Renamed Passive House Canada/Maison Passive Canada leads the way in education, advocacy and events to achieve higher performance building standards Canadian Design and Construction Report special feature Reflecting its new presence and mandate as Canada’s national non-profit professional association for advocating for Passive House (Passivhaus) high performance building standard, the former Canadian Passive House Institute West has been rebranded as Passive House Canada/ Mai- son Passive Canada. President Rob Bernhardt says the name change, which had been under discussion for some time, received ap- proval at the organization’s annual general meeting in June. “Our new name reflects the desire for a national organiza- tion and an opportunity to bring together practitioners from across the country.” Passive House Canada will maintain its focus on educa- tion, advocacy and nationwide events intended to “facili- tate awareness and adoption of the Passive House standard throughout Canada’s design and construction in- dustry.” There are courses for construction professionals, policy makers and homeowners, combined with information and online resources about how to effectively and affordably design and build for comfort and efficiency through Pas- sive House standards. The organization also advises and partners with various levels of government considering adapting higher perform- ance building standards to building codes for new and re- furbished buildings. The cities of Vancouver, New Westminster and North Vancouver are leading the way in adopting higher standard building codes. “There are a number of provincial govern- ment initiatives and a number of municipal initiatives in- tended to offer the opportunity for codes to reach Passive House levels of efficiency.” North Shore Passive House 38 – July - August 2016 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report North Shore Passive House He says, for instance, a stretch code, currently being discussed at the committee level, would enable municipal- ities to opt into higher levels of required efficiency, includ- ing up to Passive House level. “Across the country there are suites of policies being considered as part of an overall climate change leadership program that include both incentives and education. Around the globe there is recognition that we need to im- prove building efficiency to meet climate change goals and that there must be fairly ambitious timelines set in place.” Ontario, for instance, recently announced funding to move ahead its climate change goals. While the specific plan has not yet been set and is already being hotly de- bated, Bernhardt says the government’s statement of in- tent indicates its policy directions. The federal government too has expressed a greater focus and commitment to the subject as well. “While a lot of this movement may have started in B.C., the interest from across the country and from a variety of sectors is growing.”