The Passive House Institute's 27th International Passive House Conference will be held April 5-7 in Innsbruck, Austria. The three-day event will take place on the Technology Campus of the University of Innsbruck, and will focus on retrofits and showcasing that every building can be renovated to be energy-efficient and, equally important, that every renovation step counts! The conference will present the successful transformation of buildings with high energy consumption into climate-friendly structures with low energy costs and a high living comfort. There will also be excursions and workshops, including a free offer for municipalities. Building tours will be made to some of the buildings in Innsbruck, including some multi-family apartment blocks. The trade exhibition with Passive House components is also open to the public on both days. Here is an overview of the highlights of the conference program.
The theme for this year's conference is, "Retrofit. Have an impact". To really drive this point home, numerous international examples of retrofits to the EnerPHit standard will be presented, some of which are part of the EU project outPHit. Perhaps most fascinating will be the range of projects that will be featured at the event, revealing that the EnerPHit standard is not limited to either a specific building typology or buildings of a certain age. EnerPHit applies to buildings that are hundreds of years old, as is the case with the Mayerhof building in Tyrol, as well as more recent buildings like the Hotel Marcel in Connecticut, which is located not far from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The striking office building from the 1960s is now a climate-friendly hotel with a high level of indoor comfort for its guests!
Some additional highlights from the program include the transformation of a historic Carriage House in New York into a comfortable residential building, the world's first EnerPHit museum in Greece, and the energy retrofit of urban housing complexes in London and Innsbruck using Passive House components.
Living comfort during hot weather
The summer comfort aspect is becoming increasingly important in all parts of the world. Highly energy-efficient buildings are not only advantageous in winter, but also in the warmer months of the year: good thermal protection helps to keep the heat outside. Projects in warm climate zones put special demand on planning so that a good level of living comfort can be ensured. In the lecture series "Passive House in challenging climates", a presentation on an apartment block in southern Spain will be given under the title "Cool comfort in sunny Malaga".
Passive House and sustainability
The Sande sports hall in east Westphalia, Germany, is presented in the "Passive House and sustainability" lecture series. After 15 years of use, numerous insights and results are now available which are valuable for further projects of this building type. This series of lectures will also look at blow-in insulation systems as a key technology for the renovation of existing buildings. Other sessions in Innsbruck will discuss non-residential buildings built to the Passive House standard: schools in Sweden, the new leisure centre in Exeter in the UK and a kindergarten built as a timber construction in Spain.
Invitation to workshops
Before the official start of the conference, the organisers will invite participants to attend workshops in Innsbruck. The focus of the outPHit programme will once again be on retrofits. Another workshop in English and Spanish focusses on Passive House quality windows in Southern Europe and Latin America. The free of charge workshop on "Energy efficiency in public buildings" is addressed to local authorities and housing associations.
Networking and excursions
The 27th International Passive House Conference will once again offer numerous opportunities for networking with the international participants. These opportunities include the big Passive House Party on the Friday of the conference and the iPHA-Dinner hosted by the International Passive House Association on Saturday. At the end of the conference, the organisers will offer the opportunity to visit numerous Passive House and EnerPHit projects in Innsbruck and Tyrol. Three bus excursions will take particpants to interesting retrofit and new-build projects, while a tour on foot will provide the opportunity to get to know projects in the Innsbruck city area.
Public guided tour
Good components are essential for a successful energy retrofit. At the Passive House Exhibition, conference participants can find out about highly energy-efficient components on-site during the two days of the conference. Ventilation units with heat recovery, products for airtightness, windows, and wall and roof construction will be presented here, among other things. The Passive House Institute will also be represented at the exhibition. The exhibition will be open to the public and there will be a public guided tour (in German) at 2:30 pm on 6 April 2024, the Saturday of the conference. Free admission will be possible at the conference reception desk.
German and English
The presentations at the 27th International Passive House Conference will be in German and English. German presentations will offer simultaneous translation into English. There is a special ticket offer for students. The latest information can be found here: www.passivehouseconference.org. The hashtag for the conference is #27intPHC.
Have an impact by getting your tickets now!
Register
Representatives of the media interested in attending the 27th International Passive House Conference may send an e-mail to [email protected].