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 – September 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.”



Alta Lake Passive House
The ambitious Passive House goals need to be achieved
responsibly. Bernhardt says there is a high level awareness
that the market transformation requires a mind shift incor-
porating education, component development, consumer
awareness and incentives.

Though achieving Passive House is not as difficult as
many assume, he says there still must be that ‘aha mo-
ment’ when people take the time to look at Passive House
closely enough and recognize how relatively easy it is to
improve buildings.

Alta Lake Passive House
“What is most interesting is the Passive House is not a
standard promoted by government or a big organization
with a marketing budget. It is rather a movement that has
been driven by consumer demand, by building owners.”
He says in B.C. non-profit housing has seen an uptake
of Passive House while globally the concept has been im-
plemented in schools, hospitals, offices and retail build-
ings, among others.

Within the next year the number of visible Passive
House projects will grow exponentially, Bernhardt says. “In
Victoria alone there are currently seven Passive House proj-
ects either in design or under construction. In the previous
two years there had been one built in each of those years.

There are another 40 buildings completed, in design or
under construction in the province.”
Passive House Canada is an affiliate of the International
Passive House Association and a member of the North
American Passive House Network. The organization works
in collaboration with other green building associations and
organizations to “transform the built environment, to cre-
ate more comfortable and healthier buildings, while con-
tributing to a sustainable future.”
For more information, visit www.passivehousecanada.com.

The Canadian Design and Construction Report — September 2016 – 39