Martin Place Set to Cool Off This Summer with the Arrival of the Ice Box Challenge

The Australian Passive House Association (APHA) has announced the Ice Box Challenge will next land in Martin Place, Sydney CBD, from 21 February to 4 March, 2022, after huge success around the globe in New York, Vancouver, and recently Glasgow alongside the COP26.

The Ice Box Challenge is a fun and interactive public installation and contest that demonstrates the advantages of Passive House.

APHA CEO Paul Wall is delighted to be next in line to host the event, saying “This is a further opportunity for people to start to fully understand the positive effects to their wellbeing of a healthy and comfortable indoor environment. The broader environmental benefits, with lower emissions and reduced running costs, contribute to better outcomes for society and we applaud the City of Sydney for their positive contribution within their own operations and the environmental grants program.”

The Challenge

Two boxes are filled with ice and displayed for public viewing in Martin Place for a two-week period. One box will be constructed to local building regulations, while the other will meet the international Passive House Standard, a highly energy efficient building performance standard. Each box is filled with an equal amount of ice at the beginning of the experiment and on the final day during a closing ceremony, the amount of ice left in each box will be measured with the level of ice remaining used to demonstrate how well each ice box passively kept out the heat.

Visitors are encouraged to stop by booths and speak with the APHA team to learn how Passive House offers a high level of comfort, can help meet climate protection goals, and make significant energy savings. They can also take a guess at how much ice will be remaining in the contest for their chance to win some great prizes!

APHA thanks the City of Sydney and our valued sponsors for their generous support of this event.

Climate change is one of the greatest global challenges of our time, with almost 35 percent of global energy consumption currently as a result of the building sector alone. Better building design helps to reduce their carbon footprint, and Passive House technology provides proven and sustainable solutions for this.

The future of Passive House in Australia is bright. The Australian Passive House Association is an independent, not-for-profit organization which aims to promote Passive House principles as a well-established design and construction method that delivers high quality, comfortable, healthy, low energy, and resilient buildings that can be applied in all climate zones and building types.

To find out more about the Australian Passive House Association visit https://passivehouseaustralia.org.

Contact: Rachael Alden, APHA Marketing and Operations Manager

Email: [email protected] | Mobile: 0424128218