Passivhaus for all!

For those of you who were unable to attend the excellent May 24th Guest Expert Lecture featuring Dr. Guido Wimmers who spoke about the fundamentals of passivhaus, fear not (!) for Alex Smith of Radio Ecoshock recorded the entire presentation for his podcast and will be posting a link for the audio to be downloaded on his website, www.ecoshock.com.

Our website also has an excellent pdf which describes the basics of a passivhaus here (off of Jessica Wolliams' blog).  Contrary to popular belief, a passivhaus does not just apply to a "passive house" but also encompasses buildings; in fact, in Europe entire schools (elementary to university), commericial buildings, MURBS and retail stores have been designed according to passivehaus principles.  In addition, passivhaus is not new construction exclusive-there are certainly cases where the principles have been employed with retrofits.

Image from: http://www.architekt-wamsler.de/

If you're excited as I am about efficient energy saving and environmentaly friendly design as well as excellent and healthy indoor environments, check out this database of passivhaus buildings and homes maintained by the Passivhaus Institut, Passivhaus Dienstleistung GmbH and IG Passivhaus Deutschland.  This can be accessed at:  http://www.passivhausprojekte.de/projekte.php?lang=en&search=1.  There's lots more eyecandy and stats available about real life passivhaus buildings and homes gracing our planet today.

The "internets" (version 2.0 I believe we're on now, aren't we?) is an excellent, free source for information, as we all know.  That being said, there are a number of websites and resouces that you can access for your own edification about passivhaus.  Besides the above links to the Passivhaus Institut etc. there is also http://www.passivhaus.org.uk/. 

One book that Guido Wimmers recomended is called CEPHEUS:  Living Comfort Without Heating, although you may be hardpressed to find an actual copy for purchase it seems (prime time to brush off the dust on your library card and scour the catalogue!)