Katrin Klingenberg

Katrin Klingenberg is a visionary who has driven adoption of the Phius Standard throughout the past 20 years. Passive building methodology originated in the United States and Canada in the 1970s and was enhanced in Germany in the 1990s. Klingenberg reinvigorated it in the United States in 2003 when she built the first passive house in Champaign-Urbana. Her home sparked considerable interest and she went on to found the non-profit organization Phius (Passive House Institute US), dedicated to making passive building a mainstream best practice. She developed and delivered building-science based training on how to design and build energy efficient and zero-energy buildings. Over the past ten years she has collaborated with federal and state government agencies to tailor the Phius Standard for each of the nine US climate zones— an adaptation that cost-optimized passive building and has driven widespread adoption. She has also consulted internationally to adapt the standard for climate zones around the world. Phius continually refines the standard to meet increasingly stringent efficiency goals, to make buildings meet carbon neutrality goals, and to make buildings the core building block of the 21st century electrical grid: resilient, digitized, distributed and interactive.

Ms. Klingenberg has designed and consulted on numerous passive building projects globally. In her role as Executive Director of Phius, she directs the technical, research and educational programs of the organization. Klingenberg earned a B.S. in Architecture from the Technische Universität in Berlin, Germany, earned an M.S. in Architecture from Ball State University, and is a licensed architect in Germany.

Ms. Klingenberg has written numerous magazine articles and made several book contributions. She has presented nationally and internationally on the topic of passive building science. Most recent publications: Chapter 14 Stranded Carbon: Approach every project as though PHIUS+, the building energy code of the future, were in effect today in: “Sustainable Nation – Urban Design Patterns for the Future,” Douglas Farr, Wiley 2018; chapter Passive Building and Bioclimatic Architecture in “Handbook of Energy Efficiency in Buildings,” Elsevier 2018; chapter Passive House in “Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology,” Springer 2012, updated in 2018; Zero Energy & Carbon Buildings Based on Climate Specific Passive Building Standards for North America, Journal of Building Physics, SAGE Publications 2016; and the U.S. Department of Energy, Building Technologies Office, Building America Program Report Climate-Specific Passive Building Standards, NREL 2015.

In 2015, she won the Woman in Sustainability Leadership Award (WSLA2015). In 2017, she was one of 12 women entrepreneurs selected from around the world for the Global Ambassador Program of Vital Voices.