The importance of accurate climate data

Climate data in Archicad 17

Whether you are designing new constructions or deep energy retrofits, the basis for an energy efficient design is an understanding of the climate that you are working in. Local climate has has always been one of the main factors shaping vernacular architectural design throughout the world, and, ultimately, the goal of any building is to protect the occupant from external climate factors. Therefore, an effective thermal envelope of a building should bridge the gap between the desired health and comfort conditions for the occupants and external weather conditions.

We are now officially Certified Passive House Designers.

CPHD - English Certified Passivhaus Designer

We are pleased to announce that Emu Architects’ very own Enrico Bonilauri has officially become a Certified Passivhaus Designer, after having passed the Passivhaus Institut exam in December 2012.

This prestigious and internationally recognized professional certification is, without a doubt, a very important step in our continued education.

BIM Energy Analysis with ArchiCAD 16

archicad16 integrated energy analysis tool EcoDesigner

Graphisoft has just released the preview videos for their new ArchiCAD version 16, and we are pretty excited about it here at Emu Architects. Enrico Bonilauri has written an extensive assessment of the newly integrated energy analysis features (basically incorporating EcoDesigner) over on our Italian blog. I’ll attempt to translate his thoughts into English here for our international readers:

If Italian People elect Renewable Energy

It is with deep joy that we report here the results of the referendum that just finished today in Italy.

With the highest voters turnout of the last 15 years (for a referendum), the Italian People decided to cancel decisions made by the Berlusconi Government, which seems now even closer to implode.

book review | “Technologie und Wirtschaftlichkeit des Passivhauses” by Stefan Echterhölter

Technologie und Wirtschaftlichkeit des Passivhauses

In order to better understand the technical details and economic aspects of Passive House construction, we recently read the German-language 2002 thesis by Stefan Echterhölter ‘Technology and Economic Aspects of the Passive House’ (original title: Technologie und Wirtschaftlichkeit des Passivhauses), from the Tech University at Karlsruhe, Germany. My rating: 4 of 5 stars.

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