Change habits to tackle climate change, passive house conference hears

This article was originally published in issue 21 of Passive House Plus magazine. Want immediate access to all back issues and exclusive extra content? Click here to subscribe for as little as €10, or click here to receive the next issue free of charge

“We have to manage with just this planet,” Passive House Institute founder Professor Wolfgang Feist told the conference, which was attended by more than 1,000 participants from over 50 countries. “The passive house standard is affordable and feasible for everyone, you just have to use your head a little bit,” he also said.

Meanwhile Günter Liebel of the Austrian Ministry of the Environment told delegates: “The technology for energy efficient construction is already there, now it is all about implementing it in practice and building cleverly.” He also emphasised the need for a dialogue on low energy building and refurbishment with those in traditional fossil fuel sectors.

Scott Foster, an expert on sustainable energy with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, also echoed the need for humanity to change its habits. “We must break through this system which is designed to produce and deliver more and more energy,” he said.

The conference also heard more than 100 presentations from speakers from over 50 countries, including a lecture on the Tochoji passive house temple in Tokyo and a presentation on a mobile passive house with 40 sqm of living space, produced by a 3D printer. Meanwhile, the topics of the 16 working groups included the passive house standard and renewable energy, passive high-rise buildings, passive house retrofit, and other exemplary international projects.

Participants also took part in eight excursions to passive house projects around Vienna, which is one of the world’s leading cities for passive house construction, with high-rises, hotels, large multi-storey buildings and student dorms built to the standard.

It was also announced that next year’s International Passive house Conference will take place in Munich on 9 and 10 March.