June 2010

A month of following-up on the many contacts we made in April and May. Useful discussions with our friend and co-member on the Green Building Council, Dušan Vuksanović, about how to match up the work done by Elisabeth with the regulatory requirements for Montenegro. We need a Montenegrin architect to sign off on the plans. We also need detailed design work for the technical aspects of the building, not least the ventilation system. In Dresden, we bought a most useful book by the PHI expert, Dr Jürgen Schnieders, “Passive Houses in South West Europe” which details the differences between houses designed for central European and continental climates with those for Mediterranean and coastal ones. Dr Schnieders highlights the need for active cooling, as well as less insulation and only double glazing in the warmer climates, but the need for increased solar protection, eg by using blinds.