New York Passive House has published a great free guide to certification of multifamily Passive House buildings. One of the example projects is the 68-unit affordable senior housing building that Duncan Architect is consulting on in Corona, Queens. If you’re interested in high performance multifamily construction, download the guide. With Passive House as an identified incentive […]
President Obama announces new actions to bring renewable energy and energy efficiency to households across the country, advancing clean energy technology innovation, cutting energy bills, and creating jobs. The White House press release includes an initiative of New York State Homes and Community Renewal to add Passive House certification to its RFP for preservation and creation […]
June, 2015, is a big month for Passive House events in and around NYC. Following the NYC mayor’s office’s report, One City Built to Last, which calls for Passive House as part of the solution to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2050, interest in the Passive House Standard for building comfort and energy efficiency has […]
Passivhaus Engeldamm (PHED) is a mixed-use multifamily and office building in the Luisenstadt neighborhood of Berlin. Glass and concrete may seem like unusual materials for a “green” building, but it shows the design freedom of the Passive House Standard. The apartment building faces a beautiful park where the Berlin Wall used to divide the city. Unfortunately, economic […]
New York City’s rapid embrace of the Passive House Standard for comfort, health, and energy efficiency made The New York Times cover story in its Real Estate section on Sunday, March 29, 2015. Duncan Architect is the Passive House consultant for a senior residence with a pre-K on the ground floor. This project is one of […]
Passive House is the world’s leading comfort and energy-efficiency standard for all types of buildings. The Duncan Architect Passive House Bookstore has books for general as well as expert audiences. I just added a link to Mary James’s 2010 book Recreating the American Home: The Passive House Approach. I reviewed her newer book, American Passive House […]
The 2015 NY State Green Building Conference will include a presentation by Gregory Duncan about multifamily buildings designed to meet Passive House criteria. ABSTRACT “Passive House” describes a comfort and energy-efficiency standard for all building types. This presentation will focus on the design of multifamily buildings in our region to meet the Passive House criteria. […]
Condos and Rental Buildings in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston As you may know, the Passive House standard applies to all building types, not just single-family houses. In fact, the first Passive House was a block of four townhouses built in 1991. The Northeast Corridor is a great location for multifamily buildings […]
New York is preparing for the potential closure of the Indian Point nuclear power plant by investing in demand reduction, on-site energy production, and energy storage. The Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Acceleration Program from NYSERDA is part of this effort. CHP provides resiliency in case of power outage. Because the equipment runs 24/7, it […]
The Passive House Institute has announced [PDF] that it will start rating buildings that produce renewable energy while meeting the clearly defined Passive House Standard. In order to do this, PHI had to reexamine the calculations for primary energy. PHI uses the term primary energy to refer to what the US EPA calls source energy which you […]