Xcel announces historic incentive package for Passive House rebuilds in the Marshall Fire area

Xcel Energy has announced a tiered incentive package designed to encourage families who were affected by the Marshall Fire in Boulder County Colorado, to consider rebuilding to a higher standard than baseline building code. Those who pursue Passive House certification…

Denver skyline

Denver City Council approves Green Code and lists Passive House certification as compliance path

We are pleased to share some exciting news from our home city — Denver, Colorado. In the City's efforts to push forward its 80x50 Climate Action Plan, and with the goal of Net Zero new construction by 2035, City Council…

Meet the newest Emu class of Passive House trained tradespeople.

We'd like to introduce you to an amazing group of professionals visiting us this week from all over North America for our 4-day course to become PHI Certified Passive House Tradespeople. We're on the last day of class now, gearing…

The results of the Emu Mockup naming competition at our last happy hour

In December, at another one of our rockin' Passive House happy hours, we unveiled a rough prototype of a mockup (which we creatively called "The Box" at the time) to be used as part of the new hands-on workshop curriculum in our classes to become a Certified Passive House Tradesperson. We decided to open up a naming competition for "The Box" to come up with some genius, clever name from the collective pool of intellectual prowess represented by the happy hour attendees.

Colorado’s first generation of PHI Certified Passive House Tradespeople are ready to build!

We're pretty pumped. Our first class of Certified Passive House Tradespeople (CPHTs) has passed their exams and become officially accredited with the international Passive House Institute. Anyone in the Rocky Mountain area looking for local Passive House builders, can check…

What’s an insulation material?

With more and more people talking about building energy efficiency and passive houses, it has become more and more common to hear about insulation. In this article, we explain what an insulation material is, to try and shed some light…

Andrew Michler’s Passive House

During Enrico’s recent visit to Colorado, we finally had the chance to visit Andrew Michler’s passive house.

At about 2.000 m (6.400 ft), in the mountains near Fort Collins, Colorado, this building is capable of remaining comfortable even in case of a power outage, with an interior temperature of about 18°C (64°F) with no heating.

Colorado: our work ties become permanent

With Mariana currently involved full time with Natural Capitalism Solutions and AE Building Systems, our professional ties with Colorado are now solid.

This allows us to have experience in highly efficient buildings on both sides of the Atlantic, with some initial interesting considerations.

Discovering Colorado, the cradle of passive houses

A few weeks ago, for professional reasons we visited Denver, Boulder, Aspen and surrounding areas, in Colorado. At the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in the hearth of the United States, this region saw some of the very first passive…

View of the Rocky Mountain Institute

Our visit to the Rocky Mountain Institute

During our recent trip to Colorado, we had the chance to visit the Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, founded in 1982 by Amory Lovins as a research institute in matters such as sustainability, energy, and efficient use of resources.

The original headquarters of the Institute, that has now become Lovins’ residence, is one of the first passive buildings ever built in the world.