What if we insulated a house so much that we hardly need to heat it even in winter? Passivhaus is a building standard for buildings, especially homes, that takes care of insulation and ventilation so that it is really cheap to heat. If we started building all new homes to this standard then we would be well on our way to reducing our need for heat and this would be very helpful to reduce our bills and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It is possible to build to this standard today but house builders don’t like spending the 5% to 10% more than the absolute minimum. Over the life of the house we would easily recoup that extra cost: heating bills are around a tenth of a standard modern house. Passivhaus gives great savings to the householder and lower emissions to the planet. It just makes very good sense. Most buildings built to this standard so far have been in Germany and in Scandinavia.
Living Laudato Si' 