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News
Passive House Plus editor to speak at TEDx
Passive House Plus editor Jeff Colley will be speaking at the TEDx Tralee event on 15 October.
Erne Campus is world’s largest passive house premium building
South West College’s new Erne Campus building in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, is the world’s largest, and the first educational building, to be certified to the passive house premium standard, the Passive House Institute has confirmed.
Passive house turns 30
The passive house standard is celebrating its 30th birthday this year. The world’s first passive houses were built in Darmstadt, Germany in 1991.
Thermal breaks webinar - watch online
On June 8, 2021 Passive House Plus, in association with Farrat, chaired a hugely informative roundtable on thermal breaks. If you missed it, the video can now be viewed online.
Munster Joinery publishes first Irish window EPD
Munster Joinery has published the first environmental product declaration (EPD) for a window under the Irish EPD system.
Ecocem gets €22m investment from Bill Gates's climate fund
Irish low carbon cement company Ecocem has announced €22.5 million in equity investment from Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) and Breakthrough Energy Ventures-Europe (BEV-E), venture capital funds that are part Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy coalition, which seeks to accelerate the global drive towards net zero carbon emissions.
Women in engineering group launched
Engineers Ireland has announced the launch of a new Women in Engineering group.
#BuildingLife: Addressing the environmental impacts of buildings across their life cycle
In the first of our new #BuildingLife ambassador spotlight series, Passive House Plus is profiling leaders who have endorsed the Irish Green Building Council’s call to address the environmental impacts of buildings across their life cycle, starting with Francis-Noel Duffy TD for Dublin South West and Green Party’s spokesperson on housing.
Green loan rate for new HPI-certified housing
Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) has launched a new green loan product offering a discount of up to 0.5 per cent on loans to home builders for developments certified with the Irish Green Building Council's Home Performance Index.
Government announces €45m for social housing retrofit
The government has announced a new €45 million programme of investment in the retrofifit of local authority housing. This includes an initial investment of €35m for the retrofitting of 1,293 homes, plus an additional €10m to be allocated to local authorities who demonstrate an ability to complete additional works this year.
TU Dublin launches timber technology degree
Technological University Dublin has announced the launch of a new four-year degree programme in sustainable timber technology.
Poorly ventilated retrofits can double radon retrofit risk, study finds
Residential retrofits must ensure ventilation is carefully considered in order to avoid an increase in radon gas levels, researchers at NUI Galway in Ireland have found.
Marketplace news
New app for remote control of Nilan Compact P
Nilan has developed a new app that allows users to control their ventilation system and heat pump directly from their mobile phone. The feature now comes as standard on all of the company’s popular Compact P combined heating and ventilation systems.
30-08-2021 Marketplace
Ecological seminar tackles embodied carbon ‘blind spot’
Ecological Building Systems recently hosted a series of thought-provoking presentations on the topic of going beyond NZEB and addressing the carbon blind spot of the construction industry: embodied carbon.
30-08-2021 Marketplace
Ecocel on site with 56 homes in Cork
Irish cellulose insulation manufacturer Ecocel is currently on site completing the installation of its cellulose insulation to a new social housing development in County Cork.
30-08-2021 Marketplace
Wicklow company makes eco-board from food packaging
The construction and demolition sector is among the top waste producing industries in Ireland, generating close to 1.5 million tonnes per year, excluding soil and stone.
30-08-2021 Marketplace
Grant heat pumps at centre of NI energy transition project
Leading heating technology manufacturer Grant will be supporting Ulster University and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) in their RULET – Rural-Led Energy Transition – initiative, aimed at reducing or eliminating the risk of low-income households…
Prodomo offer certified thermal brackets for windows and doors
Sustainable building product supplier Prodomo Ireland is now supplying Triotherm thermal brackets for windows and doors to the Irish market.
Roll out CO2 sensors to slow spread of Covid-19 – NuWave Sensors
There has been growing focus in recent weeks on the use of CO2 monitors to help slow the spread of Covid-19, after the government announced at the end of May that it…
Exhaust air heat pumps prove ideal for social housing — Unipipe
Leading renewable heating supplier Unipipe says there has been a large increase in demand for exhaust air heat pumps for new local authority housing schemes.
Tarimatec eco decking & finishes now available in Ireland
Avantgard Agents, a leading supplier of porcelain and ceramics, is the new Irish agent for the Tarimatec range of sustainable decking, cladding and internal finishes.
Beam launch new app for easy heat recovery control
The new Beam VentSmart app for the Axco Counterflow range of MVHR units is now available. Beam said that the app has been designed to make control of its heat…
Heat pump range driving growth for Grant
For over 40 years, Grant Engineering has operated at the forefront of the heating industry in Ireland through its design and manufacture of innovative heating solutions.
Krinner ground screws come to Ireland
Leading Irish heating supplier Unipipe is now supplying Krinner ground screws to the Irish market through its subsidiary company, Ground Screws Ireland.
Lidan completes modular buildings for local authorities
Leading offsite timber construction specialist Lidan Designs recently completed a number of modular, low embodied carbon, nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs) for public authorities.
Forbo joins World Green Building Council corporate advisory board
Forbo Flooring Systems has joined the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) corporate advisory board.
Partel launches new Euroclass A2 fire-rated vapour control system
Partel’s newly launched Euroclass A2 Izoperm Plus vapour control system, designed for internal applications in energy efficient buildings, has become the first fire-rated solution in this class developed in Ireland.
Cem-Rock offers best-in-class fire & eco credentials - Greenspan
Leading Limerick and Birmingham-based sustainable building product supplier Greenspan has added a floor substructure board to its Cem-Rock range of magnesium oxide (MgO) sheathing boards.
Munster Joinery publishes first Irish window EPD
Munster Joinery has published the first environmental product declaration (EPD) for a window under the Irish EPD system.
Xtratherm announce agreement in principle to acquire Ballytherm’s operations in Ireland and the UK
Leading insulation manufacturer Xtratherm has announced the signing of an agreement in principle to purchase Ballytherm’s operations in Ireland and the UK.
Prestige Aluclad supplying passive Viking windows nationwide
Prestige Aluclad is the new brand name in Ireland for Viking Windows, the supplier of passive house and low energy timber and aluminium-clad windows from Estonian manufacturer Viking.
Daikin streamer technology inactivates 99.9% of SARS-CoV-2
New research has confirmed the effectiveness of Daikin’s patented streamer technology, which successfully inactivated more than 99.9 per cent of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19, after irradiating the virus…
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Blogs
Measuring humidity, the old school way
A chance purchase on eBay leads buildings physics expert Toby Cambray to admire the aesthetics and mechanics of old scientific instruments.
Shooting the moon
The concept of building back better and greener, popular early in the pandemic, is now in danger of being abandoned in the rush to return to ‘normal’ — but we always have the power to shape what normal is, writes Dr Peter Rickaby.
1970s Arkansas & Illinois prototypes: progress towards passive house
In his latest column, Dr Marc O’Riain looks back at two American prototypes for the passive house standard that embraced heat pump technology as well as principles of superinsulation and airtightness.
Is Enerphit the key to decarbonising existing homes?
With increasing attention turning to cutting carbon emissions from existing homes to meet carbon reduction targets, Duncan Smith, housing asset and energy strategy manager at Renfrewshire County Council in Scotland, argues that approaches which improve comfort and dramatically reduce energy bills must be front and centre.
Planning for passive
It’s time to make the passive house standard a requirement of local development plans across Ireland, says Mel Reynolds.
Do your walls behave like a Jaffa Cake?
Toby Cambray writes on the many lessons that the inimitable biscuit cake can teach us about how building materials deal with moisture.
COP 26 & the future of the Glasgow tenements
Duncan Smith reflects on the social and architectural significance of Glasgow's tenement flats, and their potential place in a zero carbon future, as the city prepares to host COP 26.
Is affordable housing a policy blind spot?
Dublin City Council built just 45 social housing units in 2019. In his latest column, Mel Reynolds analyses the state’s surprising reluctance to build its own homes.
The condensation myth
Condensation within the structure of buildings is a lot more complex than condensation in a sweaty pub on a Friday night, writes building physics expert Toby Cambray.
Will we really build back better?
As governments rush to jump-start their economies, there is a danger that important lessons for how to retrofit homes will be lost in the rush to build. But there is a better way, writes Dr Peter Rickaby.
The world’s first ‘zero energy’ house
Returning to his regular series on the evolution of sustainable building during the 20th century, Dr Marc Ó Riain takes a look at the first serious attempt to build a house with net zero energy use.
The science of filters
How do ventilation filters work, and can they help to protect us against Covid-19? Toby Cambray weighs in on the physics of a subject that is more complex and interesting than you might expect.
The PH+ guides
The PH+ guide to insulating foundations
While understanding wall and roof insulation is relatively straightforward, insulation under the ground floor can be a bit of a mystery by comparison. Not only is it buried in the ground, but there are notoriously tricky spots like the wall-floor junction that need to be detailed and insulated properly. And the design of your foundation often depends on site conditions and the type of structure you’re going to build, too. In this guide, we explain some different ways of insulating one of the most challenging parts of the building envelope.
10-06-2019 Guides
The PH+ guide to external insulation
In the first in a new series of technical articles on some of the key technologies in sustainable building, John Hearne makes the case for wrapping buildings in an external insulation layer, and describes some of the main issues to watch out for.
07-02-2018 Guides
The PH+ guide to airtightness
Once poorly understood by the mainstream building industry, airtightness is now increasingly seen as one of the most crucial objectives on any building project. Not only is it vital for energy efficiency, it’s also key for thermal comfort and for protecting a building’s structure from dampness and mould. In this comprehensive guide to airtightness, we look at why it’s so important, how exactly it’s measured, and most importantly, how to achieve it on site.
04-02-2019 Guides
The PH+ guide to overheating
As awareness of the urgency of the climate crisis grows, efforts to kickstart en masse deep energy efficiency interventions are gathering apace. But poorly conceived low energy building efforts can lead to unintended consequences including overheating – a risk that’s bound to grow as the world warms up. Phi Architecture co-founder Claire Jamieson details the risks and offers some solutions on how to create low energy buildings that are comfortable in summer and winter.
09-04-2021 Guides
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