Greg Duncan is a Certified Passive House Designer and principal of Gregory Duncan Architect
UPDATE: Early registration discounts extended to March 1
Early registration discounts for the International Passive House Conference in Frankfurt end February 15 March 1, 2013. New York Passive House members at the professional level get additional discounts through our affiliation with the International Passive House Association (iPHA).
Click here to become a member of NYPH.
The first conference I attended was in Innsbruck, Austria, two years ago. At the time Passive House was just getting started in the US, especially in New York. At the conference, however, over 1500 participants from around the world showed how much accumulated knowledge there has been since the Passive House energy-efficiency standard was first articulated twenty years ago. These conferences are really inspiring due to the volume of brainpower and creative energy. This year the conference is in Frankfurt, Germany, just 30 kilometers from the first Passive House project—a development of three townhouses built in 1991—in Kranichstein. If you are interested in energy efficiency and thermal comfort in buildings, I would really recommend that you go.
Half of the 16 sessions are held in English and the rest are in German with simultaneous translation. Case studies of extremely energy-efficient projects from New England to New Zealand will show how commercial, industrial, residential, and institutional buildings of all sizes meet the Passive House standard.
Last June, at the NYPH Symposium, Tomás O’Leary of the Passive House Academy challenged us to build 100,000 m² (or one million square feet) of Passive House projects in the five boroughs within five years. At the conference this year, he will present his challenge along with an overview of current projects in NYC to an international audience.
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