From December 2024, all new housing in Scotland will be built to the highest energy efficiency standards: a Scottish Passivhaus equivalent. Right now, no one knows exactly what that means.
The Passive House style is a “pragmatic combination” of applied building science and economics
Photo: Handel Architects
December 18, 2020
Buildings consume up to 40 per cent of global energy use and contribute up to 30 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions the ‘passivhaus’ style could be the solution.
Originally developed in Germany, highly energy efficient buildings, using up to 90 per cent less energy than traditional houses, are being considered the “building standard of tomorrow,” according to Passive House Canada. In May 1988, Wolfgang Feist and Bo Adamson asked themselves how buildings could be designed in a more sustainable, energy efficient way. Drawing on this research and with the help of architects Bott and Ridder, Feist went on to build the first Passive House, completed in Darmstadt, Germany in 1991.