Proponents of Passive House, a globally recognized standard for energy-efficient building design, say multi-family Passive House projects in the United States have hit cost parity with conventionally designed buildings, but systemic inertia is holding back widespread adoption.
Passive House accounts for less than 1% of all multi-family construction in the U.S. in the past decade, writes the Passive House Network (PHN) in its recently-published report, Safe At Home: How all-electric, multi-family Passive House buildings deliver comfortable, cost-effective climate resilience. Overcoming old habits in the building sector would bring these benefits home at a time when extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and intense storms are battering households across North America and beyond.
