An exciting multi-family building study out of New York finds the Passive House Institute design standard provides additional, ongoing cash flow to building owners and tenants thanks to its energy efficiency and operational savings.
Those of us involved in building to the Passive House Institute building standard know this, and now this study confirms it.
The study concludes, “The Passive House design standard reduces operational costs, which can offset incremental construction costs in the multifamily affordable housing sector.” The study examines operational energy consumption and carbon emissions data from six multi-family Passive House case study buildings against their conventionally built peers.
The study says, “Findings show that the Passive House buildings use far less energy than typical multifamily buildings. These results translate into operational cost savings that can increase access to private debt and may also decrease reliance on public subsidies for certain types of affordable housing. Passive House buildings also emit significantly less carbon than conventional buildings …”
Perhaps, most importantly, the the study offers assurance to those who fund multi-family affordable housing that projected Passive House energy savings translate into real operational cost reductions. Passive House Canada will continue to work with affordable housing providers across our country and to advocate for the Passive House Institute building standard, globally recognized as the clearest path to achieve net-zero carbon performance coupled with utility and mechanical systems savings.
