Most homes in Aotearoa NZ that we will be living in for the coming decades already exist. Even if all new homes were built to the Passive House standard after the lockdown, it would still take decades, if not centuries, for every kiwi to live in a healthy, comfortable home. We are only adding new homes at a rate of around 1-2% of existing homes, while not necessarily replacing existing accommodation.

The longevity of houses is, of course, a reason to get them right in the first place. Upgrading a poorly performing home is far more complicated and costly than building a well-performing new home from scratch. But what do we do with the liabilities – poorly performing existing homes – that we inherited? We cannot bulldoze them all nor should we. So how do we transform them into healthy comfortable habitats fit for human occupation?

EnerPHit is Passive House Institute’s retrofit standard (“Energy Retrofit with Passive House Components”) and it comes in several flavours. PHINZ has invited Paula Hugens, Priscila Besen and Guy Shaw to talk about projects in Aotearoa NZ that are aiming for EnerPHit certification. While the energy thresholds of the EnerPHit standard are somewhat relaxed compared to the Passive House standard, achieving EnerPhit certification still guarantees a healthy and comfortable abode at very low running costs.

Join us for a virtual meet-up to learn about EnerPHit projects in Aotearoa NZ and discuss the challenges and solutions of high-performance retrofits.

When: Friday, 24th April, 2:00 – 3:30 pm
How: Zoom, meeting ID: 920-4909-7012 (password required)
Registration: To obtain the password, email study@phanz.ac.nz by 5 pm Thursday 23 April

More details about the EnerPHit standard online here: https://passiv.de/en/03_certification/02_certification_buildings/04_enerphit/04_enerphit.htm