For the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), making its properties more energy efficient through such measures as home energy ratings and geothermal systems has been a priority over the years. But when its efforts plateaued, the state housing finance agency turned to new approaches.

“We looked at what our next push would be as a housing finance agency to have these units be more efficient to push those costs down for residents, and we saw that there had been inroads utilizing Passive House,” says Brian Hudson, PHFA’s executive director and CEO.

Developed by the Passive House Institute in Germany, Passive House is a rigorous standard to attain a high level of energy efficiency. It is made up of a set of design principles that include an airtight building envelope, high-performance windows and doors, and the managing of solar gain to use the sun’s energy for heating and minimize it for cooling.

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