Tom Zeller Jr. has a great piece in the Times on the introduction of the Passive House standard in the United States.  It’s a carefully researched summary of the challenges facing broad adoption of this important standard and well worth your time even if you are familiar with the issues at hand.  It really is a strong piece.  Zeller has done his homework, addresses the issues head on, does so in language lay people can follow without dumbing down the content much, and avoids the snarky “Gee-this-green-stuff-is-just-so-hard” tone that pervades so many pieces on green building in the major media.

It just so happens that our annual conference this week, Urban Green Expo, features a panel on just this subject.  It’s called “The Active State of Passive House” and includes Tomas O’Leary, Founder of the Irish Passive House Academy, who has traveled here specifically for the conference and will outline the lessons he’s learned over 15+ years of implementing the Passive House standard in Ireland.  The panel also features local luminaries in the Passive House community, architect Ken Levenson and engineer David White, as well as Brian Philips, the Philadelphia architect responsible for the “100k” house.  I hope you’ll be there.