As we push for new housing, buildings should be designed to be energy-efficient, healthy and resilient.

In addition to the impact of climate change, California is experiencing a housing crisis. In our tri-county area, the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments is calling for thousands of new residential units. As homeowners and developers move forward, achieving state-of-the-science performance standards is both possible and important.

New buildings (single-family and multi-family) always involve choices based on function, aesthetics and the realities of time and budget. In recent years we have learned how to create buildings that deliver high performance in terms of energy efficiency, healthy indoor air quality and resilience to extreme weather, fire, smoke and power outages. High-performance buildings, combined with electrification, contribute dramatically to the mitigation of climate change through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. They’re also better for the health of the people who live in them.

All new buildings in California are required to comply with the Green Building Standards Code known as CALGreen. This is a good thing, encouraging sustainable construction practices. But Passive House protocols go a step further and incorporate a nearly airtight building envelope, climate-specific insulation, and continuous fresh and filtered air, while delivering the world’s highest standard for energy efficiency. Integrating Passive House Standards with CALGreen elevates a building from simply code-compliant to high-performance.

Building to Passive House Standards reduces the energy required for heating and cooling by up to 90 percent, increases resilience during hot/cold weather, wildfires and power outages, and dramatically reduces infiltration of allergens and pollutants (including smoke), as well as noise impact from outside. These factors provide occupants with increased comfort, health and safety, while also making homes more resilient to impacts of climate change.

I urge developers, property owners and contractors to consider high-performance buildings as the baseline standard for new construction or retrofitting.

The cost of designing and building, or retrofitting an existing building to high-performance goals does often involve a small increased investment, generally 2 – to 7-percent higher than other buildings. But there are multiple federal, state, and/or utility-provided incentives available that can offset most or all of any increase. In addition, the extreme energy efficiency, increased durability, and lower maintenance needs over the life of a building provide ongoing operational savings.

As our communities work to build housing for all income levels to help meet the needs of the housing crisis, it is important and urgent that we incorporate the highest and best design standards to protect the people who will live in those future homes, whether they are single-or multi-family buildings.

JAY GENTRY serves on the Passive House California board of directors. For more information on Passive House Standards, email info@passivehousecal.org or visit passivehousecal.org