Search Results for: passive

How Passive House is Transforming Top Universities

Passive House

With more and more world leaders, educational institutes and industry professionals looking towards creating a more sustainable future for the next generation, many have focused on the housing crises and improving the consumption and production of energy. One of these possible solutions is called ‘passive house’, and while the concept has been around since the…

First Passive House School In Maine Is Also Net Zero Energy

The Friends School of Portland in Maine is the first Passive House modular school building in the state, and only the third in the country.  The neighboring OceanView Retirement Community is donating solar panels for the school to use, making the facility net zero energy (NZE). “One of our core values is stewardship and we…

Passive Solar Design Enhances Natural Ventilation

Passive design office

  What is passive solar design?  It goes by many names, though all are similar: passive design, passive solar, passive heating, Passivhaus, and passive house.  Buildings using this strategy rely on the heat of the sun to moderate the temperature indoors without the need for artificial heating and cooling.  How do they do it? Thermal…

Passive House Recognizes Net Zero, Plus Homes

passive house - energy plus home

Passive House is an international building standard developed by the Passive House Institute (PHI), which is located in Darmstadt, Germany.  Building to the Passive House Standard recognizes buildings which have been optimized through passive measures and components such as insulation, air-tightness, heat recovery, solar heat gains, solar shading and incidental internal heat gains.  Buildings which…

Does Passive House Design Work In Extreme Heat?

Passive House in Qatar

A home in Barwar City, Qatar is set to be the guinea pig to answer whether Passive House design will work in the desert.  Passive House (or Passivhaus in German) design relies on the mass of a building and super insulation to naturally heat and cool a building, limiting the need for heat and air…

Next Trend in Passive House Design: Passive Hospitals

Passive House Hospital Design

Passive house design has gone from an emerging architectural trend to a firmly established movement that’s entrenched itself in the professional and public mind. Even so, most people – both industry experts and laypeople – take the term literally, and equate “passive house” with, you know, houses. The truth, meanwhile, is that the same principles…

The Role of Architectural History in the Development of Solar Passive Architect David Wright

The evolution of pioneer solar passive architect David Wright’s career demonstrates the importance of exposure to the solar works of the ancients, as provided in this guest column by John Perlin based on his new book, Let It Shine: The 6000-Year Story of Solar Energy. This is the first of five articles. David Wright was…

Park Passive House / NK Architects

This is an eye-turning passive house design, thanks to the design from Marie Ljubojevic and Lauren McCunney at NK Architects. Of note, this home uses 75 to 80 percent less energy than homes built to current code standards. Read words from the architects below this photograph. From the architect. Park Passive is Seattle’s first certified Passive…

Coolest Passive Cooling Tower You'll Ever See

Walk into the lobby of the Neot Semadar Art Center on the Neot Semadar Kibbutz in the Arava region of Israel, and you’ll feel like you’ve just walked into an air-conditioned oasis in the middle of a scorching desert. Which you have…except for the A/C part. As part of  Kinetis-organized tour of Israel’s key sustainability sites,…

Le Belvédère: Targets to be North America’s Largest Passive House

Passive houses, when designed correctly, represent sustainable works of distinction. That appears to be the case with Le Belvédère Special Events Center in Wakefield, Quebec. Homesol, an energy design company and energy evaluator, is targeting passive house certification. Here’s why: With capacity for 150 dinner guests, the high-ceiling 8,000 square foot facility has an interior volume of 150,000 cubic…

Heat Pipe Technology’s Case Studies Show Rapid ROI for Passive Energy Recovery and Dehumidification Systems

Heat Pipe Technology specializes in passive energy recovery and dehumidification systems for commercial applications. Employing the very latest in passive-heat-transfer technology, Heat Pipe Technology designs and supplies the core energy recovery technologies to the world’s leading commercial air-handling equipment manufacturers.

Green Building 101: Using Bioclimatic Design to Build a Passive, Sustainable Dwelling

Bioclimatic Design

Building a greener dwelling isn’t some lofty idea but practical solutions we all must make to build a more sustainable future. As we started with consideration of space in Green Building 101-Week 1; How Defines Us in Terms of Sustainable Building; Now, we look at the environment around us as we build our Eco-conscious dwelling. By building in harmony with the natural environment and cooperating instead of fighting with the regional climate; Green Building takes a passive approach which requires less energy to run once the building is erected. Bioclimatic design is utilized during the design phase of a home or building.