06: Smoke Signals: Passivhaus mandates now.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have had fairly significant wildfire smoke for the last six weeks. For the most part, wind patterns have kept much of the Seattle Metro from experiencing the worst of it. That changed this week, as weather patterns shifted and the dense wildfire smoke cloaked our region for several days, thrusting both Seattle and Portland into the cities with the worst air quality globally.

Unfortunately, this pattern is likely to worsen as the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains continue to dry out. Due to their rugged, steep terrain and abundant fuel - fighting wildfires is going to be significantly different than on the dryer, and eastern slopes of the cascades. Containment and mitigation will be the main strategies in dealing with this smoke.

However, cities have not prepared for this new normal to the extent they should have, with studies predicting this very issue for decades. We already utilize public buildings for weather that is extremely warm or cold - the next logical step is to utilize public buildings as fresh air centers for smoke and air pollution events. The region has also added over a hundred thousand homes in just the last decade. Unfortunately, weak energy codes that failed to mandate Passivhaus only ensured that there was significant carbon lock-in with these, and an inability to adapt and mitigate climate change to the effect they could have.

Had we mandated Passivhaus levels of construction, with airtight buildings and fresh, filtered ventilation - many more of these buildings could adapt to these types of events, and ruggedized against an increasingly dangerous normal. We need climate leaders who will take these issues seriously, and act swiftly.

Further reading...

Passive House: Climate-Proofing Against Disease and Smoke, Hayley Cloona in Passive Buildings Canada.

Will blankets of wildfire smoke be our new seasonal normal?, via KUOW.

Inside the Bolt Creek Fire and the Newly Burning Forests of the Western Cascades, via Seattle Times.

US Northwest towns ‘woefully unprepared’ as fire risk grows, via the AP.

Managing Western Washington Wildfire Risk in a Changing Climate, report  (pdf) via UW's Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center

King County Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy, report (pdf) via King County. 

Passive House on the Frontlines: Wildfire Smoke & Indoor Air Quality, roundtable hosted by Passive House Accelerator.

Another Good Reason to Go Passivhaus: It Keeps the Smoke Out, Lloyd Alter over on Treehugger.

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