Lisa White
Understanding the differences between sustainable building practices is nearly as difficult as it is important for real estate agents.
There are plenty of certifications and qualifications buildings can be labeled with – some backed by legitimate certifying bodies and others not – including green, net-zero and passive building (often referred to as “passive house”). The requirements to earn these various recognitions range widely, as do their impact on the occupant’s experience. A home or building marketed as “green” might have efficient light bulbs and a modest solar array, but it could also have leaky windows and a gas-guzzling boiler in the basement.
When it comes to sustainable design and construction, there are many levels to it. You’ll need to understand them, or risk getting left behind.
We believe passive building is the most beneficial path being chosen by builders, organizations and municipalities for its ability to offer comfort, resilience and significant reductions to resource demand for heating and cooling. It’s also the path to achieving net-zero carbon emissions.
What Is Passive House Certification?
Passive building is a holistic methodology for designing and constructing efficient, comfortable, healthy buildings utilizing five core principles. The principles are: continuous insulation, an airtight building envelope, high-performance windows, balanced fresh air ventilation and minimized mechanical systems.
Some building teams will employ only a few of these principles and refer to a project as “passive house,” but the only way to guarantee results is by getting a project certified. Phius (Passive House Institute US) certifies the majority of passive building projects in North America with our globally applicable, locally tailored passive building standard.
The process for certifying a project with Phius is thorough and collaborative, starting in the design phase and going all the way through to third-party testing of the completed home or building.
Phius-certified homes and buildings also save money on utility bills (about 40 percent to 60 percent on average) and offer a uniquely peaceful and comfortable indoor environment thanks to the airtight building envelope and high-performance windows.
These same qualities make Phius buildings extremely resilient in the face of weather events and grid outages, as they’re proven to maintain livable indoor temperatures far longer than normal buildings in instances of extreme heat or cold. By using significantly less energy than normal buildings, Phius buildings also make it much easier to offset energy use with solar generation.
These buildings are built for the future, and that future may be coming sooner than you think.
A Big Differentiator for Buyers, Renters
Phius has been written into incentives and codes throughout the country, with a significant uptick in adoption in recent years. The majority of municipalities in Massachusetts have implemented a code that requires passive building certification for all buildings above 12,000 square feet. With that and other policy breakthroughs, Phius saw a 49 percent year-over-year increase in certifications from 2022-2023, with 2024 on track to continue the trend.
Phius certification has proven to be a differentiator in the marketplace. Market-rate developers are experiencing a willingness of tenants to pay a premium to live in Phius buildings and municipalities are choosing to dedicate government dollars to incentivize the construction of Phius projects.
These aren’t simply regular old buildings with fancy windows – Phius buildings are strategically designed and built to maximize comfort and resilience while minimizing energy use.
Passive building is inching ever closer toward the mainstream, and it’s critically important to understand the unique benefits it offers, otherwise you may be left behind.
As a real estate agent, it is vital to understand this added value and to be able to convey it to potential homebuyers and tenants – which is where Passive Building Foundations Training comes in.
How to Learn More
The self-paced Passive Building Foundations Training offers fundamental education on the core concepts of passive building, high-performance building characteristics, and Phius. No technical expertise or certifications are required to take the training, because it was designed specifically for people who aren’t necessarily going to be building these homes, but who benefit from knowing how they work and the impact they have on their inhabitants and the environment.
Anyone who completes the training and passes the one-hour exam is recognized as a Phius associate, a title that indicates a baseline level of knowledge of passive building, building science, Phius standards, and more.
The “Business Case” and “Policy” modules should be of particular interest to the real estate community. They dive into many of the financial benefits of passive building while demonstrating how and why certain financing models and strategies are successful.
As passive building practices and Phius certification continue their exponential growth in the marketplace, understanding and explaining their value will become a necessary skill for real estate professionals. The shift toward sustainable building practices is not just a trend; it’s an evolution that responds to environmental concerns and changing consumer preferences.
For real estate agents, staying informed about passive building principles is crucial for providing value to clients. Agents who can effectively communicate the advantages of energy-efficient homes will have a significant edge in this evolving market. By embracing this knowledge now, real estate professionals can position themselves to lead in a more sustainable future.
Lisa White is the co-executive director of Phius, a nonprofit that maintains the passive house building standard and both certifies buildings and materials, as well as trains and certifies professionals.
