The link there is a great intro to what exactly a PassivHaus is:
The Passive House (Passivhaus) Standard—A comparison to other cold climate low-energy housesBy John Straube Building Science Insight 025: last updated 2009/10/14 | |
The Passivhaus (PH) standard is a set of voluntary criteria for an ultra-low energy use home. Originally developed in Germany for houses and low-rise multi-unit residential buildings, the standard has been applied to houses in a range of other countries and to commercial buildings as well. The most interesting aspect of the criteria of the Passivhaus standard may be that it has relatively few mandatory requirements, thereby providing design flexibility, and that it focuses exclusively on energy consumption. There are, however, many recommendations in the PH program that are not likely good decisions for cold climate (DOE Climate Zones 5-7) North American housing, and some are very impractical with little or no benefit to the environment or the homeowner.
Passive House in Darmstadt, Kranichstein — South elevation (left)
and interior (right)
(From http://www.passiv.de/)
The unique focus of the PH standard is an exceptional concern for heat loss by conduction and air leakage through the building enclosure and a complete disregard for the climate zone in its recommendations. High insulation values, very high performance windows, and airtightness levels better than any other building program anywhere are the normal result. Very efficient appliances are also practically required to meet the energy consumption targets.
Despite their name, homes built to the Passivhaus standard are not “passive.” All Passivhauses must have an active mechanical ventilation system and all have some type of active heating system, albeit very small ones. The use of passive solar design principles is recommended but not mandatory.
The Passivhaus concept was developed by Dr Wolfgang Feist and Prof. Bo Adamson in the late 80’s and implemented in research in the 1990’s. According to Feist, the inspiration of the PH program was the housing of William Shurcliff (a solar house pioneer) and Harold Orr (a superinsulated house pioneer of Saskatchewan House).
Typical Passivhaus Approach
The typical Passive House approach is focused almost exclusively on the reduction of space heating loads, leaving the lighting, hotwater, cooling, appliance and misc. electrical loads to fall under the “total primary” requirement. However, it is widely acknowledged that very efficient appliances and lighting must be used to meet the primary/source energy targets in most cases.
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wow. that's really cool! would you retrofit current houses with this technology or would you only be building new places?
ReplyDeleteyou can do both!! we can retrofit almost any existing home to passive house standards.
ReplyDeleteAlso, according to European Union Law, it is mandatory that all new homes built in Germany and a lot of Europe are built to PH!