On May 30, 2019, the first ETH-EPFL Pacific Northwest Alumni event was attended by close to twenty graduates in a coffee shop at the edge of Vancouver’s historic Gastown.

Marcel Studer, an ETH alumni, founder and owner of Econ Group Construction Ltd., spoke passionately about the origins of the PassiveHaus standard and its emergence as the new way to build sustainably in British Columbia. At one point during his presentation Marcel spoke of the Minergie system prevalent in Switzerland and how it compares to the PassiveHaus standard. The half dozen or so questions at the end of the 15’ presentation were a clear indication of the attendees’ interest in this subject.

Members of the Swiss Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Swiss Consulate were also present.