Stevens Institute of Technology won top honours overall at the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 by designing, building, and operating the most  cost-effective, energy efficient, and attractive solar powered house at the competition. Dubbed ‘Sure House’, the building also meets passive house standards for heating demand and airtightness and features heat recovery ventilation.

There are significant savings to be made with a well designed solar thermal installation, using either flat plate or vacuum tube collectors, and Kingspan Solar has taken a major step towards clarifying exactly how much. The company’s new online calculator quickly works out the cost benefits over time based on a few simple pieces of information about the homeowner’s existing heating system.

A Cork-based manufacturer of passive window sills has recently completed the fabrication of all decorative mouldings for a new 70 bed extension at the prestigious K Club resort in Straffan, Co Kildare.

The University of Nottingham has developed a “novel and easy-to-use test for measuring the airtightness of buildings” in order to help eliminate draughts, improve energy efficiency and reduce heating bills.

The digital versions of all previous issues of Passive House Plus are now freely available online.  The magazine is available in entirety in digital form, while many of the feature articles are also now available in HTML form - or in other words as regular web articles. The digital editions use the Issuu pageflipper software, which was chosen for its functionality, simplicity and the ability for readers to interact with magazine content - for instance by sharing links to articles in the magazine via social media or email, or by clicking links to websites contained in articles and adverts.

International Passive House Association to make presentations at Paris climate talks 

The Tory government's decision to scrap the proposed zero carbon standard for new dwellings might appear to be a kick in the teeth for green building — but could the move present an opportunity for a better  standard to step in?

The upgrade of two social housing blocks in Manchester to the Enerphit standard demonstrates how deep energy retrofit can play a part in turning old, run-down estates into vibrant, comfortable, low energy communities.

This ambitious and complicated project — a partial upgrade, partial rebuild of an old detached property in south Dublin — is on course to achieve the onerous Enerphit standard for retrofit.

This affordable housing scheme in Exeter not only embraces a suite of healthy and natural materials, but it has vindicated the local council’s embrace of the passive house standard, with many of the units requiring no additional heating whatsoever.