“Gritty, determined, stubborn optimism”
A couple of weeks ago the International Passivehouse Online Conference concluded a very successful series of sessions ranging from technical to discussing policies. Starting on October 26 PHIUS is holding 5 daily hootenanies, and this will certainly be a very interesting set of events.
I tend to mention Passivehouse on almost all my posts, and this is because I truly believe on the beauty of the simplicity of the standard. I was recently thinking of writing a more extensive post regarding the benefits of building to the Passivehouse standard on two specific topics that have recently become central to our thinking, forest fires and indoor air quality and COVID mitigation measures in indoor spaces. Thankfully LLoyd Alter from the Treehugger wrote a great post outlining those issues. A rather cynical but realistic response came from one of the comments, that in order to actually start building high performance buildings we need to legislate them, which I fully agree.
I recently came across the TED Radio hour episode on the Climate Mindset. One of the things that stuck to me is a quote by Cristiana Figueres who other than being highly responsible for the success of the Paris Climate agreement, coauthored the book titled The future we choose. When asked about where she finds the strength to keep fighting for the climate, she mentioned gritty, determined, stubborn optimism.
"Are we screwed” was the opening question of the How to Save a Planet podcast that recently launched as well. The answer is that it is collectively up to us. What Jeremy Rifkin mentions on his book the Green New Deal is that it takes work to reach to a tipping point in any new technology or mindset, but once humanity reaches there, rapid growth sparks. The authors of the Future we Choose as well as COVID-19: The Great Reset seem to believe that we are at this tipping point.
A call to action came from HM the Prince of Wales at the opening ceremony for the New York Climate Week on September 27th. A thoughtful warning came from Laura Nettleton on Passivehouse Accelerator that we have reached a point where we need to change behavior, and as architects we can no longer keep building the same way we have been in the past. The technology and the knowledge is here and all we have to do is work harder and be more thoughtful in our design process.
What I’m reading
How Do You Sell a 'High-Performance Home'?, Treehugger
Climate change: it’s not a technology problem… it’s a behavior problem, Passivehouse Accelerator
To Address the Climate Crisis We Must Incentivize Passive House Buildings, The Urbanist
New State And City-Led Measures Are Promoting Building Electrification, Forbes
The luxury air business is booming — as many Californians struggle to breathe, Los Angeles Times
Keeping the smoke out, Renew
