Spotlight Article:
Climate House: Passive House as an Opportunity
Designing a new building in a flood zone can be a rigorous challenge but also an opportunity. In New York, Superstorm Sandy left behind devastated communities in low-lying coastal areas of Long Island. Some residents ...
Keep Reading
Climate House: Passive House as an Opportunity
Designing a new building in a flood zone can be a rigorous challenge but also an opportunity. In New York, Superstorm Sandy left behind devastated communities in low-lying coastal areas of Long Island. Some residents ... [continue reading]
Perlita House: The First Passive House Building in Los Angeles
A few years after I finished building what I thought was my dream house in France, I discovered the Passive House International (PHI) standard and became very frustrated that I hadn’t known about ... [continue reading]
Passivhaus 101: Sustainable Architecture from the Inside Out
This article discusses the Passive House (PH) as an example for sustainable architecture. It defines what a PH house is as well as how it uses shading, ventilation, and solar power efficiently. Originating from the ... [continue reading]
Shadyside Passive House
The Victorian house in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had been re-muddled several times and was in dilapidated condition. Thoughtful Balance (TB), a Pittsburgh-based architecture firm specializing in sustainable, low-energy design, decided to take ... [continue reading]
Living in an Old House Remodeled to Passive House Standard
My husband, Kurt Hurley, and I are homeowners with passion for green building, and we've managed to reduce the energy consumption of our 93-year-old house by 80% through a very detailed renovation following the Passive House (... [continue reading]
PHIUS+ 2015 Climate-Specific Passive Building Standard
What's Changed, What Hasn't [continue reading]
Smart Design: Optimizing Efficiency in High-Performance Homes Doesn’t Always Mean PH Certification
WEB ONLY
Two recent Passive House (PH) consultations of mine have made clear the difficulty of making the PH standard more widely adopted in this country. Both consultations were for small, single-family homes. Neither house was more &... [continue reading]
Solterre Passive House Concept Cottage
WEB ONLY
Last summer, I took a drive from Halifax down to Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, to check out Solterre Design’s Concept Cottage. The house looks like it’s been there for a few ... [continue reading]
Building Performance Journal Editors
Our Blog Has Moved
Thanks for your interest in contributing a blog to the Building Performance Journal (formerly Home Energy magazine). We’re ...
Jim Gunshinan
Is Energy Efficiency an American Value?
Energy efficiency is good for the economy, good for families, good for workers, and good for the environment.
