Lenny Antonelli is deputy editor of Passive House Plus. He also writes regularly for the Irish Times, and has contributed to a variety of other publications including the Sunday Times, the CS Monitor, Village, the Sunday Tribune amd the Dubliner. He is currently working on a radio documentary on Ireland's oceans.
Finalists announced for 2014 passive house awards
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.
Glasgow to host conference on passive house at scale
The UK’s Passivhaus Trust will hold a conference on large scale passive house developments on 30 April in Glasgow.
Retrofit buildings instead of building pylons?
In the new issue of Passive House Plus, architect David Hughes argues that instead of investing tens of billions of euro upgrading its electricity infrastructure and building wind farms, Ireland should instead invest the money in the energy retrofit of its building stock.
Have energy ratings become an afterthought?
That’s the question I want to ask today. I’m talking mostly about the situation in Ireland, because it’s the one I’m more familiar with things over here — particularly with regards to building regulations. But the same might apply to the UK.
AIB launches €350m new homes fund
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”.
Passive house for swimming pools?
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".
New passive house components presented in Germany
.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.
Video: Wolfgang Feist speaking at See The Light '13
Check out this video below of Passive House Institute founder Prof Wolfgang Feist speaking at last year's See The Light conference in Dublin, which was organised by the Passive House Association of Ireland.
Passive House Institute launches 3D design tool
The Passive House Institute has announced the launch of a 3D model interface that allows for the graphic input of energy related design data.
Ecocem celebrates 10th birthday and reaches million tonne milestone
Ecocem Materials, producer of environmentally friendly cement, has announced that the company has seen an increase in sales and has reached a significant milestone of exceeding one million tonnes of product sold in the last twelve months. Ecocem Ireland is also celebrating its tenth birthday in 2013.