Category Archives: General

CORA would encourage Wellingtonians to support the Friends of Baring Head who are fundraising through Million Metres Streams with the assistance to the Greater Wellington Regional Council. Their mission is to plant 5,000 native plants and trees along 550 metres of the Wainuiomata River in 2019. This is the second year of a 10 year … Continue reading Million Metres fundraise for Baring Head habitat restoration

The Passive House Conference – personal impressions As a lay person, attending the Passive House Conference in Christchurch was a daunting prospect. After all, the Passive House system relies heavily on data, modelling and real science (yes physics!), an approach which is hard for me to get my intuitive and non-scientific brain around. However, the … Continue reading The South Pacific Passive House Conference and Trade Show Christchurch, 04-05 March 2017

Overview Passive House (PH) is a tried and true performance standard for building extremely low energy buildings. The up-front costs are easily absorbed over the life time of the building because expensive plant is significantly reduced and does not require as much maintenance / replacement. Many parts of Europe have a requirement for all their … Continue reading The benefits of social housing to passive house standard

With double-glazing now required in new homes, awareness is growing of its value and more older homes are being retrofitted with double-glazing. It’s not a cheap improvement and sadly, many people are making bad choices that won’t perform well. There are many different types of double glazing. The better performing ones: Are argon-filled. Argon is … Continue reading Retrofitting? How to choose double-glazing.

what is a Passive House? The Passive House building standard originated in Europe 25 years ago, and despite what uninformed critics might say, it’s an approach to building which is entirely able to be applied to construction projects in New Zealand. If you’re thinking about a new build or a significant renovation, it’s really worth … Continue reading Passive house: A new way to create better NZ homes

The Passive House (or in German, Passivhaus) concept is new here and not widely understood. It’s a building standard entirely relevant to New Zealand conditions. Here’s a general introduction. In this post, I want to clear up some of the misconceptions I hear about Passive House. We don’t need that here — it’s designed for … Continue reading Some of what you hear about Passive House is wrong