On Passivehouse and the Future
Last week the North North American Passivehouse Network Conference concluded after 6 weeks of online sessions. Through the past few weeks, I continued to witness an array of discussions and presentations ranging from technical to experiential.
A lot of anecdotes and facts were shared at the owners’ roundtable, multiple times the article from Archinect was referenced, which we shared in the previous newsletter. The Archinect article points out that only Passivehouse can deliver the indoor air quality results we need in an energy responsible way, don’t miss this one! Almost all speakers on that discussion from Hudson Companies, Exeter City Living, and Onion Flats were enthusiastic in pointing out the health benefits of building to the Passivehouse standard. Additionally, Patrick McDonald from Onion Flats created a video that talks about the health benefits of living in one of their apartments. They rented 10 more units in the month of getting the video live.
On other news, it was only in January of 2019, a year and a half ago, that Greta Thunberg gave the “Our House is On Fire” speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In the past few months, her words, as well as undoubtedly Larry Fink’s letter from January 2020 regarding Climate Change have finally produced some action from the Forum in what they call The Great Reset, an idea that we have mentioned previously in this newsletter. I found a short podcast that describes the initiative.
The Forum also published a book a few weeks ago. Although something between a series of essays and a scientific paper, it is extremely well written and provides very useful insight on future predictions. The diagram below provides a good consensus, climate action failure at its center and is still thought to be the greatest existential threat to mankind and coming from that source is a great indication that things might be changing.
Source: World Economic Forum, The global risks report, figure IV
What I’m reading
Apple commits to being carbon neutral by 2030, Dezeen
A Review of the Current Net-Zero Energy and Net-Zero Carbon Certification Programs, Building Green
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios designs carbon negative timber office in London, Dezeen
Carbon-Negative, Solar Powered Backyard Office of Our Dreams, Design Milk
New AIA Contracts Reinforce Sustainability Plans, Building Green
Ireland’s largest social and affordable scheme to receive planning permission, Irish Building Magazine
COVID-19: The great reset
by Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret
This book provides insightful analysis on the future after the pandemic is over and the steps we need to collectively take as a society.
