What is a a Passive House? One critic of Passive House design called it “a single metric ego driven enterprise that satisfies the architect's need for checking boxes, and the energy nerd's obsession with BTUs.” But over at Curbed, Barbara Eldridge writes a terrific explanation of what Passive House construction is, and not once mentions BTUs or CFM or ACH or HRV. This is difficult, since so many Passive House people actually are energy nerds. And while Passive House is very much a process, what matters to the public are the end results.

She talks to TreeHugger regular Bronwyn Barry and writes:

And that is as close to math as you get.

Bronwyn and Ken then point out what is probably the most important benefit to occupants in Passive House designs: Comfort. They also note that they are not built all that differently from conventional buildings, don’t cost a lot more, and don’t have to look weird, although they can be what Bronwyn hashtagged as #BBB, or Boxy But Beautiful.”

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