the amount of money that we have poured into making the automotive industry profitable is really staggering when you look at it

Without question for me:

And when I see her in the park
It barely merits a remark
How we stand the standard distance distant strangers stand apart

Ridiculously clever and heartbreaking, by the late David Berman of the Silver Jews/Purple Mountains, written after he’d split up with his wife.

Picture shows Es Tressider sitting on a window seat, reading a magazine. Through the window we can see the mountain regions of Ben Nevis in Scotland

Peaky blinder -

Energy specialist Es Tressider transforms '70s Highland home into one of the best #retrofits we've ever published, using a high skillset & #retrofit innovation to create a comfy, healthy family haven with breathtaking views of Ben Nevis.

mailchi.mp/passivehouse...
#passivehouse

AECB Webinar - Will South - Walking the Talk: My Home Retrofit YouTube video by AECB:Association for Environment Conscious Building

If you liked Guy Martin's House without bills, you'll like the latest @aecb.bsky.social webinar with Will South talking about his home retrofit project in Brighton

This goes into a lot more detail of what it entails to do a whole house retrofit

Ha. Not nothing anyway. That concrete slab would add a fair bit. The timber would be a bit, and apparently it came from Denmark - Bavarian Forest good for nothing? - so the road freight would add a bit too. And that super high ceiling wouldn’t help in terms of a kg/m2 based CO2e total.

Picture shows a semi detached red brick house in Dublin, that has been retrofitted to the Enerphit standard

#Enerphit upgrade rejuvenates Rathgar redbrick

In issue 17 we visited a Dublin semi-d, brilliantly and carefully brought into the 21st century in terms of #energyperformance & living space, yet protecting it's century-old façade with #breathablematerials.

mailchi.mp/passivehouse...

#passivehouse

The first days of Awaab’s Law: how are social landlords coping? With Awaab’s Law now in effect, Ellie Brown finds out the initial impact on social landlords and how they prepared.

We wanted to find out what the first days of Awaab’s Law have been like for social landlords - as Michael Edwards, director of reactive repairs at Southern Housing put it to Ellie Brown, “the biggest change in repairs I can remember” www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/the-...

Will I be the first to suggest the carbon offsets worked exactly as planned: they delayed real action for another 25 years

Global Warning now on Al Jazeera.

Episode 1 broadcast this week. Or you can stream it here.
👉 www.aljazeera.com/video/featur...
#Climate #ClimateCrisis hasn’t gone away.

Low-income and minority ethnic people in England most at risk from dangerously hot homes Exclusive: Homes are heating up as summers get hotter but least well-off are shouldering greatest risk, study finds * Why UK housing is dangerously unprepared for impact of climate crisis * From shutters to reflective paint: how to prevent UK homes overheating Lower-income householders, minority ethnic people and those with young children are more likely to live in homes at risk from dangerous overheating, research has found. The UK has baked in multiple heatwaves this summer, with many people sweltering in dangerously hot homes that were not designed to withstand extreme temperatures. June was the hottest on record and in general this summer England was an average of 1.58C above average temperatures. Continue reading...

Low-income and minority ethnic people in England most at risk from dangerously hot homes

UK Passivhaus Conference Programme View the UK Passivhaus Conference programme

Interesting event coming up here “UK & Ireland Passivhaus Conference 2025” @jeffcolley.bsky.social @ipha.bsky.social @phplus.bsky.social
share.google/f1FWeu1rJLWS...

History will judge us on Gaza. My friend and long time colleague Phil Kearney who is on a 5 day hunger strike with Sieneke Hakvoort outside Dàil Éireann.

Separately, an image from a UNICEF Ireland exhibition on Gaza opened by Peter Power this evening. www.unicef.org/sop/

Iranians asked to limit water use as temperatures hit 50C and reservoirs are depleted Public holiday announced in Tehran as government tries to grapple with deepening water crisis

52.8C

Just another day on our overheating planet

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Today I'm writing to my MP to support a ban on fossil fuel advertising which is being discussed in Parliament following a successful petition started by @chrisgpackham.bsky.social. This ban must include the sponsorship of educational materials and any #greenwashing in schools.

Interesting @irishtimes read pointing towards the Passive standard and micro-generation as the way forward to ‘climate-proof’ dwellings @phplus.bsky.social @passivhaustrust.bsky.social @jeffcolley.bsky.social

That’ll make for an interesting article. Thanks Stephen!

Interesting development in the #MarshallFire rebuilding process that I learned about today on a @the_phnetwork call:
Xcel is proposing a $30,000 direct to consumer payment for rebuilding to the passive house...

Magazine covers for Passive House Plus magazine, showing a kitchen interior, and a living room interior

Issue 49 of Passive House Plus is available to read online now!

Featuring a remarkable Enerphit in Gloucestershire, a tenement retrofit in Glasgow and a Cavan passive house that proved powercut proof in the recent storms.
Plus the usual columns and news.

mailchi.mp/passivehouse...

A starter pack for #InternationalWomensDay.

The construction industry has been disproportionately male, but that’s changing.

We’ve curated a starter pack of some of the amazing women leading the way on climate action in buildings.

#HappyInternationalWomensDay

go.bsky.app/Badwi8

Illustration promoting green homes and supporting biodiversity. The image features a child sitting outdoors with a hedgehog and a bee nearby, surrounded by trees and plants. Text reads: 'Supporting biodiversity. Precious natural habitats are lost when land is used for building homes. Improving the ecological value of an area encourages native plants and animals to flourish. This sustains healthy ecosystems that improve human health and adds delight to your family's life.' The image is part of the 'Green Homes Essentials Countdown' campaign by Smarter Finance for EU.

Is a green home more than a house? What about outside? Ranking 13th, 36.6% of respondents to our #SMARTER4EU Green Homes Sentiments Survey said #biodiversity was essential. That seems low, given a manicured lawn is a desert for insects & animals. Have your say: www.surveymonkey.com/r/BYPQVJH

"Illustration promoting green homes and reduced car dependency. The image features a bus with two passengers, a person walking with a shopping bag, and a cyclist. Text reads: 'Reduced car dependency. Green homes enable and encourage car-free living by tapping into networks of schools, shops, public transport, and amenities nearby. If you can easily walk, cycle, or take public transport to work or school, it gives you more time for other things – improving the quality of your life.' The image is part of the 'Green Homes Essentials Countdown' campaign by Smarter Finance for EU."

Do people really get what makes a green home? 🚗 🤔 Ranking 14th and last in our green homes essentials countdown, only 20.6% of respondents to the #Smarter4EU Green Homes Sentiment Survey said reduced car use is essential. Have your say in this two-minute survey www.surveymonkey.com/r/BYPQVJH

Wooden boxes with angles for more light attached to the existing wall, windows moved forward to the insulation layer.

Really tight and overly thick; I guess 48cm straw bales, attached firmly on the wall,standing on a new foundatuon of gabions filled with crushed lime stone.

Finished rough lime plaster on the straw bale retrofitted house with metal roof and angled window openings looking gorgeous.

It's so hardcore at the beginning, yet obvious and subtle in the end? I had to modernize my house like that as well. Haus Susch, a regenerative 🌾 #deeprenovation by Atelier Werner Schmidt 👏 Photos: Lucia Degonda / AWS
www.atelierschmidt.ch/sanierung-su... #strawhouse #strawbuilding #carbonstorage

Totally agreed on sufficiency Annie - a subject we write about in the mag.

Isolated, overly large statement homes aren’t the answer - even if passive and bio-based.

But we live car free in a modestly sized low energy apartment, so my daughter sometimes daydreams of houses like this.

I’m not into football, but understand many are. So David has a great point here.

I called this the most important article of the year (in 2021) It still is.

Resolution for 2025: I will bug you harder about climate-ready low-tech deep renovations. Even if it hardly gets through because it seems most of you still believe new construction is possible in todays quantities.

Seeing the wood for the trees - Placing ecology at the heart of construction - passivehouseplus.ie All construction is likely to warm the climate - how to utilise ecology

Mass timber has a place, and arguably it should only be for taller buildings, which are beyond the reach of regular timber frame, or particularly lean approaches like larsen truss or I-beams.

This article by Lenny Antonelli + @moreourselves.bsky.social explains why. 14)

@lloydalter.bsky.social

MineCraft is very easy to get into for a very wide age range.
Unfortunately Mojang doesn't allow you to generate XP through providing the most low carbon dwelling possible 😔
I'm also not too sure what the carbon output is of an exploding Creeper. They're DEFINITELY not environmentally friendly.

A stripped pale oak ceiling. I don’t know what’s holding it up, as we didn’t think to build it on top of the timber superstructure.

Lots of trees were harmed in the making of this movie: it’s mass timber on steroids.

For the ceiling Sadie used stripped pale oak wood (1m thick again).

We didn’t bother with joists. It was late. We were tired.

This sits on a 1m thick timber superstructure. And 1m thick timber cladding. 13)

Three front doors in a row to open before you get in or out of the house. Just because.

We might have lost the run of ourselves with the front door.

In the absence of a way to convey and insulated door, we added three of them. Overkill? Certainly. But at least there’s little or no chance of any heat loss from opening the door. 12)