New tool to ease certification of smaller passive schemes
Passive house certification for smaller
scale projects just got substantially
simpler – thanks to a new software tool
launched by the Passive House Institute.
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MgO boards to disrupt construction industry, report claims
Magnesium oxide (MgO) boards are poised
to “disrupt” the construction industry,
a new white paper has claimed – meaning
products like Cem-Rock from Limerickbased
supplier Greenspan may be poised for
widespread adoption.
Hot topic
The penny has yet to drop for many clients and designers about the risks posed by overheating in
an Irish context. With the climate hotting up and building design typically uninformed by feedback
on actual performance, is the industry heading for a hot mess, asks Dr Shane Colclough?
POLL: UK public detached from net zero goals
A survey of 1,500 UK homeowners by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) – a cross-party think tank – has revealed government failure to make people feel confident in taking steps for the net zero transition, jeopardising its success.
Wales unveils net zero pattern book
Wales’s devolved government has moved forward with plans
to standardise sustainable, timber-based affordable homes
in the country with the publication of a new pattern book.
Scotland to accept passive house as regs compliant
Certified passive house to be alternative means of compliance to proposed Scottish passive house equivalent.
Green homes key to climate and housing crises and rebuilding Ukraine
The Smarter Finance for EU consortium, which is aiming to unlock €100bn worth of green homes across Europe, announced the launch of a European centre of excellence to promote green home certification and investment across Europe at the Irish Green Building Council’s annual residential conference in Dublin.
Green shoots for green building
While tokenistic or poorly conceived attempts at supporting the decarbonisation and greening of buildings still abound in the finance sector, there are signs of structural changes on the horizon - changes designed to unlock widespread change. But do those changes go far enough?
Pathway to passive or road to ruin?
As governments come under increasing pressure to make real and significant reductions in energy use and carbon emissions while tackling energy poverty, interest in passive house has never been higher. But short of expecting regulators to commit to certified passive house, is there a way of adopting the key principles that make passive house work?
By Nick Grant and Peter Wilkinson
Living proof
Sometimes a building comes along that does almost too much. Passive house stalwarts Kirsty Maguire Architects’ latest opus is an award-winning architectural, engineering, and sustainability feat – which asks questions not just about how we build, but how we live.
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Ace of Herts
Fancy owning an energy positive, timber-based passive house in one of the most desirable locations in England, without the hassle of having to build it yourself? A new three-house development nearing completion in Hertfordshire may be just the ticket.
In defense of fabric
As the grid gets greener and the case for heat pumps as a decarbonisation silver bullet becomes
increasingly compelling, questions are starting to be asked about how far we need to go with retrofitting
building fabric – or whether we need improve fabric at all. We ignore fabric at our peril, warns Toby Cambray.
Out of the blue - a passive revolution
Near the peak of the Celtic Tiger – at a time when developers
were throwing up often sub-standard homes at a record pace,
one self-build project pointed to a different approach,
writes Dr Marc Ó Riain.
Lung disease patient: Zehnder MVHR “the best thing I’ve ever had”
A Scottish lung disease patient has credited a Zehnder heat recovery
ventilation system with causing such a significant improvement in
his respiratory health that he’s been taken off a lung transplant list.