Sallan Foundation Snapshot: “Actively Passive” by Richard Yancey, Founding Executive Director of BEEx

This week, the Building Energy Exchange (BEEx)‘s Richard Yancey shared some of his insights regarding Passive House in the Sallan Foundation website’s Snapshot Column.  In the editorial, Yancey describes his inadvertent first visit to a Passive House. As he stepped away from the hot, noisy, and smelly NYC summer streets and into the building, Yancey describes his experience, stating, “The interior felt like an oasis; a refuge from the street noise and heat; a meditative place.”

richard yancey
“The interior felt like an oasis; a refuge from the street noise and heat; a meditative place.”

 

Richard Yancey goes on to explain the significance of Passive House, as the catalyst for greenhouse gas reductions and a more comfortable, high quality built environment.   According to Yancey, the Passive House standard is going to be instrumental in helping NYC achieve is 80 x 50 goal (80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050), and it’s no surprise that the NYC Mayor’s Office has turned its attention to this budding standard.

NYC can follow in the footsteps of Brussels, Belgium.  This capital city and the seat of the European Union has taken it upon itself to completely transform its building stock.  Formerly home to some of the most inefficient buildings in the continent, Brussels started with the Exemplary Buildings plan in 2010, targeting government buildings and converting them to Passive House standard buildings. By January 2015, Brussels, Belgium mandated that all future buildings built within Brussels must adhere to an adapted version of the international Passive House criteria.

Read “Actively Passive” by Richard Yancey on the Sallan Foundation’s website


About the Author of “Actively Passive”

Richard C. Yancey, AIA, LEED AP, is the founding Executive Director of the Building Energy Exchange, Inc. (BEEx), an independent, nonprofit organization that connects the New York real estate and design communities to energy and lighting efficiency solutions through education, exhibitions, technology demonstrations, and research. BEEx identifies opportunities, navigates barriers to adoption, broker’s relationships, and showcases best practices at their resource center in downtown Manhattan’s Surrogate Courthouse.

Feature Image Photo Credit: Télé Bruxelles


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