Passivhaus Austria

What Passivhaus Austria does

Passivhaus Austria is a membership-based expert network and certification body, headquartered in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria, that promotes the Passive House energy-efficient building standard for new construction and the EnerPHit standard for retrofits of existing buildings. The organization is registered with the Regional Court Innsbruck and operates through PHI Österreich GmbH alongside the co-located Passivhaus Institut Innsbruck (PHI IBK), which is responsible for planning consultancy, building and component certification, and continuing education. Founded in 2013, the association is anchored in more than three decades of Passive House activity in Austria (the country's first Passive House was built in 1996), and Innsbruck has the highest density of Passive House buildings in Europe. Austria accounts for more than 1,000 of approximately 6,000 voluntarily registered Passive House projects worldwide.

The core technology and service portfolio centers on the PHPP (Passivhaus Projektierungspaket) planning and energy modeling package, the MEET lifecycle ecological assessment tool, the easyPH certification tool, and the EnerPHit Unit certification standard, alongside the world's largest Passive House project database (6,000+ documented projects, 47,000+ certified residential units, 4.3+ million m² of certified area as of January 2025). The Passivhaus Institut's network of certified course providers trains over 10,000 planners, craftsmen, and experts annually, and seminars, workshops, "Passivhaus on Tour" tours, and the annual International Passive House Conference drive member engagement and standards dissemination. Differential moats include 35 years of accumulated research, depth of certified professional training, and integration with the EU Nearly Zero Energy Buildings directive and the klimaaktiv climate initiative.

The business model rests on three revenue streams: (i) recurring membership fees from architects, planners, building physicists, HVAC experts, construction firms, manufacturers, energy advisors, educational institutions, and municipalities; (ii) paid seminars, workshops, and the annual International Passive House Conference delivering scientific continuing education (PHI points) and networking; and (iii) professional services revenue at PHI IBK from planning consultancy and certification of Passive House and EnerPHit buildings and components. Pricing for membership and certification services is not publicly disclosed, with fees set on a contact/quote basis. Pricing public visibility is limited. The organization is structured as a research and quality assurance entity led by Geschäftsführer Dipl.-Ing. Laszlo Lepp with Prokurist Dr. Jürgen Schnieders.

Name

Passivhaus Austria

Legal name

PHI Österreich GmbH

Website

https://passivhaus-austria.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Passivhaus Austria is an Innsbruck-based membership association and certification body that promotes the Passive House and EnerPHit energy-efficient building standards, serving architects, planners, HVAC experts, manufacturers, municipalities, and educational institutions through training, certification, events, and the world's largest Passive House project database.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainable Building Certification

NAICS

Architectural Services (54131), Architectural Services (541310)

SIC

Non-Operating Establishments (9995)

akta.pro primary industry

Whole-Home Interior Renovation (Non-Structural) (HSAPAEAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Luxury Whole-Home Renovation (High-End Finishes & Custom Build) (HSAPAEAI)

Keywords

• Passive house certification
• Energy efficient building
• Building renovation standards
• Professional building training
• Sustainable construction network

Headquarters

HQ city

Innsbruck

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership fees: Passivhaus Austria operates as a membership-based association (Verein/NGO). Architects, planners, building physicists, HVAC experts, construction companies, manufacturers, energy advisors, educational institutions, universities, and municipalities pay membership fees to access the expert network, knowledge base, continuing education, and project entry services.
2. Seminars and events: The organization hosts seminars (one to two times per year), online webinars, and workshops including Passivhaus on Tour events. Events deliver scientific continuing education and networking. Passivhaus Institut continuing education points (e.g., 6 points per workshop) are awarded.
3. Planning support and certification: The Passivhaus Institut Innsbruck (PHI IBK) provides planning consultancy, certification of Passive House projects and building components, and continuing education for Passive House planners, craftsmen and experts. Certification fees support quality assurance for the Passive House standard.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

Passivhaus Austria is a non-profit association founded in 2013 in Innsbruck that promotes the Passive House building standard in Austria. It offers building and renovation (EnerPHit) certification for designers and developers, building component certification, professional training for planners, craftsmen and experts, planning consultancy, and operates the central Passive House project database. The organization also hosts the International Passive House Conference, regional workshops, and publishes specialist materials.

Product overview

Passivhaus Austria is an association and network organization headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria, focused on advancing the Passivhaus energy-efficient building standard. Its primary offerings are certification services (for buildings to Passivhaus and EnerPHit standards), professional training and continuing education for planners and craftsmen, project databases (Passivehouse Database for buildings and components), event organization (International Passivhaustagung, Passivhaus on Tour, seminars), and publications. It does not offer a software product platform. Key named offerings include: Passivhaus certification and EnerPHit certification (via the Passivehouse Institute Innsbruck), PHPP (Passivhaus Projektierungspaket — planning software by the Passivehouse Institute, Germany), MEET Online tools (life-cycle building ecobalance and component comparison tools), Passivhaus courses (certified planner, consultant, craftsman, and expert training), the Passivhaus Database (world's largest collection of documented Passivhaus projects), the Components Database (certified Passivhaus components), and the Passive House Open Days (annual open-door event). The organization also facilitates networking among architects, planners, building physicists, HVAC experts, manufacturers, energy consultants, and municipalities across Austria.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Passive House Certification

Quantifiable outcome

• Heating energy reduction of over 95% (e.g., 280 kWh/m²a reduced to 12.9 kWh/m²a in EnerPHit retrofits)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Passivhaus Institut (PHI) InnsbruckcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Passivhaus Institut Innsbruck (PHI IBK) is the competent partner for planning consultancy, certification of Passive House projects and components, and continuing education for Passive House planners, craftsmen, and experts. PHI IBK operates the Passive House database and develops tools including PHPP, MEET, and easyPH. It is co-located with Passivhaus Austria at Anichstraße 29/54 in Innsbruck.
• IG Passivhaus DeutschlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint organization of the Passivhaus-Abende (Passive House Evenings) lecture series, providing current information on energy-efficient building and professional exchange. Both organizations share the Passive House Institute as a common anchor.
• OeAD student housingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOeAD student housing is a Passive House Austria member and a leading implementer of Passive House student residences in Austria. They have built the world's first Passive House student residence (2005) and first Passive House Plus student residence (GreenHouse Aspern, 2014). They organize the Green Building Solutions (GBS) Summer Universities and host the international delegation visits. Currently operates 8 Passive House student residences with 2 more under construction in Innsbruck and Dornbirn.
• International Passive House Association (iPHA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartneriPHA is the global network of Passive House organizations. Passivhaus Austria participates in iPHA Council Meetings at the International Passive House Conference, sharing country experiences and promoting practitioner-focused training for craftsmen.
• University of InnsbruckcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe University of Innsbruck is a key research and education partner. Assoc. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rainer Pfluger represents the university in Passive House research, teaching, and EU projects. The university has hosted the 27th International Passive House Conference (2024) and serves as a case study for EnerPHit renovation (Faculty of Technical Sciences, first EnerPHit-certified office building worldwide, 2014).
• EU SINFONIA Project ConsortiumflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSINFONIA was an EU-funded project for energy-efficient building renovation in which Innsbruck was a pilot city. Numerous buildings were renovated step-by-step to EnerPHit standard. 13 EnerPHit certificates were awarded in November 2022 to Neue Heimat Tirol (NHT) and Innsbrucker Immobiliengesellschaft (IIG). The project established Innsbruck as a Passive House hotspot in Europe.
• EU BEEN Project (Building Energy Efficiency in Nepal)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEU-funded project led by the University of Innsbruck that aims to promote climate-friendly building construction and renovation in Nepal. A delegation from India and Nepal visited Innsbruck to inspect Passive House projects and participated in a workshop at the University of Innsbruck.
• EU AchieVE-ZEB ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEU-funded project focused on advancing zero-emission buildings through innovative professional training. Passivhaus Austria participates through educational outreach, including lectures at HTL Imst and Semriach, to disseminate Passive House knowledge to the next generation of building professionals.
• klimaaktiv (Austrian Climate Protection Initiative)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPassivhaus Austria is a long-standing klimaaktiv partner. The Passive House standard is recognized as climate protection measure No. 1 in the building sector. PHPP can generate klimaaktiv declarations. Passivhaus Austria participated in the klimaaktiv 20th anniversary annual conference in 2024.
• Austrian World Summit / Schwarzenegger Climate InitiativeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPassivhaus Austria participates in the annual Austrian World Summit (Arnold Schwarzenegger's climate conference). Laszlo Lepp presented at the 2024 summit alongside EU Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and other international climate leaders, promoting the Passive House standard as a proven solution for climate-neutral buildings.
• Green Building Solutions (GBS) Summer UniversitiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnnual academic program managed by OeAD student housing with partners including BOKU Wien, TU Wien, University of Wien, Danube University Krems, FH Technikum Wien, AIT, and Architektur Büro Reinberg. Passivhaus Austria delivers lectures on Passive House standards to approximately 60 international students annually.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen): DGNB is the German Sustainable Building Council running a multi-attribute certification system for buildings. It is a broad incumbent in the same sustainable-building certification space as Passivhaus Austria, but covers a wider set of criteria beyond energy efficiency and serves a larger market.
• U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC): USGBC administers the LEED green-building rating system, a broader-incumbent peer to Passivhaus Austria in sustainable-building certification. LEED competes for specifier mindshare but bundles energy with broader ESG criteria, making it an adjacent incumbent in the same decision-making conversation.

Direct peers

• Passive House Institute US (PHIUS): PHIUS is the US national organization for Passive House building standards, training, and certification. It is a direct peer with the same mission of promoting Passive House adoption, training professionals, and certifying projects, but operates in the US market with a locally adapted standard.
• International Passive House Association (iPHA): iPHA is the global network linking national Passive House organizations, including Passivhaus Austria. It functions as a peer in member services, conferences, and cross-country knowledge exchange, and is a direct co-participant in the International Passive House Conference.
• Passivhaus Trust: Passivhaus Trust is the UK member organization promoting Passive House construction. It serves as a direct peer in advocacy, training, and member services, and shares Passivhaus Austria's profile of organizing workshops, conferences, and certified-professional programs.
• Passivhaus Institut (PHI): The Darmstadt, Germany-based Passivhaus Institut is the global originator of the Passive House standard and developer of PHPP, MEET, and easyPH. It is Passivhaus Austria's parent standards body, co-located in Innsbruck, making it the most direct comparable — same mission, same certification framework, same membership-and-training revenue model, but with global rather than national scope.
• IG Passivhaus Deutschland: IG Passivhaus Deutschland is the German member-based Passive House association, jointly running the Passivhaus-Abende lecture series with Passivhaus Austria. It is a direct peer — same membership-network model, same event-and-training revenue streams, same standard-setting role, but operating in the larger German market.

Others

• Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE): BPIE is a Brussels-based think tank focused on European building-energy-performance policy and research. It is a thematically related peer — not a direct competitor — but operates in the same policy-and-knowledge ecosystem, shaping EU building-efficiency frameworks that Passive House standards feed into.

Emerging players

• Energieinstitut Vorarlberg: Energieinstitut Vorarlberg is the Austrian energy research institute that introduced the Passive House concept to Austria in 1993 through Arch. Helmut Krapmeier. It is an emerging-player peer that overlaps with Passivhaus Austria on building-energy-efficiency research, training, and policy advocacy in the Austrian market.
• MINERGIE: MINERGIE is the Swiss energy-efficient building standard with a comparable certification-and-labeling model. It is an emerging-player peer serving a similar market need — high-performance building certification — but with its own national standard and Swiss geographic focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=wsJMNeNjXx8&list=PLnfvPyFz72o1kLqW808D-XRPCs6AT_lwf
• Xx.com/PHAustria
• Facebookfacebook.com/PassivhausAustria
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/passivhaus-austria

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Passivhaus Austria