Passivhaus Institut

References

The Passive House Institute (PHI) has been significantly involved in European Union projects within the framework of the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme over the years, including Promotion of European Passive Houses (PEP) and Passive On. PHI is currently heading up PassREg, also funded through the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, and is an active partner in the FP7 funded 3encult project. PHI also acted as a partner in the IEA Task 28, Sustainable Solar Housing, and Task 37, Advanced Housing Renovation.

Passive House Institute's first EU project, CEPHEUS (Cost Efficient Passive Houses as European Standards), supported within the framework of the THERMIE Programme and by the German State of Hesse, saw more than 220 Passive House residential units throughout Europe built and then evaluated.

Since 1996, the Passive House Institute has organised the annual International Passive House Conference, the world’s most significant scientific gathering on Passive House. The event constitutes the central platform for the scientific community with regard to architecture, technologies and product development in the field of highly energy-efficient construction and refurbishment .

In addition to its other work, PHI has carried out the building physics consultancy and scientific monitoring for the first Passive House office buildings (Cölbe near Marburg, Germany), the first Passive House factory (Bensheim near Darmstadt, Germany), the first Passive House schools, the first Passive House swimming pools (Bamberg and Lünen, Germany), and the first Passive House refurbishments (in Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Ludwigshafen, Germany). PHI was also either fully responsible for the scientific evaluation of these projects or played a major role in this respect.

In 2001, Wolfgang Feist, founder and head of the Passive House Institute, was awarded the German Environmental Award by the German Environmental Foundation for his work on the development of the Passive House concept. In 2003, the Gothenburg International Environment Prize was jointly awarded to Wolfgang Feist and Swedish architect Hans Eek for their “pioneering work on Passive Houses which contributes to a great reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels and the emission of carbon dioxide.”