// ON THE RECORD
Passive House Canada
Passive House Canada is a federally incorporated, membership-based national non-profit that advocates for and educates on the Passive House high-performance building standard across Canada. The organization delivers professional training and certification for designers, consultants, tradespersons, and construction verifiers, and provides technical services including thermal bridge modeling, feasibility studies, and component evaluation. It also develops policy positions and consults with federal and provincial governments on building code adoption of the Passive House standard. It is recognized by the UN Economic Commission for Europe as an International Centre of Excellence in high-performance building.
📍 Victoria, BCEst. 2013✓ 85% first-party verified
// CLIPS FROM Passive House Canada
“what we're accustomed to here is well my father built it that way and his father built it that way”
“getting a container freighted from China costs 30 times more than what it did in 2018”
“the issue is you want to catch this into design if you're catching this during construction it's going to cost you more”
“imagine you're building a shiny new building and your envelope leaks or your system fails”
“net zero is any building that if you add renewable energy you can get to net zero”
“we have a new technology licensed from NRC to measure the R value non-destructively of low slope roofs”
“if the roof doesn't leak water it's fine”
“I always go back to first principles and I think of reduce reuse and recycle”
“the efficiency preferred partner network is a collective of over 300 partners”
// LESSONS FROM Passive House Canada
Commission the building envelope early in design — catching defects in design is exponentially cheaper than fixing them during or after construction.
Third-party envelope commissioners are welcomed by contractors, not feared — they provide independent validation that protects everyone, including trades proud of their work.
The new energy code's air-leakage requirements mean building owners will need envelope testing on all new projects — subcontractors should price for this work now.
Selling high-performance building products in Atlantic Canada requires mindset change before product demonstration — the market defaults to 'my father built it that way.'
Mass timber conversations in Atlantic Canada are accelerating faster than any other market segment the Rothoblaas rep has seen — budget over-runs, not lack of interest, are the primary bottleneck.
Invest in passive house envelope quality first (R40-R50, airtight) before adding renewable energy systems — the envelope lasts 50-100 years while mechanical systems last 10-20.
// SELECTED PROJECTS
Atlantic Coast Passive House
Status unconfirmedPHC lists/promotes the Passive House standard the project targets
Oceanfront modern bungalow with walkout basement by Sawlor Built Homes, designed to the Passive House standard (R-80 ceiling, 0.58 ACH blower-door). PHC project page lists status 'Under Construction' (2017 entry) and 'Passive House Type: None' — formal certification is not evidenced.
Falkland Street Passive House Retrofit
Status unconfirmedBuilt to the Passive House (EnerPHit) standard PHC promotes
Described as Halifax's/Nova Scotia's first Passive House retrofit — conversion of an 1850s two-storey timber-frame home into office space by Habit Studio, a Halifax architecture firm. (Cited Net Zero Atlantic URL returned HTTP 403; corroborated by Habit Studio and AEE Canada East.)
Treehouse Village Ecohousing
Status unconfirmedBuilt to the Passive House standard PHC promotes
Atlantic Canada's first cohousing community and Nova Scotia's largest multi-residential Passive House construction; 30 homes on 16 acres. First residents moved in late 2023; substantially complete December 2023 (condo corp registered January 2024).
// KEY PEOPLE
MQ
CP
Chris PetitGuest on Atlantic Construction Podcast (BuildGreen Atlantic 2023, episode ref PSj1PgWoFUo) — appearance not independently corroborated
Senior Director of Education (formerly Manager of Technical Services)
profile ▸JW
RC
// NOTABLE