Profit by Experience: The Business Case for Passive House
The 2026 conference is titled “Profit by Experience” for a reason. Passive House is no longer a premium upgrade in search of justification. It is an integral component of business plans that generate value, wealth, and long-term security, and the people writing those plans are gathering at Hotel Marcel on June 4 and 5.
The Business Case session puts owner-developer Bruce Becker of Becker and Becker, Mike Doty of Nuveen Green Capital, and David Komet of Urban Earth in a roundtable conversation. They will walk through how Passive House integrates with capital stacks, pro formas, and user satisfaction and retention strategies, drawing on Hotel Marcel itself and the Texas Pickleball Center as live case studies in development economics.
The Opening Plenary features Bruce Becker telling the full story of Hotel Marcel, from acquiring a vacant Brutalist landmark to operating the first net-zero hotel in the United States, including the financing structure that made it possible.
More Optimization brings BuroHappold and New Energy Works together to discuss how earlier manufacturer engagement and biogenic prefabricated panels reduce schedule and cost risk, two factors that can hit developers the hardest.
Middle Matters is for the architect-developers and builders among us. pHdesign in upstate New York and Collective Carpentry in British Columbia show how taking equity positions and embracing prefabrication unlock a market segment that conventional development struggles with.
The Closing Plenary with OPAL and the Passive House Institute frames the larger argument: once energy use is settled as a fixed constraint rather than an open negotiation, design and capital are freed to deliver value the market currently overlooks. Health, comfort, durability, resilience, and meaning.
These translate to occupancy retention, premium positioning, and increased asset value over the full life of the building.
Forty-plus presentations, an exhibitor expo with the leading manufacturers, building tours, and an after-hours gathering downtown round out two days built for the people writing the next chapter of high-performance development. Come find your edge. passivehousenetwork.org.
