[Darmstadt/Munich, Germany] The speakers in the packed hall in Munich were unanimously clear on one thing: that the increase in construction costs in recent years was not caused by energy efficiency; instead, other parameters were responsible. In line with the theme of the 22nd International Passive House Conference "Passive House – it's worth it!" numerous speakers drew attention to the economic feasibility and affordability of energy efficient construction and retrofitting. At the conclusion of the event, Professor Wolfgang Feist surprised the more than 1000 conference participants as he announced that the 23rd International Passive House Conference in 2019 would be held in China.
Rudolf Escheu of the Bavarian Ministry of Economics emphasised the voluntary approach to the topic of energy efficiency, "because this will convince the citizens more. We tackled this through subsidies, for example with our '10 000 houses programme'. We also found that in this way, we gave the industry an impetus for developing their products further." The Bavarian Ministry of Economics sponsored and also hosted the 22nd International Passive House Conference in Munich. The programme included seven excursions with a total of 400 participants. The hosts thus demonstrated that a lot is going on in Munich as well as in the rest of Bavaria with regard to energy efficient construction and retrofitting.
Passive House for companies
Frank Junker of ABG Frankfurt Holding presented impressive architectural examples of Passive House buildings belonging to the company, including a multi-storey complex with a supermarket, the modernisation of a 1950s apartment building and the restoration of a historical building using Passive House components for the deaconesses' home in Frankfurt. The chairman of the executive board made it clear that due to their entrepreneurial foresight, the ABG had voluntarily committed themselves to the implementation of all their constructions to the extremely energy-efficient Passive House Standard. The company also has to make money from it.
"Our constructions are less expensive"
Since 1999, ABG Frankfurt Holding has completed around 3000 residential units to the Passive House Standard for residents from 180 countries, ranging from subsidised apartments to owner-occupied flats. Due to the low incidental costs and high level of living comfort, there are hardly any vacant apartments. "Our constructions are less expensive than our competitors', who either cannot or will not build to the Passive House Standard", says Junker. He ended his presentation with the following words: "There's no alternative to the Passive House!"
Passive House for social housing
Today the founder of the Passive House Institute Professor Wolfgang Feist teaches energy efficient construction at the University of Innsbruck. The University was also a co-organiser of the Passive House Conference in Munich. With regard to social housing, Feist shed light on the aspect of energy efficiency. In the last few years in particular it has become possible to choose much more efficient solutions without significantly higher costs. "If you don't realise a building as a Passive House today, then your tenants will have to pay more than they would if you provided them with decent apartments", says Feist.
