London UK is the best place in the world for passivhaus!

‘London UK is the best place in the world for passivhaus!‘ says Wolfgang Feist at this years International Passivhaus conference.

Researchers demonstrate that passivhaus works pretty in much every climate, except for some exceptionally cold spots like in Siberia and Greenland, and in the Australian desert.

Wolfgang reported back on the impact of hot and humid climates, or extremely cold climates, and showed that in parts of the world  triple glazing will be appropriate not to keep the heat in but to keep it out (see climate map).

Pos-architecture described the new Austrian embassy in Jakarta which has sensors which close windows which have been left open too long to maintain temperatures, and beautifully designed shading.




Sessions on airtightness detailing for refurbishment were useful, using gypsum plaster to seal cracks in or around timbers for instance - instead of mastic or polyurathane foam, as the gypsum expands as it dries.

There were some inspiring reports on large scale projects, where you can get a feel of how Passivhaus is being taken up widely - for instance detailed report on the passivhaus standard refurbishment of the 50s town hall building in Lune, a small town near Hannover.

AECB /UK contributions were well received. The zero carbon debate has arrived in Germany, and Nick Grant on the ‘expert panel’ ably presented the argument that the whole discussion is a distraction from designing as good as we can buildings.

Overall an exhausting, intensive and absorbing few days.
Fran