Our Year in Review | 2024
The Passive House Network has seen some incredible growth in the last year. With the list of training incentives and building incentives growing longer, it’s no wonder why Passive House is on the move as states and jurisdictions across the country recognize Passive House as the standard for safety, comfort, and efficiency. This year, we broke records in the number of students we trained to become CPHDs.We held countless online events, expanded our course catalog, and broadened our community. We reaffirmed the importance of creating safe, comfortable, climate resilient spaces to live and work in. And we couldn’t do it without you! So, before we kick off our plans for 2025 and beyond, let’s celebrate all we’ve accomplished this year.
2024 by the Numbers
- 1 Annual Member Update
- 2 Symposiums (Schools and Electrification)
- 3 New Board Members
- 4 New Briefs (What’s Next?, Scope of Services, Chapter Action Guide, Building a Passive House Movement)
- 5 PHN Presents events
- 9 Chapters (including the brand new Passive House Gulf Coast)
- 25 Open Days Locations with hundreds of visitors during the June Open Days
- 220 CPHD Students
- 224 enrollments in our Specialized Courses across 12 topics
- 390 Total PHN (& iPHA) Members
- 660 lbs of Ice left in the Passive House box at the end of the Ice Box Challenge
- 2 Million + Square feet of Passive House certified in the United States
Off to the Races
2024 started with a bang as we kicked off our largest CPHD cohort yet. Across the country, students hit the books and ran the numbers, setting the tone for a studious year. We didn’t take a break, even on Valentine’s Day, when we talked Multifamily Ventilation Duct Leakage with an expert panel (because, as we all know, a well-functioning building is a recipe for romance). Yale Climate Connections highlighted how Passive House delivers on its promises while Passive House Accelerator debuted their first Reimagine Buildings event, a 24-hour celebration of Passive House in our built environment. PHN members in Pennsylvania and New Jersey gathered to watch the virtual event in person and connect over their hopes for better buildings in our future.
Passive House in View
As Winter turned to Spring, PHN released our first brief of the year, the Building Certifier Scope of Services, providing a useful guide to the range of possible services that a Certifier can provide, in collaboration with the North American Certifiers Circle. We also learned what Executive Director Ken Levenson really thought about Showtime’s limited series The Curse. When he wasn’t puzzling over Emma Stone’s casting, he was checking on the differences between HERS and Passive House, asking: Are we measuring the same thing? Architectural Record gave us an inside look of Winthrop Center, the largest Passive House office building in the world. One of the highlights of the year was spent in Innsbruck, Austria, where we met old friends and new during the International Passive House Conference.
Keeping it Cool
We handed out some homework with our Summer Reading List, but don’t worry if you didn’t finish the books, because Lloyd Alter joined us to talk about The Story of Upfront Carbon. We published two briefs for our members on actions that will build Passive House momentum in your community, and held our first ever Annual Member Meeting. The day after, Passive House enthusiasts like you opened your doors and invited the world in for a tour during the International Passive House Open Days. We celebrated the completion of Sendero Verde, the largest Certified Passive House Building in the US. Our marketing campaign was profiled by Lloyd Alter in his newsletter, Carbon Upfront!. Then, we watched the Olympics (and shared some thoughts on the athlete dorms) while Passive House Minnesota held the Ice Box Challenge at the Minnesota State Fair (with incredible results!).
We also held not one, but two Passive House Symposiums filled with engaging panels and actionable information. Our Symposium on Schools highlighted effective building strategies from preschools to universities, while our symposium on Building Electrification showed how electrification leveraged by Passive House performance lowers the burden on utilities and preserves affordability, improving outcomes in equitable grid resilience.
The Ice Box Challenge at the Minnesota State Fair
Courting Quality
In the Fall, we welcomed a new PHN Chapter, Passive House Gulf Coast. We also welcomed three new Board Members, Bruce Becker, Carlos Cardoso, and Lindsay Schack. The Hotel Marcel, an all-electric Passive House retrofit, was profiled in a video by CBS Mornings. We learned about a Passive House Pickleball Court that’s under construction in San Antonio, Texas, and launched our new interview series, Across the Network. We also joined BlueSky! Soon, we’ll talk to Mike Eliason about his new book, Building for People, to learn how ecodistricts can create highly livable places with a low carbon impact. And as the cherry on top–we ran down a list of reasons on why we’re certain Passive House is going to spread even further in 2025.
Coming Soon
We’re excited to bring you even more opportunities to learn and connect in 2025. Stay tuned for news on:
- 4 more CPHD cohorts (all with the opportunity to refer-a-PHriend!)
- A New Specialized Course every month
- Passive House Northeast
- Specialized Briefs on a variety of topics
- More Passive House Symposiums
It’s been a great year, and we’re looking forward to what comes next. We can’t do any of this without you and your support. Every time you refer someone to our CPHD courses, attend a Chapter Meeting, or share our content on social media, you help us bring Passive House into the spotlight. From all of us at PHN, thanks for all you do! We’re wishing you a wonderful Holiday Season.
