What is a Passive House?

A building standard that is truly energy efficient, comfortable, affordable and ecological at the same time.
Passive House is not a brand name, but a construction concept that has stood the test of practice and that can be applied by anyone.

Passive Houses offer:

• An energy savings of up to 90 % compared with existing buildings and more than 75 % compared with average new buildings. In terms of heating oil a Passive House uses as little as 1.5 litres per square metre per year – far less than a low-energy building.
• A higher level of comfort! Superior air quality and pleasant temperatures year round.
• A Passive House makes use of energy sources within the building, such as the residents’ body heat or the sun entering the building, making heating so much easier.

The Passive House – the leading concept for:

• Insulation
• Thermal bridge free construction
• Airtightness
• Heat recovery ventilation
• Highly insulated windows
• Innovative building services

An energy balance is compiled to make sure that all these details are perfectly coordinated. This balance is established using the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP). (Passipedia 2010)

The Passive House Principles:

The Passive House Planning (Design) Package (PHPP) includes:

• energy calculations (incl. R or U-values)
• design of window specifications
• design of the indoor air quality ventilation system
• sizing of the heating load
• sizing of the cooling load
• forecasting for summer comfort
• sizing of the heating and domestic hot water (DHW) systems
• calculations of auxiliary electricity, primary energy requirements of such (circulation pumps, etc.), as well as projection of CO2 emissions
• verifying calculation proofs of KfW and EnEV (Europe)
• Climate Data Sheet: Climate regions may be selected from over 200 locations in Europe and North America. User-defined data can also be used
• … and a lot more tools useful in the design of passive houses, e.g. a calculation tool to determine internal heat loads, data tables for primary energy factors, etc.
• a comprehensive handbook, not only introducing PHPP use, but also highlighting crucial topics to be considered in Passive House design

More information on: www.passivhaustagung.de