I will be presenting the Red Hook Passive House Sound Studio next week at the NY14 Passive House Conference. This conference will focus on the challenges of Passive House retrofits, and I am pleased that this EnerPHit project will be among those showcased to the international community. Leaders from President Obama to Mayor DeBlasio have called for increased building efficiency to address climate change: Passive House is the only proven building method that can enable the dramatic carbon reductions called for by the international scientific community.

It is a tremendous honor to have brought filmmaker & anti-fraking activist Josh Fox into the Passive House community at the NYPH15 Passive House conference last Thursday. Josh Fox is the creator of the GasLand documentary about the impacts of natural gas extraction, and if any single person can be credited with turning the tide against fracking, it is Josh. Again, what an honor.

I am very pleased to share the sunlight harvesting work I'm doing as a guest author on the Building Energy Exchange blog. “Sunlight harvesting” is the technique of using reflected direct sunlight for daylighting. Typical commercial building design ignores the sun, and conventional lighting design follows in step, addressing direct sunlight as a problem to be shut out. Sunlight harvesting instead understands and seeks out the immense lighting power of direct sun and – with surprisingly simple means – puts it to effective use, simultaneously reducing energy use and creating more pleasant and productive workspaces. It is surprisingly underutilized technique, and its great to have the BE-Ex platform to spread the word.