Passive House · Nov 3, 03:35 PM
A new kind of home is taking over Europe. It is called the Passive House, or Passivhaus, in the language of its inventor, Wolfgang Feiss. The first Passivhaus was built in 1990, and 18 years later, the EU has scheduled adoption of the Passive House standard into their 2015 the building code.
So what is a Passive House? It is any house than can be built and certified to achieve the following:
- Use no more than 1.5 kWh/square foot/ year in heating energy.
- Use no more than 12 kWh/square foot/ per year for all heating, hot water and electricity.
- Allow no more than .6 air changes per hour air infiltration.
The Passive House drastically reduces the demand side of the energy equation. It requires super-insulating and super-sealing the skin of the house. The costs of this extra attention to the building envelope are largely offset by the fact that the typical $40,000 heating and air conditioning system is simply not needed—these houses can be heated and cooled by the equivalent of a window air conditioner! As a result, energy costs for these houses are about 10% of those of a typical home. They are also incredibly comfortable, because there are no hot or cold areas, and no drafts.
Sound too good to be true? 20,000 families now living in Passive Houses disagree! We have joined the Passive House Institute network and are now learning the Institute’s energy modeling progam and energy detailing systems, upon which certification of Passive Houses is based. As energy costs continue to rise, and as our nation awakens to the realities of climate change, this approach to building may become mainstream here, as it is already becoming in Europe.
Update: Our Passivhaus Prototype shows how these super-efficient houses could fit into neighborhoods on this side of the Atlantic.
— David Peabody
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