By Sheri Koones Author, Journalist, Speaker
The Passive House (or Passivhaus) (PH) was first established
in
becoming a standard in many parts of the world, including the
Whereas other important standards, such as LEED), focus on many environmentally
friendly aspects of the home, such as site location, sustainability, materials,
water efficiency and so on, Passive House only focuses on energy and
ventilation. For some homebuilders, this puts a more focused concentration on
the energy aspect of home design. Although other environmental issues were not
part of the certification process, all of the Passive Houses I’ve reviewed in
my books do include those aspects.
The PH Kenmore Road House, designed by architect Jay
Fulkerson, was built using prefabricated insulated concrete panels. Because
this house was built with many energy saving aspects, the energy requirements
are minimal. The owners of the house claim that in a past very cold winter
their heating bills were between $30 and $35. This house is located in
Carolina
Energy consumption for space heating and cooling in a
Passive House is designed to save approximately 75 percent of the entire energy
used in typical buildings. The requirements for certification are stringent and
specify maximum heat and cooling demand, total primary energy consumption, and
a maximum leakage of air volume per hour at 50 Pascal pressure, which is
measured with a blower door test. Passive Houses are designed with
super-insulation, high performance windows, an airtight building shell and the
use of an energy recovery ventilation (ERV) to exchange the interior air with
fresh outside air. Since Passive Houses are so airtight, ventilation is needed
to keep the air fresh and healthy inside the house.
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