No, a good passive building design uses less energy and allows for greater savings in the energy demand of the building services. However, as both reference building and proposed building models in a JV3 assessment must use the same building design, the improved passive design also applies to the reference building. JV3 assessment in its current form, mainly benefits from the use of efficient services like high-efficiency chiller, heat pump, condensing gas water heaters or the use of renewables for the proposed building, instead of innovative passive design solutions.