How would you feel if the house you lived in cost practically nothing to heat in the winter? Passive homes use construction methods and materials that could cut a typical heating bill by 90%.  A typical Italian family would pay perhaps 150 Euros per year instead of 1500. Lots of families also use air conditioning to make hot summers more bearable. But many people don’t care for rapid change of temperatures between inside and outside. In contrast, passive homes work to keep indoor temperatures relatively constant and comfortable throughout the day and night by capturing mid-day heat and releasing it slowly through the night. Passive houses take into consideration the body’s natural adaptation to seasonal temperatures rather than trying to keep a constant temperature all year round.   Well, saving energy and money while providing a comfortable environment are goals of passive housing. But it goes much deeper than that. Implemented on a wide scale, the idea can help save a planet. According to a recent article in the New York Times, 40 percent of primary energy use in the USA goes for heating and cooling buildings. Because they use 90% less energy than typical homes, passive homes could contribute to important reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.   Of course, passive houses do cost more to build. And the NY Times article points out some of obstacles to building passive homes. Many of those are applicable to Italy, as well. To move the housing market toward much lower levels of energy consumption, several factors need to be aligned to favor homes that consume significantly less energy:

• Educate builders and policy makers
• Change public perceptions and personal habits
• Adapt local and national policies
• Tune government tax incentives
• Favor businesses that produce and sell materials for green building

Project Manifattura along with Habitech and the Green Building Council Italy are active especially in the areas of public education, business model adaptation, and policy change. For more information about passive housing, see http://www.passive-on.org.