Passive House News

(Adapted from AIANY COTE Awards website)  Established in 2014 by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA)’s Committee on the Environment (COTE), the COTE program seeks to provide a collective resource to all firms looking to achieve socially and environmentally responsible design. Climate change, political stability, energy and water independence, and human health are all responsibilities of the design community.  Modeled on the COTE National Awards, the…

International Passive House Days from 13 to 15 November 2015 (Press Release, Passive House Institute, 10 November 2015) Darmstadt, Germany. A Passive House building combines energy efficiency with high levels of comfort – those wishing to get their own impression will have the chance to do so from 13 to 15 November. During the International Passive House Days event, the doors of hundreds of buildings are open in many countries…

In March of 2015, an article written by PHIUS, titled "An Introduction to Passive House Principles and Policy" was published in the periodical Environmental Law in New York. (here). Unfortunately PHIUS' explanation to policymakers was incomplete, potentially leaving the reader with false impressions.  It largely wrote the international Passive House Institute's role out of the PHIUS narrative - in developing the Passive House Standard, introducing it to the US market, supporting it and…

By David White New York City is currently planning changes to its energy code, including the energy performance requirements for city-owned buildings.  NYPH, Urban Green, and the Mayor's Office all agree that to meet the city's carbon footprint reduction goals, we must make drastic cuts in building energy use.  This means adopting a code for all buildings that requires such performance levels. However, this is not the most critical aspect…

  The policy of New York State and New York City to achieve 80% carbon reductions by 2050 is critical to ensure our long term prosperity.   As we know, building operational energy use is a very large component of our current carbon emissions, and dramatically reducing our building energy usage with available tools such as Passive House construction is essential to achieving success. Led by the Passive House Institute, Passive House has…