GREEN BUILDINGS COMMITTEE

Passive House Campaign

A campaign launches to elevate Passive House standards in California.

July 9, 2024

Passive House is a way of designing and constructing buildings (not just houses) that  are more comfortable and use significantly less energy for space heating or cooling compared to buildings built just to meet California’s energy code. Increasing the use of Passive House design principles, which have a long history in Europe and are becoming more popular in the United States, would help us reach 100% renewable energy by reducing demand on the electric grid.

Right now, Passive House is a voluntary certification standard for buildings, similar to LEED. So if a builder in California wants to pursue Passive House certification, they need to do two sets of documentation, one for Passive House and one for California’s energy code.

Climate Action California, an ally of LA Climate Reality, has launched a campaign to pass streamlining legislation that would elevate Passive House standards as an alternative pathway in California, allowing builders to submit the same documentation for California’s energy code and Passive House certification. This would also help promote Passive House and could make it easier for cities to include Passive House standards in reach codes. You can watch a recent webinar about Passive House and the campaign here.

- Michael Rochmes
Chair, Green Buildings Committee

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