Not only is this home in Sante Fe, New Mexico a certified passive house, but architects MoSA say it cost 6.5% less to build than a conventional dwelling in the area too.

In this dispatch, Darragh McKiernan, a graduate of Sustainable Energy at Cork Institute of Technology, reflects on a two-week visit to south Germany to study energy-efficient building.

This from the Passive House Institute:
  
This year's Passive House Pioneer Award for groundbreaking achievements in the field of energy-efficient construction will go to the Zero-Energy House in Copenhagen, built in the 1970s under the guidance of the late professor Vagn Korsgaard (1921 – 2012).

In this in-depth post, Jurgen Huber details the story behind his energy efficient 'Bauhaus Barge' 

Designed to connect readers involved in sustainable building projects with advertisers offering sustainable solutions, the Passive House Plus enquiry system also provides a fascinating glimpse of sustainable building activity in the UK and Ireland. Editor Jeff Colley analyses the stats from the latest UK enquiries.

Check out this video from NBC News on a "zero carbon" house on the Shetland isle of Unst.

Energy efficiency expert Mark Shirley of 2eva.ie has just completed a whistle stop tour of ISH in Frankfurt, one of the world's largest building industry expos, where he found passive house solutions featuring heavily amonst the heating and ventilation solutions on offer.

We tip our proverbial hats to Cork-based timber frame manufacturer Eco Timber Frame who have posted time-lapse video of one of their recent passive house projects online.

Isover Ireland held their annual Energy Efficiency Awards in Dublin on Friday 1 March in Dublin. The awards recognise low energy renovation and new build projects in both the residential and commercial sectors. Isover award ceremonies are held in individual countries, with national winners going forward to Isover's European Energy Efficiency Awards. At the Dublin ceremony, Isover announced that the 2014 European awards will take place in Ireland.

The Equinox House house near Kavarna, Bulgaria is a passive building that "delicately interacts with natural phenomena on all levels from embracing local views to tracing universal solar motions," according to its designers, Ignatov Architects.

In this moving tribute, Paul Leech of Gaia Ecotecture pays tribute to leading ecological architect Howard Liddell, who passed away last week. 

The worldFLEXhome is a factory-manufactured house constructed from old shipping containers that uses less energy than it produces.

Located in Emigration Canyon above Salt Lake City, Utah, this contemporary family home of 232 square metres was built for a couple with young children, and was designed to maximise views of the canyon.

The passive house standard may be growing in popularity, but the UK could struggle to follow Germany’s lead and build large numbers of passive homes because of its different social, political and financial drivers and general attitudes, according to a report published by the NHBC Foundation.

The new issue of Passive House Plus includes our first ever Brettstapel building, a type of massive timber construction that uses no glues or nails, and that makes use of low grade timber otherwise unsuitable for construction. 

Truly efficient building design starts with sustainable materials, writes SmartPly's George Watson. Truly sustainable materials not only stand the test of time and make a positive contribution to the performance of buildings, he says, but have a low level of embodied energy and can be specified with confidence in their legal, sustainable and health and safety credentials.

MosArt & Passive House Academy co-founder Tomás O’Leary sees great prospects for Ireland’s beleaguered construction sector – if we embrace the passive house approach

Circulation and readership aren’t the same thing, though some people conflate them.

Circulation’s easy to measure – if you’re willing to subject your magazine to the scrutiny of independent auditing – but readership’s another matter. So let’s deal with circulation first.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Dubai's 828 metre Burj Khalifa might soon be overtaken as the world's tallest building. What's more, construction firm Broad Sustainable Building plans to build the 838 metre Sky City tower in Changsha, China in just 90 days.

Who wouldn't love a treehouse to escape to, whatever your age? Seen as a way to combine modern living with design that fits neatly in its landscape, architect-designed treehouses seem to be all the rage right now - whether as secluded escapes or permanent residences.