Joe Lyth is building his family home on a very tight budget. He's also building to the Passive House standard. In this interview, he shares some of his insights into why we must change the way we've been building 'wooden tents' in New Zealand, and how to go about creating a fit-for-purpose family home with very limited capital.

Harpal Kler comes from an accounting background, but during the last four years he's learnt a lot about building and living in a Passive House. Now, he's a big advocate.

Their multi-generational family home was completed in December 2015 by ehaus and is one of a growing number of Certified Passive House homes in New Zealand.

I asked Harpal how he came across Passive House in the first place, and what he's learnt from building and living in one. 

What can we learn down here in the Southern Hemisphere, about the growth and success of Passive House in Canada? CEO of Passive House Canada, Rob Bernhardt shares his inspiration. 

Why should we be watching China and what does the growth in uptake of Passive House there mean for the rest of us? We also discuss near zero energy regulations in Europe, developments in the US and Passive House examples from Spain.

Passive House expert and architect Elrond Burrell give us his highlights from the 20th International Passive House Conference.

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There's so much that could be said about two days of great Passive House presentations in Melbourne, but I've challenged myself to boil it down to one point per presentation. If there was one takeaway from the second South Pacific Passive House Conference, it was that Passive House has arrived in the Southern Hemisphere and it's going to grow, because it works!

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Home Style Green is here to help people build homes that are good for people and good for the planet.

In episode 30, I spoke with Elrond Burrell and asked if Passive House was really relevant to New Zealand. This sparked some great debate and I subsequently caught up with New Zealand based Passive House designer, Jon Iliffe of eHaus.

eHaus is New Zealand's first building company solely dedicated to building homes to the Passive House Standards.

Among other things, Jon discusses:

1. How Germany is managing to decrease energy consumption while growing their GDP. 
2. What was good about 1920s houses and are they still good?
3. How can you justify the cost of building better?

Related Posts:

• Is Passivhaus Relevant to New Zealand

References:

• eHaus: http://www.ehaus.co.nz/
• Jon's book recommendation: Insanely Simple, by Ken Segall (Get the Kindle version for only $9.99)
• IPHA: http://passivehouse-international.org/
• PHINZ: http://phinz.org.nz/
• Homestar Training: NZGBC Education Calendar