Ventilation, in all its forms, is about a lot more than fresh air. As homes become ever more airtight there is the irony that increasing thought has to be given to how they are ventilated, since a constant supply of fresh air is vital for the health of both the occupants and the building’s fabric.

For a house to be deemed passive, it must draw a minimal amount of active external energy, if any at all (excluding solar), to run its space and water heating and keep it cool, where needed. Passive houses are sometimes termed ‘body heat houses’,

Ireland has woken up to the Passive House. Seven years ago Tomas O’Leary built Ireland’s first certified passive house in Wicklow – a home that showed Germanic influences in looks as well as energy performance.

The 2011 update of BREEAM will produce a streamlined methodology for assessing new non-domestic buildings, presented in a single document and more closely aligned with emerging European Standards.

You've been told many times about the need to insulate your home to a high standard. This is indeed by far the most cost-effective way to lower your fuel bills, not to mention comply with the energy requirements of the building regulations.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to build a home that doesn't need central heating - what's required is the right specification and the correct installation.

A 1940's semi has become the first building in the UK to both reach the Passivhaus retrofit standard and be certified by a UK based certifier. Low carbon engineering consultants Encraft were appointed by housing association Orbit House of England to retrofit one of its 14,000 homes as part of a pilot scheme.

Formed 50 to 60 million years ago, the Giant's Causeway is a promontory of basalt columns along four miles of the northern coast of the Antrim plateau between Causeway Head and Benbane Head, jutting out of the cliff faces as if they were steps creeping into the sea.

Dominic Lawson Published Sunday Times: 1 April 2012 The gap between comfort and chaos in modern civilisation is alarmingly narrow and defined by a four-letter word: fuel.

All was not well when work began on this impressive Co Cork home and its architect had to pull out the stops to make the eco-home fit the brief.