The first delivery of the QualiBuild Foundation Energy Skills training will start later this month, and the course is open to all building construction workers to apply.

Highway Wholesalers, the Waterford-based supplier of kitchen, bathroom and water treatment appliances, will have the Recoup wastewater heat recovery system on display at the Energy Show in Dublin next week.

Last week, the German-Irish Chamber of Commerce showcased five Irish low energy building projects that incorporated German energy effiiciency technology. The projects include a certified passive house, a radiant heating ceiling system, and two CHP units. 

Following a successful World Green Building Week series of seminars and demonstrations in September, Ecological Building Systems has announced a series of new training courses and seminars. 

The Passive House Association of Ireland has announced its inaugural all-Ireland design charrette, in UCD on 5 and 6 November, in advance of its annual conference which takes place on 7 November in UCD.

Advantage Austria is to host a CPD-oriented presentation and networking event on passive house and low carbon building in Edinburgh on 2 October.

The district of Bahnstadt, Heidelberg in south-west Germany picked up the 2014 Passive House Award in the "regions" category at this year's International Passive House Conference. 

The winners of this year’s UK Passivhaus Trust awards have been announced. The awards recognise the best passive-certified building projects in the UK.

Sustainable building pioneers The Green Register will run a new half-day seminar in London on 27 June 2014 entitled ‘Achieving energy efficiency and preserving historic buildings - surely too good to be true?’

The number of certified passive house designers and consultants has passed the 4,000 mark globally, after the latest round of exams were held in more than 30 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. 

The UK’s Passivhaus Trust has announced the finalists for its 2014 Passivhaus Awards, which are sponsored by Saint-Gobain.

Climate science and building science are set to intersect at a passive house conference in New York on 17 June.

Building with an eye to energy efficiency is not only cost-effective, it can also augment architectural design. This has been proven by the winners of the 2014 Passive House Award. Six buildings and one region were recognised today at the opening of the International Passive House Conference in Aachen: an apartment block in Berlin; a New York retrofit; a seminar building in Goesan, South Korea; an art museum in Ravensburg, Germany; a building complex in Espoo, Finland; a terraced house in Philadelphia; and an entire passive house district in Heidelberg.

Last week's Better Building conference in Dublin heard from experts speaker on the present and future of the construction industry in Ireland. Topics at this year’s conference pushed the building industry to think beyond energy efficiency and consider full life cycle costs of materials, transportation issues, and living buildings.

The Better Building Conference returns for a 3rd year on 9 April at Croke Park Dublin with a genuinely exciting line up of inspiring case studies of future innovations and essential information on the new building control regulations. This full day conference is packed with presentations and panel discussions in three parallel streams and has plenty of important networking opportunities. Don't miss out on what has genuinely become one of the key events in Ireland's construction calendar. Click here to view the full programme, and click here to register now.

The Passive House Institute has announced the finalists for this year’s Passive House Award. The winners, across six categories, will be announced on 25 April at the International Passive House Conference in Aachen, Germany.

The UK’s Passivhaus Trust will hold a conference on large scale passive house developments on 30 April in Glasgow.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland Energy Show 2014 takes place at the RDS in Dublin on 12 and 13 March.

Low energy design specialists Accredited Passivhaus Design (APD) are promoting the design of affordable housing to the passive house standard at Ecobuild from 4 to 6 March. According to APD, the passive house approach can reduce rent arrears while reducing the need for off-site allowable solutions as part of compliance with the UK's zero-carbon homes target in 2016. Part of the UK government's proposal for zero carbon homes, allowable solutions permits the counting of carbon credits as a carbon reduction strategy for buildings.

Leading passive house and low energy glazing brand Optiwin has announced that it is looking for small to medium sized manufacturing partners in the UK via Berkana Green, its exclusive licenced sales agent for England, Scotland and Wales.