An updated version of the Passive House Planning Package, the Excel spreadsheet used by designers to estimate the energy demands of Passivhaus buildings, will be released at the North American Passive House Network (NAPHN) conference next week in Vancouver.

PHPP 9, as the Passivhaus Institute (PHI) calls it, is the English version of software that has been in use successfully in Germany for several months.

“With this upgrade, PHPP can be applied on an even larger scale,” Jan Steiger, coordinator of PHPP development said in a prepared statement. “It allows the designer to compare numerous design or retrofit situations in a comprehensive manner.”

The release also marks the start of certification under new Passivhaus standards, Passive House Plus and Passive House Premium, which were announced earlier this year.

PHI said the first “Plus” buildings already have been certified in Europe.

The conference takes place on October 1 and 2. In advance, Adrian Muskatewitz of PHI will conduct workshops on Passivhaus windows in Toronto on September 28 and Vancouver on September 30.

PHPP 9 will be available by retailers in the U.S. following the conference, said NAPHN co-president Ken Levenson.

The upcoming conference is not connected with the annual conference of the Passive House Institute U.S., which took place earlier in September in Chicago.