PH2: PHenomenal Passive House CA’s “Building Carbon Zero California”

Published on March 28, 2014

Campers, this has been an extremely busy week or so for Northern California greenies, and it’s got me on a “squared” jag (see last post on BW2) …

Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in Passive House California’s “Building Carbon Zero California” at the delightful Cocoanut Grove Ballroom in rockin’ Santa Cruz.

This is another event not to be missed next year (or sooner?!). Headliners were Alex Wilson of Building Green Inc. and the Resilient Design Institute (RDI), and Nick Grant of the UK Passivehaus Trust. Other speakers included a great selection of impressive Passive House designers, builders, and analysts — and I finally got to visit Midori House during the sundowner tour. It’s every bit as gorgeous and inspiring as I expected!

Midori House energy use before & after

Passive House CA founder, consultant and consummate mover-shaker Bronwyn Barry — a driving force behind this phenomenal event — invited me to close the day by offering my opinion (always a favorite request!) on a range of building certification regimes: Passive House (naturally), LEED, Living Building Challenge, Net Zero, and GreenPoint Rated. Curious to know what I think? I’ll be happy to share my slide deck! (Click here for slides: PHCA-SantaCruz-25Mar2014)

Ann Edminster at Building Carbon Zero Monterey Bay