The NY14 Passive House Conference opens on June 17 with an address by Diana Ãœrge-Vorsatz, a climate change scientist whose work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) helped the group to a shared Nobel Prize in 2007.

Organizers of the one-day event at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City said Ãœrge-Vorsatz will discuss several issues, including the role of building efficiency in reducing carbon emissions.

The IPCC shared the 2007 prize with Al Gore for their collective efforts to increase public understanding of man-made climate change.

A panel that includes Richard Leigh, director of research at Urban Green Council, and Passive House Academy founder Thomas O’Leary will discuss the relationship between efficiency and a green power grid in a session titled “The Energy Puzzle.”

Organizers said other presentations would focus on particular building projects, including a multi-family apartment building in New York, a primary school and university buildings in London, dormitory housing in Ireland and a green city district in Brussels.

Another session will discuss retrofit projects in New York.

There are more details about the program in this post online.