Passivhaus: the route to zero carbon?

Recent reports have forecast that we now only have a few years left to reduce emissions enough to avoid a catastrophic rise in global temperatures.  Significantly reducing the emissions of our buildings is vital if the UK is to make a meaningful contribution and would lead by example when many countries are also struggling to understand how to reduce emissions sufficiently. Many cities and regions are moving towards a Zero Carbon goal for new housing to achieve genuine emissions reductions.

Getting to Net Zero: On-demand tutorial series

Explore issues surrounding net-zero, and gain practical illustrations of what it takes to get to net-zero in both operational and embodied carbon. What can be done at the design stage to achieve the biggest impact? This course could change the way you think about buildings.

This popular online series of tutorials consists of 7 pre-recorded modules that can be completed at your leisure, plus a live interactive workshop to answer any burning questions. 

How do we ensure zero carbon targets result in zero emission buildings? 

The report highlights problems such as the performance gap, seasonal energy storage, and limits to deploying renewable energy via the current national grid; It shows that Passivhaus is the only realistic way to achieve Zero Carbon without massive renewable energy expansion coupled with a significant investment in grid capacity. 

Learn more on the role Passivhaus plays in getting to net zero via these free to watch webinar recordings below. Discover why an efficiency first approach is cruicial to mitigate the climate crisis:

90-minute webinar, London Climate Action Week 2020	40-minute webinar, UK Construction Week 2020

Passivhaus Classes

We must transition away from fossil fuels to power the spaces where we live, work and play. In response to this, the Passivhaus Institute created classes based upon a new calculation renewable primary energy (PER) which replaces primary energy (PE). PER takes into consideration renewable generation & storage. The Passivhaus Classes  Classic, Plus or Premium can be achieved depending on the use of renewable energy sources, and are applicable to both new build & retrofit. A selection of certified Plus & Premium projects in the UK can be found here.

Further Information

PHT Primers: Passivhaus as a route to net zero

Getting to Net Zero: on-demand tutorials

Passivhaus: a route to zero carbon - On-demand webinar June 2020

Efficiency First Campaign

Passivhaus Plus & Premium