Building Sector ‘Inertia’ Impedes Multi-Family Passive House Projects

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…


STATE STREET PASSIVE HOUSE

Address: Brooklyn, New York Role: Project & Preservation Architect Architect: Unknown Year Built: 1890 Completed: 2018 Project Status: Completed This four-story brick townhouse was gut renovated and expanded with a three-story addition in the back, built using insulated concrete forms. The garden level has a separate studio apartment in front and an indoor, 8-foot by 13-foot swim-in-place pool in back. Although the pool area is within the home’s thermal envelope, addressing the humidity issues posed by…


Passive House Projects: Scott Residence

Scott Residence   Location: Altamont, New York Building Type: Single Family Residential Construction Type: Wood Construction Project Phase: Complete Year of Construction: 2017 Gross Square Footage: 2125   View the full project