The Passive House Institute is set to launch details of Passive House Plus and Passive House Premium - two new categories of building certification designed to add microgeneration of energy into the world's leading low energy standard.

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.

Leading green roof and turf specialist, Lindum, will be focussing on pollinators and biodiversity at this year’s Ecobuild exhibition which takes place on March 4-6 at ExCel, London. At the forefront of green roof technology relevant to UK climate conditions, Lindum has developed pre-grown vegetation mats containing mixtures of wildflowers, herbs, perennials and sedums can provide a wonderful flowering display and encourage biodiversity.

Passive house will be represented stronger than ever at this year’s Ecobuild on 4 to 6 March, with a series of events throughout the exhibition focused on the world’s leading ultra low energy building standard. Passive House Plus will also be at this year’s exhibition — come find us at stand S800.

Leading international heating systems manufacturer, Viessmann, will unveil the first mass-produced, commercially available, domestic fuel cell in Europe at Ecobuild on 4-6 March. Viessmann and Panasonic have jointly developed the Vitovalor 300-P polymer electrolyte fuel cell-based micro combined heat and power system (mCHP), which goes on sale in Germany this April. By 2020, Panasonic and Viessmann expect a five-digit number of systems to be installed in Europe.

Windhager will launch its latest development, the BioWin 2 wood pellet boiler, at Ecobuild
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Four industry leaders will launch their drive for better retrofit standards across the UK at Ecobuild next week with a pledge to assure the post-retrofit performance of traditional solid wall buildings.

AIB has announced the launched of a €350m “new homes development fund” that it says will support the construction of new homes in Dublin, Cork and Galway. The bank is inviting applications from “borrowers who can demonstrate prior experience in residential development”.

The Passive House Institute has announced the results of monitoring of a passive-certified swimming facility in Lünen, Germany, and says its analysis shows that the "savings in terms of energy consumption, for heating as well as for electricity, are substantial compared with other swimming pools".

.A range of newly certified passive house components were presented in January at the Deubaukom trade fair in Essen, Germany, including windows designed for use in the arctic and northern Scandanvia.