The man with the plan to bring Passive Houses and wood high rises to North America

As architect Guido Wimmers explains, his native Germany and other countries in Europe count 50,000 PassivHaus constructions thus far. But the hyper-efficient buildings are just getting started in British Columbia, where he has set up shop. I interviewed him on his net-zero building for Austria at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, as well as why he champions the use of wood to build high rises. (Photo: North America's tallest wood building, at 90 feet, on the University of Northern British Columbia, where Wimmers teaches)

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