Christoph Duenser of passive house veterans Hermann Kaufmann Architects will give a lecture on 13 June at 6pm in Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland.

The Passivhaus Trust is calling for entries to the second UK Passivhaus Awards – the only dedicated awards for passive house in the UK, with a focus on as-built performance. The deadline for applications is 15 May 2013.

The German version of the new passive house planning software was launched at the International Passive House Conference held in Frankfurt over the weekend, with the English version due to be released this summer.

Over 100 experts in ultra low energy building will address the International Passive House Conference, which takes place in Frankfurt this weekend. Speakers will present a wide range of case studies and research that, according to the Passive House Institute, demonstrates that passive house works "in all climates and for practically any type of building".

The second Better Building conference will be held on 24 April in the Croke Park conference centre, Dublin. The inaugural conference at Royal Hospital Kilmainham last year sold out with nearly 400 attendees.

Pressure from sectors of the building materials industry last November forced a delay in the publication of a database detailing the carbon footprint of building materials in Ireland, Passive House Plus can reveal.

Roof window manufacturer Fakro has announced the award of a Passive House Institute certificate for its quadruple-glazed FTT U8 Thermo roof window, which has a U-value of 0.58.

Ecocem Ireland announced last week that its plans to create 61 jobs as part of a new three year, €19m investment programme coinciding with the official opening of its new facility at Dublin Port. The new plant will be used to bag Ecocem’s low carbon cement. The company said that the carbon footprint of its product is more than 50% lower than traditional cement.

Baumit will showcase an "innovative" new external thermal insulation technology on 5-7 March at EcoBuild 2013 in Excel, London. The Baumit OPEN external wall insulation (EWI) system is a thin coat render system for solid wall construction.

With the deadline fast approaching, the bulk of the editorial content for our inaugural UK edition has been confirmed. Curiosity getting the better of you? The following issue overview may make the anticipation unbearable…

Professor Wolfgang Feist has been awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal Institute of British Architects. The award ceremony took place on 6 February.

Welcome to the website of Passive House Plus, an award winning magazine about building and upgrading to the highest standards of energy efficiency, health, comfort and sustainability. At the time of writing the site has been published as a beta version, and can be viewed on PCs, laptops or tablets, with formatting for smart phones set to follow imminently. 

We’re delighted to announce that Passive House Plus has won the business magazine of the year award at the 2012 Irish Magazine Awards.

The judges of the awards – which were announced at a swanky event at Dublin’s Clyde Court Hotel in December – cited the magazine’s "high editorial and design standards” and “commitment to audience engagement”.

The Passive House Institute has announced that it certified 134 products last year, a new record. These components included everything from sliding doors and dome lights to balcony systems.

The Passive House Association of Ireland has called on the government to adopt the passive house standard as the national minimum building standard for Ireland, and to support "a series of passive house exemplary buildings across the country".

Leading green architect Miles Sampson and contractor Niall Dolan of GreenTec Homes have joined forces to launch Quality Eco Homes, a new company that will offer complete sustainable design and build service.

Galway-based passive house specialists Scandinavian Homes has just completed their 51st Irish project to the passive house standard, at Spiddal, Co Galway. The company's Lars Pettersson told Passive House Plus magazine that there's never been a more cost-effective time to build a passive house. 

Green cement supplier Ecocem are giving away €3,000 of low carbon durable concrete in a competition for residential construction projects. 

Velux has warned that if the British government's 'green deal' fails to win the confidence of consumers it could be a "kick in the teeth" for the energy efficiency retrofit market. The green deal will allow homeowners to pay for energy upgrades via loans paid back through their energy bills. 

Nu Flow Ireland recently completed a successful sewage pipe retrofit project in Cork which the company said helped to avoid major disruption to five local properties, and yielded various environmental benefits too.