Passive House Advocacy Resources

Join us in Building A Better World

No one can move a mountain alone. We invite you to join us in advocating for change through education, certification, and community building. Speak to your neighbors, co-workers, elected officials, and your local social equity and sustainability allies.

We can realize comfortable, affordable, healthy buildings and create all-electric Passive House buildings that support our renewable-energy future, benefiting everyone. With your help, we can make it happen! Here are some resources to help you get started.

Safe at Home: How all-electric, multi-family Passive House buildings deliver comfortable, cost-effective climate resilience: This report provides new cost analysis showing all-electric multi-family Passive House projects can be built at the same cost or close to the same cost as conventionally designed buildings.

Go to Safe at Home.

Policy That Works: An investigation into policies driving Passive House adoption in North America: A comprehensive study to identify what, where and how Passive House policies were being implemented across North America. Not only did we want to understand the drivers behind these policies, but we wanted to determine which policies were more successful and why.
Download the report.

Stepping Up to Passive: Policies We Want: A brief guide that clarifies best practices in implementing Passive House building codes, ensuring that market confidence, professional competence, and a robust product supply chain are all in place ahead of the eventual transformation of baseline codes. These four steps will ensure a smooth transition to the policies we want.

Download the report.

There’s more. See the full collection of PHN reports, as well as reports from our allies, related to Passive House building standards, public policy, regulations, and industry transformation. Check back regularly as new items are added often.

See more reports.

 

Getting Political: Lessons From Building Performance Policy Battles in Minneapolis

The Minneapolis City Council appeared on the path to institute policies to encourage Passive House buildings, but an abrupt turn left Passive House advocates scrambling. Passive House Minnesota sounded the call, then local, regional and national voices helped galvanize support. Learn about the rough-and-tumble intersection of local politics and global policy objectives from Time Eian, Principal at TE Studio. You can also find the ten lessons he shares on our blog.

Sample Building Codes

Showing policymakers examples of Passive House codes in other jurisdictions is key to driving code adoption. Read through examples of adopted codes in the states of Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, and the city of Denver, Colorado, to find models of policy language leading towards the transformation of baseline codes. Read the Codes

When it comes to drafting a plan to achieve these codes, our friends at Climate Action California have put together a two-step legislative agenda for accelerating high-performance green building standards in California, which is a useful resource for anyone looking to do the same in another jurisdiction. Read more about their plan here.