Phnw - Passive House Northwest

What Phnw - Passive House Northwest does

Passive House Northwest (PHnw) is a nonprofit community organization headquartered in Tumwater, Washington that promotes the Passive House building standard across the Pacific Northwest region. The organization is composed of Certified Passive House Consultants, builders, architects, HVAC designers, and other construction professionals, and functions as a regional hub for education, community building, and policy advocacy focused on highly energy-efficient construction, sustainability, durability, and healthy indoor environments. Its core activities center on the Passive House standard, which emphasizes superinsulation, airtightness, high-performance windows, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) to produce ultra-low energy buildings with minimal carbon footprint.

PHnw's product surface consists of educational events and programming rather than commercial goods. The flagship offering is the annual Spring Conference—in 2024 themed "The HVAC Summit for Passive Buildings"—which features keynote speakers, panel discussions, and networking. A secondary offering is the Seattle Projects Bus Tour, a full-day showcase of passive, high-performance, and low embodied-carbon buildings. The organization also maintains ongoing educational programming and knowledge dissemination on Passive House principles, including embodied carbon considerations in HVAC design.

Revenue is generated through conference and event registration fees, corporate sponsorships from Passive House component suppliers and builders (Small Planet Supply, SIGA, Innotech, Cascade Aero Barrier, Walsh Construction, 475 High Performance Building Supply), and membership dues. The organization is governed by a board of directors and collaborates strategically with Passive House Alliance US (PHAUS), the University of Washington Life Cycle Lab, and CertiPhiers Cooperative. No employees, revenue figures, or funding rounds are disclosed in available sources, consistent with a small volunteer-driven regional association rather than a venture-backed entity.

Name

Phnw - Passive House Northwest

Legal name

Passive House Northwest

Website

https://passivehousenorthwest.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Passive House Northwest is a regional nonprofit organization that promotes energy-efficient Passive House construction standards through annual conferences, building tours, and community education for building professionals across the Pacific Northwest.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Building Industry Education and Advocacy

NAICS

Residential Building Construction (2361), Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings (56179)

SIC

Services-To Dwellings & Other Buildings (7340)

akta.pro primary industry

Residential Green / High-Performance Home Construction (Net-Zero, Passive House) (IMAFABAH)

Keywords

• Passive house education
• Energy efficient construction
• High performance buildings
• HVAC design training
• Building industry events

Headquarters

HQ city

Tumwater

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Conference and Event Registration: Revenue generated through conference registration fees, sponsorships, and event participation fees for educational programs like the annual Spring Conference and Seattle Projects Bus Tour.
2. Membership Dues: Organization encourages membership sign-ups, suggesting membership fees as a revenue stream for supporting the Passive House community and educational initiatives.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Passive House Northwest is a nonprofit professional association that promotes the Passive House building standard in the Pacific Northwest through educational events, community building, and policy advocacy. It delivers annual conferences (e.g., the 2024 Spring Conference – The HVAC Summit for Passive Buildings held May 10, 2024 at McMenamin's Anderson School in Bothell, WA), site tours such as the Seattle Projects Bus Tour, and education and training programs on energy-efficient construction, with revenue from membership dues, event registrations, and sponsorships.

Product overview

Passive House Northwest is a membership-based nonprofit organization that promotes Passive House construction standards through educational events, community building, and advocacy. The organization offers conference events (such as the annual 2024 Spring Conference and HVAC Summit), building project tours (Seattle Projects Bus Tour), and educational programs on Passive House principles. These offerings work together to advance energy efficiency, sustainability, and durability in building construction across the Pacific Northwest region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• 2024 Spring Conference – The HVAC Summit for Passive Buildings A one-day, single-track conference held May 10, 2024 at McMenamin's Anderson School in Bothell, WA, focused on HVAC systems in Passive Buildings. Features keynote speakers, panel discussions on single-family and multifamily HVAC applications, networking, and a Passive House building tour, targeting architects, builders, HVAC designers, and developers seeking durable, healthy, resilient, comfortable, and energy-efficient low-load buildings.
• Seattle Projects Bus Tour A full-day bus tour on May 11, 2024 showcasing passive, high-performance, and low embodied-carbon buildings across Seattle, including single-family residences, multifamily apartments, and commercial buildings. Open to all attendees with lunch provided, offering hands-on learning of Passive Building principles applied across building types.
• Passive House Education and Training Programs Educational programming that promotes highly energy-efficient construction through implementation of the Passive House concept, including facilitating communication and resource sharing, disseminating knowledge on the Passive House standard, and providing outreach to the general public. Targets building professionals and the broader community seeking to learn about Passive House principles.
• Passive House Northwest Membership Membership program supporting the Passive House community and educational initiatives, providing members with access to events, resources, and a professional network of Certified Passive House Consultants and related industry professionals.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Small Planet SupplycoreOthersSponsor of Passive House Northwest events. Company imports and distributes passive house components with branch offices in Tumwater, WA and Vancouver, BC. Founded by Albert Rooks who is a founding Board Member of Passive House Northwest.
• SIGA (Swiss)minorOthersSponsor of Passive House Northwest events, providing support for high-performance building initiatives.
• InnotechminorOthersSponsor of Passive House Northwest events supporting Passive House education and community building.
• Cascade Aero BarrierminorOthersSponsor supporting Passive House Northwest events and initiatives.
• PH (Passive House)coreOthersSponsor and standards organization partner. Passive House is the international standard for energy-efficient buildings that the organization promotes.
• COREminorOthersSponsor of Passive House Northwest events supporting high-performance building community.
• Walsh ConstructioncoreOthersSponsor and active participant. Sharon Libby Eyerly serves as Quality Director at Walsh Construction Co. and is a PHIUS Certified Builder, representing Walsh in the Passive House community.
• PivotminorOthersSponsor supporting Passive House Northwest events and educational programming.
• 475 High Performance Building SupplyminorOthersSponsor supporting Passive House Northwest. Shaun St-Amour previously worked as product consultant with 475 for Western Canada.
• Passive House Alliance US (PHAUS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational organization for Passive House in the US. Dan Whitmore serves as Chair of Passive House Alliance US and is a founding Board Member of Passive House Northwest. Active collaboration on standards and advocacy.
• University of Washington Life Cycle LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAndrew Himes serves as Director of Collective Impact at the Life Cycle Lab at UW, working on initiatives to reduce embodied carbon emissions in built environments.
• CertiPhiers CooperativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternationally accredited building certification company co-founded by Albert Rooks and Tad Everhart in 2015. Verifies projects are built to International Passive House Standard.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC): National nonprofit administering LEED green building certification and operating a large event/conference portfolio (Greenbuild). Comparable professional-advocacy and educational-event mission in green building, but at much larger scale and broader scope.
• International Passive House Association (iPHA): Global Passive House membership and conference body. Phnw references active collaboration with international Passive House organizations, making this a peer in the same advocacy and education space at global scale.
• Passive House Institute US (PHIUS): National Passive House standards, training, and certification body. PHIUS sets the US-specific Passive House standard that PHnw promotes locally, and Dan Whitmore co-developed PHIUS Certified Builder Training.

Regional players

• Build It Green: California-based nonprofit promoting green building practices through certification, education, and advocacy. Comparable nonprofit membership-and-events operating model targeting building professionals in a regional market.
• Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA): Regional nonprofit advancing energy efficiency in the Pacific Northwest. Operates in the same Pacific Northwest geography and building-efficiency domain, but with broader programmatic scope beyond Passive House specifically.
• Energy Trust of Oregon: Oregon-based independent nonprofit offering energy-efficiency programs, incentives, and training. Shares the Pacific Northwest geography and energy-efficient construction audience with PHnw.

Emerging players

• Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF): University of Washington-hosted forum (UW Life Cycle Lab is a CLF partner) advancing embodied carbon reduction in buildings. Comparable Pacific Northwest footprint and professional-education mission, with significant overlap in PHnw's 2024 embodied carbon programming.

Direct peers

• Passive House Alliance US (PHAUS): National umbrella organization for regional Passive House chapters. PHnw is a regional affiliate, and PHAUS's Chair (Dan Whitmore) is a PHnw founding board member, making this the closest direct peer at the federation level.
• New York Passive House (NYPHA): Regional Passive House chapter serving the New York metro area with education, advocacy, and networking events. Operates an analogous conference-and-tour model under the same national network.
• Northeast Passive House: Sister regional Passive House chapter serving the Northeast US with similar event, education, and advocacy programming. Direct structural peer — both operate as volunteer-led chapters under the PHAUS umbrella.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/phnw-passive-house-northwest

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Phnw - Passive House Northwest