The 28th International Passive House Conference will take place in the German city of Essen in April 2026. The main theme of the conference is 'Driving Transformation with Energy Efficiency!': High energy efficiency is essential to making the buildings ready for the future.
The conference with its varied programme will take place in Essen's House of Technology. The call for Papers has begun and will run until the end of June 2025.
Future-proof building stock
The Passive House Institute and its partners are inviting them to Essen for the 28th International Passive House Conference. The multifaceted conference with scientific contributions, the trade exhibition with highly energy-efficient components and an extensive side programme including building tours, will take place on 24 and 25 April 2026 in the Haus der Technik (House of Technology).
The conference’s focus, ‘Driving Transformation with Energy Efficiency!’', addresses the needed change towards a climate-friendly and future-proof building stock, for which a high level of energy efficiency is indispensable.
Call for papers until the end of June
The short abstracts for presentations can be submitted until the end of June 2025
Workshops will again be held in the run-up to the conference. Directly after the event, there will be the opportunity to take part in excursions to impressive Passive House projects in Essen and the surrounding area. "The Ruhr region and the city of Essen have undergone an impressive transformation. The conference shows that together we can manage to transform the building stock to make it climate-friendly and ready for the future."
"To achieve this, we must do one thing without fail: focus on high energy efficiency, including energy-efficient refurbishments. Only then, our buildings will get by with little energy for heating and cooling," explains Jan Steiger, a member of the management board of the Passive House Institute. The call for papers for the 28th International Passive House Conference has just begun. The short abstracts for presentations can be submitted until the end of June 2025. The scientific advisory board will then decide on the conference speakers.
Successful examples of change
In Essen, successful examples of the transition to greater energy efficiency in new builds and refurbishments will be presented, including projects from North Rhine-Westphalia and Germany, as well as international highlights and projects from challenging climatic zones. The focus will also be on highly energy-efficient non-residential buildings such as museums, swimming pools, laboratories, and (commercial) kitchens.
The life cycle assessment of highly energy-efficient buildings and the reusability of building materials are also becoming increasingly important topics that will be discussed in Essen. In addition, the focus will be on neighborhoods and municipal heat supply, as well as heat pumps and split appliances for new and existing buildings.
Refurbishment: simple and cost-effective
The complete list of topics can be found on the website of the 28th International Passive House Conference
"Rapid, simple and, above all, cost-effective modernization is an ongoing social and climate policy issue. This is also the focus in Essen, and we will be showing how existing buildings can be transformed in an uncomplicated and user-friendly way," says Jan Steiger.
This also includes the areas of prefabrication and all-in-one solutions for highly energy-efficient components. The complete list of topics can be found on the website of the 28th International Passive House Conference.
Trade exhibition
An integral part of the International Passive House Conference is the trade exhibition for Passive House components, for which registration is also open.
Manufacturing companies will be presenting their components for highly energy-efficient construction and refurbishments, which offers great economic opportunities. In addition to the workshops and excursions, there are numerous networking events on several days.
