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Passive house

 

Passive house is a house that consumes 90-95% less heat and energy than traditional brick or concrete buildings.

In this section we will describe the design features used in a passive house, key features and methods of building them.

To begin, let's understand what kind of house can be called and what criteria it should match.

The concept passivhaus appeared in Germany in the early 90's. It was at that time that the concept of an energy-saving building with ultra-low energy consumption appeared, a standard was developed and clear eligibility criteria were defined. The main criterion was the annual energy consumption - 15 kW * h / (m2 * h). This means that a house with an area of 100 m2 per year should spend no more than 1500 kW of energy. You can compare this indicator with energy consumption in a standard apartment or a traditional home. Traditionally, in standard housing, the energy consumption is 8-12 times higher.

Institute of passive house

At the moment in Germany this standard has been adopted as a national and all new buildings from 2020 should answer it. Following the criteria and certification is followed by the Passivhause Institut Institute located in Darmstadt.

We were in this town and saw the first building in the world from which this story began.

first passive house

In the suburbs of this small town there is an entire district with energy-efficient and passive houses.

street with passive houses

I would like to note that there are no certified passive houses projects.


Passive can be called only the already built house that in practice showed compliance with the specified standards and passed the necessary certification. Such a certificate greatly enhances the cost of building on the real estate market not only in Germany but also in the whole world.

So why is such a good standard of passive home?
There are many energy efficiency standards around the world. LEED in the USA, BREEAM in the UK, DNGB in Germany, ISO 13790 in the European Union and others. All these standards are good criteria but difficult to apply. Passive Hous Institut has developed an effective and easy-to-use tool for designing - PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) - Passive House Planning Package. This program, which contains all the basic data on the design of the future home and at the exit, we can see whether it is conceived by the real criteria and in the process to correct the deficiencies found.

We have been using this program since 2012.

What should you pay attention to when creating your super energy efficient home?
Passive house, eligibility criteria:

criteria of a passive house

  • The level of insulation of enclosing structures (walls, roof, floor of the first floor) - the coefficient of thermal conductivity

  • U should be no more than 0,15 W / m2 * K;

  • Maximum reduction and isolation of bridges of cold (monolithic belts, balconies, etc.);

  • The optimal, compact form of the house;

  • Use of free solar energy in winter;

  • Correct orientation of the building on the sides of the world;

  • Use of window constructions with minimal heat loss;

  • Tightness of the building to prevent infiltration heat loss. Checked by BlowDoor test;

  • Use of forced ventilation with heat recovery;

  • Use of solar collectors for heating water and heating pumps for heating and cooling;

    For successful construction of such a house a coordinated work of architects, designers, engineers and builders is required. And special attention should be paid to the choice of a qualified commander and building crew. After all, the negligent attitude to the developed nodes and solutions can nullify all the efforts of engineers, and you will learn about it only living in an already built house.

    We are fully committed to monitoring all key stages of building an energy efficient home by timely conducting thermal imaging tests and tightness tests."blowerdoor test"

We want to note that the cost of such a house is more traditional than just 10-15%

About the calculation of the cost of energy-efficient homes, read our articles.

But the operating costs are lower than 10 times.

In our articles you will learn about many solutions and ideas in the construction and design of passive houses.

We will help you to calculate your house project according to the Passive House Planning Package program.

We can advise you on the best ways to finalize the project and the specificity of placing the structure on your site. And we will tell you about engineering systems and interesting new items that will increase the comfort of your family nest, improve home security and help you minimize utilities bills. We will also be happy to help you in designing your energy saving or passive house or make a project for energy-efficient reconstruction of the existing structure.

Contact us and ask questions that interest you in energy-efficient construction.

Read about house and project energy audits here

For a passive home and all our energy efficiency services, see here