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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler

Passive building got its start in Canada around the time of the oil crisis in the 1970s.

The new building uses curtains of glass, thickly insulated walls, and specially designed ventilation systems to lower its carbon emissions by about two-thirds compared with a standard commercial building of similar scale.

A new Boston skyscraper has a climate-friendly claim to fame. Last week, it became the largest office space in the world certified to the extremely energy-efficient “Passive House” standards — and the first skyscraper in the U.S.

Moore and Brill’s five-bedroom home will be passive house certified, a green building standard that’s airtight and uber energy efficient thanks to measures like high-performance doors, continuous insulation, an orientation that makes efficient use of the sun’s heat and a ventilation system that supplies fresh air throughout the house. The couple’s home is on track to be the first certified passive house in the city of Boulder, but if trends across the state and country are any indication, they won’t be the only one for long.