The Camden passivhaus home is about knowledge transfer from Austria and Germany and the Welsh Passivhaus project is about trying to apply this knowledge to social housing prototypes. We are also working on a terraced Welsh Passivhaus home to save more money and energy than detached houses.
Where there is political will, such as in Wales, we believe it is possible to achieve 90% energy savings in houses now. This is in spite of the Welsh heads of valley location having Winter conditions as unfavourable as an Austrian mountainside. This is because, whilst the winter outdoor temperatures in Wales are warmer than Austria, there is a lot less winter sun on a Welsh hill than on an Austrian mountain.
We are trying to show that the UK can and should be making massive savings on all new buildings NOW. The less-developed world is understandably becoming very frustrated with the lack of action from the developed world. Two days ago, the chief negotiator for India at the Copenhagen and Mexico climate change conferences described the overall achievements so far of the UK, America and Australia as “pathetic” and he is absolutely right about this.