International Passive House Association to make presentations at Paris climate talks 

One of the world’s most sustainable buildings stands in Bavaria: as the first of its kind, a mixed residential and commercial project in the town of Kaufbeuren has met the criteria for passive house premium certification. With a heating demand of only 8 kWh/m²yr, it is uniquely energy efficient. At the same time, a 250 sqm photovoltaic system on the roof produces renewable energy.

DVS (Daylight & Ventilation Solutions), rooflight supplier to Point6Projects’ outstanding Oyster Falls House in Devon, which is featured in the new issue of Passive House Plus, will be exhibiting at the 2015 UK Passivhaus Conference at the London Design Centre on Tuesday, October 20th.

Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council has voted emphatically to make the passive house standard mandatory for new buildings. At a meeting on Tuesday night, councillors voted by 26 votes to 13 in support of putting the clause in the local authority’s development plan for 2016 to 2022.

Leading businesses in the building materials sector — including semi-state timber company Coillte and insulation manufacturer Kingspan — have declared their support for plans by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to make the passive house standard mandatory for new buildings.

The Passive House Academy, in association with Saint-Gobain, will run a Passive House Tradesperson course on 21 and 22 October at the Saint-Gobain Technical Academy in Erith, Kent. The course will cover passive house design principles, U-value calculations, thermal bridging and airtightness, insulation materials, passive house glazing, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems, and much more.

Tipperary Energy Agency has announced the launch of its Superhomes pilot project, which is seeking 20 suitable homes anywhere in Ireland to undertake an energy retrofit. The works will be financed by the Better Energy Scheme and run in conjunction with AIB and Electric Ireland.

The thermal performance of the Kingspan Optim-R panel has now been independently verified as it became the first vacuum insulation panel to be granted a BDA Agrément certificate. 

There is a great urgency, as Europe moves closer to the 2020 energy efficiency targets, to develop a skilled workforce that can work together to deliver low-energy projects. One EU initiative, Build Up Skills, has been designed to “stimulate the training of craftspeople and other on-site workers in the building sector on the topics of energy efficiency and renewable energy.”

The winners of the Passivhaus Trust's 2015 UK Passivhaus Awards were announced at a ceremony in London on Wednesday night. The awards aim to celebrate the design and performance of passive house buildings in the UK.