Friday 6 May 2016

Certified Passivhaus Consultant


Passive House Institute sent me a letter saying I passed the exam, and can now call myself a Certified Passive House Consultant. 

Passive House (or Passivhaus) is a standard that ensures buildings provide a comfortable environment, all year, with a very low energy cost. The Passivhaus Institute is based in Darmstadt, Germany. 

There are over a thousand certified Passivhaus consultants and designers in Germany, hundreds in the UK, over a hundred in South Korea, and three of us in Japan.

This qualification means:
  • I can advise house builders and architects on Passive House building, and low-energy building in general. 
  • I can work with builders and architects to calculate the energy performance of a building.
  • I can determine whether a building meets the standard and help apply for Passive House certification.
  • I can calculate the impact of changes in construction details, and estimate the longer-term energy costs. 
  • I should be writing here more regularly!
Here's some free advice: if you are going to make a low-energy building, that should be one of the first decisions you make. Adding low-energy features is a bit like starting to make a boat, and only deciding later that you're going to be using it in water.

Note:
Above it says Passivhaus Berater. I think this is the German word for "consultant" although I am always happy to berate people who build to waste energy!