The Certified Passive House Designer/Consultant (CPHD/C) course is the premier Passive House professional training, taught in US (IP) units. It’s backed by over 30 years of the Passive House Institute’s (PHI) global technical leadership and scientific research, since the first Passive House was built in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1991. The course teaches you to design buildings that stay comfortable and healthy while using very little energy, and prepares you for PHI’s exam. It’s for architects, engineers, energy consultants, developers, policymakers, and others who shape buildings.

PHI seal: Certified Passive House DesignerPHI seal: Certified Passive House Consultant

On this page: How the course works · What’s included · The exam · Paying for it · Other ways to take it · Good to know · From our students · After the course

Winter 2027 cohorts

$1,950, with the PHI exam, PHPP, the course book, and a year of PHN membership included. Atlantic and Pacific cohorts.

Registration opens in November. To hear when it does, sign up for our newsletter or email training@passivehousenetwork.org.

How the course works

The course is a hybrid: on-demand lessons you work through at your own pace, with live online sessions alongside. You can start the lessons as soon as you register.

  • Regional cohorts. Atlantic, for Eastern and Central time, and Pacific, for Mountain and Pacific time, so the live sessions fall in your working day.
  • About eight weeks of lessons, then four to five weeks of exam preparation.
  • Live sessions: two review sessions with your instructors and two question-and-answer sessions with practitioners. They’re recorded, so you can watch later if you miss one.
  • A target exam date for each student, with a technical setup session about a week before it.

Some students follow the cohort schedule closely; others work ahead on their own and join the live sessions when they can. Either way, you’re working toward a set exam date.

What’s included

  • 35 AIA LU/HSW.
  • The PHI exam: registration, exam preparation, and practice exams.
  • PHPP, the Passive House Planning Package: a license and the manual, with training in using it.
  • PHN’s CPHD/C course book.
  • A year of PHN membership, which includes iPHA membership.

The exam

PHI’s exam is taken online on PHI’s exam platform, at home or in a classroom, supervised by video. Pass it and PHI certifies you as a Passive House Designer or a Passive House Consultant (which one).

Already prepared? The exam alone is $550.

Paying for it

The course is $1,950. Several ways to pay less:

  • PHN members take 10% off.
  • PHN discounts: $250 off for students, educators, veterans, seniors, nonprofit and public employees, and others. One discount per student.
  • Group enrollment: 10% off for two people from one firm, 15% for three, 20% for four, and 25% for five or more.
  • The PHN Passive House Education Fellowship: 50% off, including the exam and a year of membership, for BIPOC architects and engineers, or recent college graduates, committed to sustainable building.
  • State, city, and utility programs pay part or all of the fee in several states.
  • Pay over time with Klarna, offered at checkout, subject to Klarna’s approval.

Who qualifies, what to send, and every program: training financial incentives.

Other ways to take it

  • For your firm or organization: live online or in person, scheduled for your team. Email training@passivehousenetwork.org.
  • In person: we teach the course as a one-week intensive in New York; ask about upcoming dates.
  • Through a university: taught over a semester at City College of New York, Pratt Institute, and Drexel University.

Good to know

  • Designer or Consultant? The two titles stand for the same Passive House expertise. PHI awards Designer to those whose education qualifies them to plan buildings or building systems on their own responsibility: a bachelor’s or master’s degree, or a master craftsman’s certificate, in a subject mainly about planning buildings, or membership in a body whose members may submit plans for approval, such as a chamber of architects. Custom home builders who take responsibility for the design of the homes they build can qualify as Designers too. Everyone else who passes is certified as a Consultant, with no further proof needed. We write the two together as CPHD/C. Not sure which applies to you? Ask us. PHI’s regulations, section 7; PHI’s examples of each.
  • Credit: to earn the AIA credit, complete every lesson, topic, and quiz. For live multi-day courses, miss no more than two hours.
  • What you need: a computer with a good internet connection and audio. A camera is optional for live sessions, but welcome.
  • Transfers, cancellations, and refunds: our policy.
  • Questions? Join our training office hours, held quarterly, or email training@passivehousenetwork.org.

From our students

“Fantastic. Deep learning. It really re-aligned my design world view.”

Matt Hutchins, architect

“The course materials were very well organized & easy to follow, and the instructors were excellent.”

Juhani Kelvin, architect

After the course

Questions about the course: training@passivehousenetwork.org.

Checked October 2026.