Comments on: Passive Homes Heat Up Around the World

By: Larch House: The UK's First Zero-Carbon Passive Home | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:47:04 +0000

[...] architects recently unveiled the ‘Larch House’, the first zero-carbon passive house in the UK. The ultra energy-efficient home features not only “active” energy-producing [...]

By: France's First Passivhaus is a Wonder of Green Design | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:17:04 +0000

[...] the steady rise of the Passivhaus building system, we are being treated to some brilliant new ideas on how to design to the standard. [...]

By: Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture Presents First of 10 Prefab Homes | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:31:40 +0000

[...] the home is located in central Sweden and is so efficient that it even blew away some of the Passivhaus standards that it was designed [...]

By: MikeK

MikeK — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:35:00 +0000

Great post! Just a comment regarding Passive Houses in the US. There indeed have long been buildings employing passive solar techniques here in the US. The Passivhaus Institut readily and rightly credits Schick, Schurcliff, Lovins, Orr, et al for the development of super-insulated buildings that passively harness the sun’s energy. But, while we were enjoying low fuel prices over the past 15-20 years, the Europeans have markedly advanced the concept. Hard building science with respect to ventilation, air and moisture control, thermal bridging – along with the development of an energy modeling for very efficient buildings – have led to the development of a profound and rigorous energy STANDARD called “Passive House” (passivhaus, in German). This voluntary standard has also spawned an industry of high-performance windows and doors, super-efficient air handlers, miniaturized heating and cooling systems, thermally “broken” connections and fasteners, etc. In Europe, Passive House is a fully-realized system of building that is way beyond our fathers’ passive solar house. And that system is beginning to find an audience here.

Mike Kernagis
Passive House Institute US

By: CaluhaBarnes

CaluhaBarnes — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:06:34 +0000

WOW, it is so exciting to see the reemergence of passive homes and their characteristic lines of modernism – I love it, “house as art” AND friend of the environment. I agree with the previous comment, indeed we have been here before in the United States. However, hopefully with the expanding acceptance and understanding of the unstainability of our current home building strategies, the construction of passive homes will become best practices rather than a trend that is here today and gone once again for another generation.

By: bearsong

bearsong — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:06:01 +0000

“Passive design emerged in Darmstadt, Germany in 1990 with the construction of the first passive house.”

This is untrue, I have a book, 30 Energy-Efficient Houses…You Can Build (1977) that prominently features Passive Design.