From Fires to Floods:
Retrofits and our Climate Emergency in Mind

This week, we’ve been thinking a lot about how to respond to our ongoing climate emergency. As firefighters battle to contain the fire consuming Maui, we’re looking back to Passive House expert Monte Paulsen’s explanation of the cascading effects of climate change that led to the 2021 Pacific Northwest floods and how retrofits can help.

More importantly, we’re looking at the ways that communities can rebuild for a more stable future, especially with retrofits. EnerPHit offers a comprehensive step-by-step approach to avoid locking-in low performance, delivering buildings that fully leverage building performance and provide effective shelters. Follow along with Paulsen as he describes the policies, past missteps, and the view toward long-term planning for high-performance retrofits. Learn about the application of the EnerPHit standard and stepwise process to single-family and multifamily building examples.