Zealand (PHANZ) is joining forces with Sustainable Engineering Ltd. The new training entity will honour the historic relationship with Te Whare Korou …
We need accurate planning tools
The UK’s first net zero energy bills have been introduced by several English councils as part of their response to the climate emergency. That’s good. These requirements need to be measured so they can be enforced. SAP 10 (Standard Assessment Procedure) is what they use to show building code compliance in England and Wales, for new dwellings and major renovations. …
Jason Quinn in Wellington speaking on high-performance glazing
Jason Quinn will be speaking in Wellington on 7 November on the latest developments in high-performance glazing. The industry event, hosted by Metro Performance Glass, is on the waterfront, with drinks, nibbles and CPD points all available. The Sustainable Engineering team has been consulting for various local window manufacturers, including Metro, so Jason has data at his fingertips. He’ll talk …
Air pollution kills New Zealanders
Air pollution is real and has deadly impacts. In New Zealand we’re 10 times more likely to die from the effects of air pollution than from a car accident. Marc Daalder of Newsroom wrote a detailed feature about the extent of the problem here in New Zealand. Despite lingering fond notions about Aotearoa’s clean, green environment, it is sadly the …