Passive House Buildings has chosen to focus this issue on the increasing importance of embodied carbon in the building sector. As buildings become more energy-efficient, the contribution of a building’s embodied carbon to its overall emissions grows. The ambitious projects featured in this fall issue showcase the tactics needed to cut these emissions, including choosing materials that sequester carbon and minimizing waste through prefabrication. And in further efforts to streamline deep energy retrofits, check out the two new initiatives aimed at industrializing retrofits.
We have an exciting announcement to share: Passive House Buildings is merging with Passive House Accelerator!
Both organizations share a similar mission—promoting building designs and techniques that sharply reduce carbon emissions from the building sector, thereby helping to stabilize the climate. We are excited to be working together to provide the best one-stop source for all Passive House-related content, and we warmly invite you to join us at passivehouseaccelerator.com as we launch into this new chapter.
—Mary James, Editor and Publisher
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Articles in this Issue
9/22/20
Reframed Initiative: Next-Generation Retrofit Solutions
Most of our homes were designed for the past—not for the climate and energy reality we’re facing
1/14/21
Passive House Schools on the Horizon
Two new Passive House schools are set to be built in Brooklyn, as well as an all electric skyscraper.
12/22/20
Multifamily Passive House in Vancouver Dedicated to Indigenous Residence
This social housing project in Vancouver, Canada centers Indigenous residents through honoring traditional building and First Nations ways of life.
9/22/20
PHPP Enhanced: PHribbon
This new tool changes the PHPP game for Passive House modeling
3/22/21
Wood-Fiber Insulation Born in the U.S.A.
By next spring a new option in low-embodied-carbon, North American-produced insulation will be hitting the market: wood-fiber insulation from GO Lab.
3/22/21
Getting Passive House Details Implemented
Multifamily Passive House: A round table discussion of lessons learned was a conference highlight.
12/22/20
Postoccupancy Performance Of Passivhaus Homes in the UK
Postoccupancy Performance Of Passivhaus Homes in the UK
9/22/20
Housing Improvement for Whistler Resort
Affordable housing shortage in this resort town calls for a Passive House improvement
1/14/21
Kick-Starting Industrialized Retrofits in Halifax
Lorrie Rand, Principal at Habit Studio, worked with Nick Rundnicki, of RSI Project to found the ReCover Initiative tackling deep energy retrofits.
1/18/21
Model CLT Multifamily in Boston
Placetailor, a design-build and development cooperative based in Boston, has been creating innovative passive housing projects since 2008. The group, which originally offered only design-build services, added development to its tool kit in 2010 to pursue the type of projects that were important to it.
1/14/21
Throw More Tantrums
Tad Everhart writes about Tantrum Bike Shop, a commercial Passive House building in Revelstoke, British Columbia.
1/14/21
From CLT Panels to Home in Five Days
Tomaz and Jasminka Stich share about the 5-day install of their Passive House prefabricated home.
12/22/20
Pennsylvania Wilds Going for Passive House
A retrofit of a historic building in Kane PA
1/14/21
A Passive House Dream Comes True
Some clients dream to build a Passive House, those are the dream clients.
1/18/21
Ambitious Development in Pittsburgh Reimagines Performance
Bridging the Gap’s newest development, Fifth & Dinwiddie, straddles two sides of a street in the Uptown section of Pittsburgh, PA and will offer market rate and affordable housing along with 10,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor on the west side of the street.
1/29/21
Carbon-neutral Architecture—A Progress Report
Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP) operates at the nexus of affordability and sustainability