The Passive House in the Woods is steadily growing, and it’s wearing a skirt these days The photo shows the Southwest corner. The ICF walls are complete up to the top of the second floor. The roof is scheduled for next week. In the meanwhile, the garage is also coming out of the ground—just to the North of the house.

We are tracking the progress more closely on the house’s own website. This page also holds information on the team members that assisted with the design and construction. So head on over if you like and follow this unique project. It’s also on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/phitw

I’ll be lecturing on Passive House at the U of M again this year. Jim Lutz was kind enough to invite me back to the architecture and ecology class. The lecture will be held on Tuesday, April 6 – 11.15 to 12.30, in Rapson 100 at the School of Architecture.

University of Minnesota – Rapson Hall
89 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Directions

I’ll be talking about Passive House and Deep Energy Reduction Retrofit at the Duluth Energy Design Conference on Wednesday, 2/24/2010

The Passive House talk starts at 10.30, the Deep Energy Reduction Retrofit talk at 1.00 pm.

Duluth Energy Design Conference & Expo

Duluth Entertainment &  Convention Center
Click on this link to contact the organizers about attending the event.

I’ll be speaking about and taking questions regarding Passive House and Deep Energy Reduction Retrofit at this month’s Building Enclosure Council meeting.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, 2/9/2010 from 4-6 pm.

For more info on the BEC, please visit their page: Building Enclosure Council – Minnesota Meeting

This is the venue:

AIA Minnesota
Board Room
International Market Square, Suite 54
275 Market Street
Minneapolis, MNMN 55405
Phone 612.338.6763

Passive House Minnesota now has a website. Albeit with minimal content, but it’s there. We hope to expand on it in the near future with content from our first meeting this month. Going forward, this will be the place for information regarding Passive House in our region.

Passive House Minnesota, a strong lobby for a strong concept

The Passive House in the Woods blog is now online. We’ll still tweak it a bit and naturally add content as we move forward. In the future, however, there is now one place where you can check on updates regarding the project.

www.passivehouseinthewoods.com

Sprout was kind enough to list us on their website. Their offer: “Connect to cool local places where you can buy and play in a sustainable way—and save while you’re at it.” Check them out at sprout.mn

Passive House Minnesota Meeting
December 9, 2009 rescheduled due to weather, now 1/20/2009
AIA Minnesota, International Market Square, Minneapolis
We’ll be meeting in suite 512 on the 5th floor, NOT in the AIA office.

AGENDA

• 11.30 General introduction to the Passive House building energy standard (attendance optional)
• 12:00 Break (Damicos is located in the courtyard of IMS)
• 12.15 Welcome, general introductions, and introduction of the Passive House Alliance (PHA)
• 12.30 Introduction of the Passive House Minnesota chapter: Goals, membership, target audience, and benefits
• 12.45 Introduction of a potential committee structure for the chapter
• 1.00 General Discussion
• 1.30 Meeting schedule and agenda items for the next meeting
• 1.45 Adjourn
• Stick around for general networking or small discussion groups.

Please contact us if you would like to be invited to this meeting: info@passivehousemn.org

Excavation has officially begun at the site. This image was taken on day 1 of construction. www.PassiveHouseinTheWoods.com

It’s been almost a year since we started work on the Passive House in the Woods. It’s about time that it makes an appearance on the blog. So without further ado, here is an image and a description.

The Passive House in the Woods is a 1,900 square foot two-story single family home with walk-out basement level, and a rooftop terrace. It sits on just over one acre in the Town of Hudson, WI—minutes from interstate 94. Located on the outer edge of a residential development, the home overlooks the St. Croix river valley. The building lot provides stunning views Read the rest of this entry »

I recently edited this article and thought it’d be a good idea to put it back on the blog as an entry. This entry is permanently linked on the right hand side under pages.

Passive House is a rigorous, voluntary building energy standard focusing on superior energy efficiency and quality of life at low operating cost.

Passive House is the highest certified building energy standard in the world, with the promise of reducing the total energy consumption of buildings by up to 90%, while providing superior comfort and indoor environmental quality. When Read the rest of this entry »

Repost of an article about Passive House on builderonline.com

You are cordially invited to the first Passive House Minnesota meeting.

We are looking to found a local organization to support and promote the Passive House building energy standard. We are looking for planners, designers, engineers, builders, vendors, suppliers, educators, lobbyists, building geeks, and energy conservationists—basically professionals who would like to support and promote the Passive House building energy standard. Join us at the meeting and become a member of a strong lobby for a strong concept.

We’ll be meeting in suite 512 (AIA conference suite) at International Market Square in Minneapolis. (NOT in the AIA office)

AGENDA

• 11.30 General introduction to the Passive House building energy standard (attendance optional)
• 12:00 Break (Damicos is located in the courtyard of IMS)
• 12.15 Welcome, general introductions, and introduction of the Passive House Alliance (PHA)
• 12.30 Introduction of the Passive House Minnesota chapter: Goals, membership, target audience, and benefits
• 12.45 Introduction of a potential committee structure for the chapter
• 1.00 General Discussion
• 1.30 Meeting schedule and agenda items for the next meeting
• 1.45 Adjourn
• Stick around for general networking or small discussion groups.

Please contact us if you would like to partake in this meeting: info@passivehousemn.org

I just finished reading “The Green Tragedy” by Pat Murphy. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Pat at the 2008 and 2009 Passive House conferences. I admire his sensibility for the dilemma we currently face in respect to energy and buildings. IMHO, this book is a great summary of what’s going on in the building industry right now. It’s not all bad, as Pat points out a number of opportunities to make things right. Thumbs up and thanks for your work, Pat!

The Passive House Standard: What it is and Why it Matters
Converge Emerge, 75th Annual AIA Minnesota Convention & Exposition

November 11, 2009;  Time: 8.30AM
2009 AIA-MN Convention

Minneapolis Convention Center, Room 211B

I will be giving this lecture with Stephan Tanner. You can find him at http://www.theperfectbuilding.com/