As Pioneers of Passive House in Canada, we want to share our knowledge and experience with you.

The snow may be late, but the waning light is always right on schedule. If your Passive House is already under construction, the rush to finish--or at least get weathertight--can feel like a race against time itself. But if you're at the design and planning stage of your project, long winter evenings are the perfect opportunity to explore styles and innovations, and to begin imaginatively crafting your dream home. Whether your plans come together in an idea book, on Pinterest boards or in a one-on-one consultation with an architectural designer, there's no denying the excitement of finding a style that speaks to you. A style that says welcome. 

In this issue, we're giving a sneak peek at six new stock plans to inspire your planning. We have exciting updates on affordable housing projects in Nova Scotia and our builder affiliate program, and we'll take a look at the science behind the blower door test. As always, we invite you to use this link to book your free 30-minute consultation with one of our architectural designers. 

Our friends over at Adsum have updated their blog with some progress on the Sunflower project - a 25 unit affordable housing development in Halifax, NS. Construction is underway and the need for long term affordable housing in the city has never been greater. We continue to be grateful for the opportunity to work with this incredible organization and their partners.

This article by Lloyd Alter for Treehugger.com looks at how our pre-designed home plans have grown to be 40% of our current business efforts. Speaking from experience as a modular home builder and supplier and with a background in architecture, Lloyd identifies how our pre designed plans have aided us in our mission to bring Passive House to the mainstream. Read the whole article here, and visit our Home Plans section on our website to view the whole collection.

We are often asked by clients early in their journey to building a Passive home: how does Passive House work? What makes it worth doing? With this brief animated video we introduce the key aspects of the Passive House approach and their benefits. It is a fun, simple explanation of the technology and building science. We hope you enjoy it.

At PDS, we believe that Passive Houses are for everyone. Over the past ten years, we’ve worked hard to build on key lessons in design and construction to make this possible. We work with many clients on custom house designs, and we have developed a portfolio of Passive House Stock Plans. These predesigned home plans are suited to a variety of sites and functional needs that are designed and tested for energy performance. Choosing a stock plan for the construction of your new home has many benefits – here are just a few:

An increasing number of today’s homebuyers want the quality, comfort and energy savings of a Passive House, along with the carbon emissions reductions of a Net-Zero house. Lower energy costs and
increased energy security are two goals especially important to young cost-conscious families and seniors needing to manage fixed assets. Net-Zero Passive House design that uses modest on-site, grid-tied,
electrical power generation is a simple and practical path to reach these objectives in most North American regions with heating dominated climates. Visit this High Performance Buildings article written by Passive Design President Natalie Leonard.

Passive homes follow a set of design and construction standards, leading the way to a more energy efficient future for homeowners. By reducing the energy use of an average household by more than 70 percent, Passive houses have the potential to significantly reduce North America’s carbon footprint. From the building envelope to the interior finishes, these solar powered, airtight homes are designed with both the health of the homeowners and the planet in mind. To learn more about how Passive homes are changing the future of the built environment, visit our article published by Earth911.

With a strong knowledge base in building science and construction methods, the PDS team is continuously striving to simplify Passive home plans to keep costs down. In this Fine Home Building article published by Kiley Jacques, Passive Design Solutions Founding Partner Natalie Leonard shares hacks on how to keep efficient housing affordable. Starting from the top (or, in this case, the roof) down, this piece provides details on the science behind the design. Check out the article for graphics on our insulation methods and to learn more about Passive design features.

Visit this article published by the Edmonton Journal and others to learn more about what it means to have a net-zero home. Passive Design Solutions offers affordable net-zero home plans that eliminate the cost of heating and cooling your home. By building Passive, consumers can see a return on their investment in a shorter time with the associated energy savings and the ability to sell site-produced energy back to the grid for distribution and use during higher-consumption seasons.