We are happy to announce that just after the second anniversary of its creation, our LinkedIn group ‘La Casa Passiva in Italia’ (Passive House in Italy) passed 1000 members. 
Considering that the Italian government has only recently adopted the European Directive on Near Energy Zero Buildings, there is still much work to be done as far as raising awareness amongst clients and industry professionals about this important subject. This article takes a brief look at some of of the issues we’ve tackled over these past two years.
We created this group in May 2011, with the intention of initiating open discussions on Passive design, something which is still quite new in Italy, both with building professionals and the general Italian public.
We have seen over this time that, very gradually, the national attention seems to be redirecting (at least superficially) towards the subject of energy efficient architecture. As we explain in some of our articles, however, this discussion of energy efficiency is taking place in a rather confused and often haphazardly fashion, without a strong base of technical knowledge within the sector. Often it is the professionals in this very industry who are most resistant to the necessary changes.
Also in the course of the past two years, we have taken the steps necessary to become official Certified Passive House Designers, as recognized by the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt, Germany, a step which we believe is an important milestone for our practice.
As mentioned before, the Italian government has finally adopted Directive 2010/31/EU on Near Zero Energy Buildings. We have already expressed some concerns about this, but our hope is that this important step will be managed better than the implementation of energy certificates was.
We’ve also made it a point to highlight the differences between a Passive building and Near Zero Energy building, a distinction which is often not considered but is quite important.
Within our relatively small network in ‘La Casa Passiva in Italia’, we will continue to share and discuss these and other issues. We believe that the only way the market can grow and develop is through a more educated client base and network of professionals, who are aware of the choices they are making and who are seeking quality in their constructions.
As with all LinkedIn groups, access to our discussions only requires a LinkedIn profile. Upon application for membership, all participants are free to ask questions and discuss with other group members. We have a fairly strict management policy of not allowing self-promotion or advertisements, in order to foster quality discussions free of distractions.
If you would like to join us and contribute to the national conversation about passive design, please visit our group page while logged into to LinkedIn and request an application. Please note that all conversations relate to Italian passive design, and therefore are conducted primarily in Italian.
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