The Passive House Conference Scientific Advisory Board
Very high quality abstracts submitted - agenda of the 14th International Passive House Conference in Dresden brings about a breakthrough.
On 4th December a meeting was held by the Scientific Advisory Board of the 14th Passive House Conference, which will take place in May 2010 in Dresden. Over 180 submissions for lectures were reviewed - and for the board members, selection of the presentations was very difficult this year.
"This year we've received many first-rate articles", says Professor Wolfgang Feist, who is otherwise known for his reticence. " There are scientifically established reports already available for a large number of projects which have been organised and evaluated. Their results are exceedingly helpful for further development. They show how and why these approaches have worked well - and also which techniques are susceptible for less optimum results. Social scientists have carried out surveys with Passive House residents - and compared the statistics with other new buildings. This will be prepared for the Conference in Dresden - and we can discuss it with the authors."
"The presentation of successful Passive House architecture is particularly important for me as an architect," emphasises Gernot Vallentin, a member of the Board. "I'm tired of hearing talk about ugly energy-saving architecture - particularly when I look at the quality of the project examples sent in to us. Dresden will present a highlight: all-round good architecture where functionality, design and expression go hand in hand. For this purpose, an Architecture Award PASSIVE HOUSE has been announced."
"Work in the Passive House scene is pleasantly set apart from the wrangling and evasive tactics in other parts of the building sector: here, the window fitter knows that he can depend on the quality work of the ventilation fitter - and vice versa. A combined productive struggle takes place to find a genuinely good solution - that is is the real secret for success and that is why people cooperate willingly", says Dr. Schulze-Darup who is known as a pioneer for particulary energy-efficient refurbishment of existing buildings.
Professor Zbasnik-Senegasnik lectures architecture at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia: "With the Passive House concept, for the first time there is international, climate-spanning access to energy-efficient construction. Of course the optimum components vary from region to region, but the methodology is systematic and target-oriented. That's an opportunity for international communication and for successful regional development."
Professor Strauß (Bremen) represents building services: "The central technical components have been perfected - and we are pleased that Europe now has the leading position in heat recovery ventilation. There is very interesting further development still taking place, which makes energy-efficient technology more cost-effective and easier to use.
Dr. Rainer Pfluger (University of Innsbruck, Austria) adds: "And we are proud of the fact that many small and medium-sized businesses here are carrying out their own development work and serving their own markets in a responsible way."
This is precisely where Dr. Digel of the DBU in Osnabrück (Dutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt - the federal foundation for the environment in Germany) sees a decisive advantage of the concept: The DBU has always focused on the innovative strength of the small and medium-sized businesses in particular. This is expressed particularly in the development of the Passive House: substantially improved insulation, windows which gain energy instead of losing it, heat recovery which improves living quality at the same time - and all that consolidated into a demonstrably functional and accessible building concept for all - that's why we're involved. And of course I'm glad that the accepted Conference lectures also represent projects supported by the DBU."
"We found out very quickly that there were great opportunities here", stresses Volker Kylau (municipal building department in Leipzig). "After the experience gained, the city decided that construction and renovation should be carried out as near as possible in this standard."
"The Passive House is spreading at great speed all over the world " - Professor Jan Tyvoniak is in charge of the numerous research projects concerning energy efficiency at the Technical University in Prague. Sören Pedersen (Denmark) adds: "At last we have comparable international results - right at the start from buildings which are suitable for a sustainable future." Lorant Krajcsovics (Bratislava) reports about the implementation in Slovenia: "Within a few years the Passive House became the development trend. And I'm pleased that the experiences of colleagues from Slovenia can now be presented at the Conference."
For Tanja Schulz (Passive House Institute) it was the second Advisory Board meeting. "Originally I thought that it was impossible that we would be able to come up with results, with so many submissions in such a short time. What surprised me was that thanks to the good preparation of the referees and the stern conduction of the the discussion and scheduling by my colleagues Cornelia Baumgärtner and Marlies Blücher, with full concentration, we were able to give serious consideration to all contributions." And Harald Halfpaap remembers the success of the 10th Conference which took place in 2006 in Hannover: "The Conference brings the whole world to the region as a guest and this is a great incentive. It was at that time that Hannover received the impulse for its exemplary implementation, and we are still benefiting from it today. The projects supported by ProKlima are at the forefront, particularly in the case of high quality refurbishments."
The conference programme for the 14th International Passive House Conference from 28th to 29th May 2010 at the Congress Centre in Dresden (CCD) will be arranged by the end of the year based on valuation by the advisory board and can be downloaded soon.