President's Message, February 2012

Welcome to the first installment of what will become a monthly feature of the PHnw website.

The “President’s Message” will be something of a “State of the Union” about our Passive House

community, discussing relevant developments with other PH organizations, exciting happenings

on the Board of Directors, significant local projects, educational opportunities, etc.

 

This has been an exciting, and at times contentious time for Passive House Northwest. As most

of you know, the Passive House community has been involved in some political disputes at

the national and international levels. This has led to some confusion about the direction of PH

in the US, and anxiety about whom to align with moving forward. Through all of this the PHnw

Board held itself to the letter of its by-laws, which oblige us to remain neutral and leave it to our

members to “choose sides”.

 

The diversity of the PHnw membership is reflected in our Board of Directors, whose members

hold very different views and allegiances. The PHnw Board is a consensus based group,

meaning that, whenever possible, decisions the Board makes are unanimous. I’m proud to say

that, even in regard to the heated debates we’ve had concerning partnerships, in the end we’ve

always reached full consensus.

 

We have just recently established a strategic partnership with the Passive House Alliance

US (PHA-US), which is doing wonderful work at the national level. For more information see

www.phalliance.com

 

At the same time we became a founding member of the new American Passive House Network

(aPHn). This organization will act as a virtual hub to share information about Passive House

among regional Passive House groups and the public at large. For more information see

www.aphnetwork.org

 

That’s all for now – I hope to see all of you at the March Conference in Portland!

 

Jim Burton

President, Passive House Northwest