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Passivhaus Article
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Passivhaus THE BUILDING OF THE FUTURE BY ARIELE GOODE
G B R I o n l i n e . o r g /a r t i c l e s
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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S . . .
What is Passivhaus? 3 Environmentally Sustainable 5 Passivhaus Design and Energy Efficiency
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Passing Passivhaus Certification 8 Case Studies 10 Conclusion 13 References 14
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PASSIVHAUS IS THE GERMAN WORD FOR “PASSIVE HOUSE.” BY DEFINITION, PASSIVHAUS MEANS “A BUILDING STANDARD THAT IS TRULY ENERGY EFFICIENT, COMFORTABLE, AFFORDABLE AND ECOLOGICAL AT THE SAME TIME.”
WHAT IS PASSIVHAUS? Passivhaus is the German word for “Passive House.” By definition, Passivhaus means “a building standard that is truly energy efficient, comfortable, affordable and ecological at the same time.” This may feel like a dream, but the concept is rather achievable! “Passive House is not a brand name, but a construction concept that can be applied by anyone and that has stood the test of practice. Passivhaus is popular in all parts of Europe and even different countries have different names for what Passivhaus means to them. For instance, Switzerland uses a standard called MINERGIE- P to reduce their ecological footprint. MINERGIE- P has a similar standard as that of Passivhaus. G B R I o n l i n e . o r g /a r t i c l e s
Passivhaus buildings are different from most low- energy buildings because they are high in comfort levels. Heating and cooling of your house is easier with Passivhaus and the systems within your house are built and used more efficiently through the construction efforts of Passivhaus. Passivhaus can also reduce health risks, such as radon levels in your home. Passivhaus has been praised for its comfortability factor, quality of design, affordability, versatility, and of course environmental sustainability. How does it work, though? Let’s walk through some of the basic principles of Passivhaus. 3
Affordability A building of this quality has to be majorly expensive, right? Not at all! Passivhaus buildings are a great investment, since you’ll end up saving money on air conditioning and heating with time in your Passivhaus. Also, the price is pretty affordable to begin with and many countries are implementing financial support measures for those wishing to have a Passivhaus. This encourages a more green and environmentally friendly nation, so many countries are for it.
Versatility Passivhaus design can be carried out by any trained architect that has studied Passivhaus design. Passivhaus also can be incorporated in more ways than just home design. It’s already been seen in public buildings like schools. So much energy and money go into heating and cooling these large buildings, and still some classrooms remain far too cold or far too hot. Passivhaus can make large buildings, like schools, easily heated and cooled and just the right temperature.
Comfort Residents of Passivhaus buildings rave about the comfort it gives them. Often when we think of energy efficiency we can think of cold, sterile rooms and energy efficient machines. However, Passivhaus allows heating and cooling levels to be done in a smarter way, but in a way that’s still comfortable for the residents that live in the Passivhaus.
Quality of Design The design of Passivhaus has been rigorously studied and implemented into real homes. We’ll get more into the design specifics later in the article, but know that Passivhaus has been praised for its ability to have airtight houses and a high level of insulation unlike anything experienced before. A Passivhaus building is not made halfheartedly.
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PASSIVHAUS IS ALSO NOT JUST IN EUROPE. IT’S SPREADING GLOBALLY AND MANY PLACES HAVE MULTIPLE ARCHITECTURE SPECIALISTS THAT ARE TRAINED TO TEACH THE DESIGN OF PASSIVHAUS.
It’s spreading globally and many places have multiple architecture specialists that are trained to teach the design of Passivhaus.
Passivhaus can also be incorporated into a pre- existing home. You don’t need to start from scratch when building a Passivhaus. You can take components of Passivhaus and apply them to your already existing home. This cut backs on the need to re- build every house and building we already have. That would take us backward in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability. Passivhaus allows for easy incorporation into houses and maximum efficiency. Passivhaus is also not just in Europe.
Passivhaus buildings use very little primary energy and non- renewable resources. With non- renewable resources, once they’re gone, they’re gone. Passivhaus works to ensure that future generations have the same level of comfort and energy efficiency as we do today. In order to have this high standard for sustainability we have to change something in out lives today, Passivhaus gives us that small change that makes a big impact. The basis in Passivhaus design is insulation. We will get more into this in the next
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Environmentally Sustainable
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chapter, but know that one of the major reasons Passivhaus is so environmentally sustainable is because heat and cool air is trapped in the Passivhaus from such great insulation standards. The Passivhaus is our new future. The concept and execution of the Passivhaus has been seen to work in theory and practice. If we want to make a change for our future generations, we have to start now. Passivhaus allows us to take that ecologically positive step to achieving a more balanced and greener world. The standards for heating and cooling that we have today don’t have to stay the same. We must change our habits and structures in order to evolve and continue prospering. Passivhaus is the first of many steps towards comfortable energy efficiency.
PASSIVHAUS DESIGN AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY Now that we know what Passivhaus is and the benefits that come with it, how does the design work? Are there certain aspects to Passivhaus that make it more energy efficient than most? Let’s cover all of those questions. Passivhaus runs on the
concept of embodied energy and lowering the up- front environmental effects of embodied energy. “Embodied energy is the ‘upstream’ or ‘front-end’ component of the life cycle impact of a home.” With this, Passivhaus building techniques aim to lower the
amount of embodied energy that’s used in the formation of buildings. Passivhaus techniques then try to keep energy levels low for the remainder of the building’s life through the instillation of practical designs.
Insulation Insulation is a huge part of the Passivhaus design technique. Often poor insulation is incorporated into a standard house. This can lead to colder rooms than others and hotter rooms than others all in the same house. Insulation is a top priority of the Passivhaus, as insulation is what keeps the heat inside your home rather than escaping out. The right quality materials used in isolating a Passivhaus is important to the success of the Passivhaus. Stone wool is favored by many Passivhaus engineers for its ability to keep heat and cool air inside the four walls of your house. Insulation helps to cancel out noise pollution from outside as well. Multiple benefits come with the design and approach of Passivhaus.
INSULATION IS A TOP PRIORITY OF THE PASSIVHAUS, AS INSULATION IS WHAT KEEPS THE HEAT INSIDE YOUR HOME RATHER THAN ESCAPING OUT.
No Thermal Bridging One of the key principles of design for a Passivhaus is the elimination of thermal bridging in the building. Thermal bridging is “the movement of heat across an object that is more conductive than the materials around it.” 6
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These thermal bridges are often made in classically designed houses. However, they don’t do well at trapping heat and account for much of the energy lost in a home. With a Passivhaus, thermal bridging is replaced by other techniques in order to improve the efficiency of energy in the design. Don’t worry if your house was made with thermal bridging. You don’t have to tear your whole house down to achieve a Passivhaus. External insulation can be added to your house. When your house needs new siding, add an extra layer of insulation in between. This will give your house more protection from the outside world that it lacks with thermal bridging.
WE WANT OUR WINDOWS TO KEEP OUT ANY UNNECESSARY HEAT AND LET IN ANY WANTED COOL AIR, AND VICE VERSA. stone, while rubber and plastic and other porous materials are not great at trapping heat in. With faulty windows, a Passivhaus cannot fully succeed. Often windows are overlooked as the reason why your house is poorly holding heat, but they are a major reason why. Luckily, Passivhaus approved windows can be put into place in any house, whether new or old.
Airtight Houses
Better Windows
Along with isolation and good windows, a core principle of Passivhaus is having airtight design. Passivhaus describes that “there should be no uncontrolled airflow between the internal and external environment.” This means drafts from windows or the cracks under and beside the door are not allowed. Think about houses in cold parts of the world. Often when winter rolls around we stuff blankets and pillows against the bottom of our front and back door to stop cold drafts from coming in. Passivhaus takes this action into account and does the hard work for you. Now you don’t have to check if the door is padded with blanket insulation, because a tight seal will be on the door when it closes.
Passivhaus buildings have very high- quality windows. The windows used in Passivhaus design have a low thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity is “the degree to which a specified material conducts electricity.” We want our windows to keep out any unnecessary heat and let in any wanted cool air, and vice versa. Great low thermal conductivity materials are metals and
Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery Even though the house is airtight, a good ventilation system is still in place. The ventilation system cleans the hot air from the outside and turns it into the cool clean air coming in. This not only offers better indoor air quality but also little loss of energy from the process. This leads to cleaner air and less worry about common housing problems like radon levels and pollution from the outside air coming in. Have a home that protects not only the environment, but you with Passivhaus. Because of all these design aspects, Passivhaus houses use much less heat than a traditional house. According to Passivhaus, “the energy required to heat a passive house is 90% lower than that of other buildings. G B R I o n l i n e . o r g /a r t i c l e s
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Passive homes therefore do not rely on traditional heating sources like furnaces or boilers. Instead, they use renewable energy sources like solar panels, geothermal energy or heat pumps.” This allows for both energy efficiency and a lower electricity bill for you. The reduction of non- renewable energy sources allows for energy consumption to be maintained for the next generation and for less harm on the planet right now to take place. As you can see, Passivhaus has these simple principles that when used in conjunction together can add up to yield great results. Not only are the design tips great for the environment, but they help you financially in the long- run and keep your health at the best it can be. The time to start controlling and monitoring out energy consumption is now and Passivhaus makes energy efficiency easy and affordable.
PASSING PASSIVHAUS CERTIFICATION Once you begin to transition to energy efficiency, you won’t want to go back. Therefore, we want to make sure our house or building fits all of the Passivhaus certification needs. Here are the technical requirements for building a property that can qualify for a Passivhaus certificate. But first, why even get a certificate? This is to record and expand the design of passivhaus’ around the world. This will not only help you, but will help your nation look good on a national scale. Further benefits of certification, as listed on the website are “quality assurance for planners of high-performance and Passive House buildings, presentation in Passive House Institute component data base, entrance into a growing market, increased market visibility and product recognition, independently tested and certified, use of Certified Passive House Component seal, and announcement to Passive House stakeholders in monthly newsletters.” As you can see, if you’re able to install a Passivhaus approved system, there
are many perks that come along with it beyond the obvious saving of money and energy.
AS YOU CAN SEE, IF YOU’RE ABLE TO INSTALL A PASSIVHAUS APPROVED SYSTEM, THERE ARE MANY PERKS THAT COME ALONG WITH IT BEYOND THE OBVIOUS SAVING OF MONEY AND ENERGY.
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GLAZING IS LIKE A SECOND PROTECTIVE MEASURE TO ENSURE THAT YOUR WINDOWS ARE UP TO THE HIGHEST STANDARD OF PASSIVHAUS
or external blinds. On the same lines, you should have window instillation systems to protect from the sun. These cut down the amount of energy you have to use, because heat will stay trapped outside.
Window Certification One of the many certificates you’ll need to obtain will be in window regulation. This is necessary for Passivhaus certification because high quality windows are a must in regulating cooling and heating. Transparent options for windows consist of window frames, frames for fixed glazing, sliding doors, entry doors, curtain wall systems, sloped curtain wall systems, roof windows, skylights, and glazing. You’ll need to have all these window options approved of before you can earn a full Passivhaus certificate. If you don’t know what glazing is, it’s the act of placing spacers and secondary seals on windows to stop external weather from coming in. Glazing is like a second protective measure to ensure that your windows are up to the highest standard of Passivhaus. Spacers can be added to help with this extra protective seal. Along with this, you’ll need protection from direct sunlight in the form of roller shutter shades
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Lastly, your attic staircase will have to be properly insulated. Air can flow out of the attic and into your room if secondary seals are not placed around the opening to stop airflow. This is an overlooked part of the house, but can cause the room that the attic stair is located in to shift temperature greatly in comparison to other rooms in the house. All of these factors take into account how isolated your house is from the outside world.
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Ventilation Certification The next step to the certification process is getting your ventilation system approved of. Your ventilation device will have to have good heat recovery. Some factors for consideration other than Heat recovery rate are electric power consumption, comfort criterion, Internal and external leakage, acoustic performance, room air hygiene, and frost protection. These all will have an affect on if you are approved for the Passivhaus certification or not. You will also need to have a test on your drain water heat recovery. Laboratory tests will be conducted on your drain’s steady-state efficiency and effective dead time. Lastly, compact heat pumps used for cooling and heating will have to be analyzed on their comfort criterion (no draught risk), seasonal efficiency for heating and cooling, acoustic performance, control, room air hygiene, defrosting of evaporator during heating season, dehumidification ability, determination of efficiency for heating of domestic hot water, and stand-by consumption. You can receive more information on their website and set up testing through the website or by phone or email.
CASE STUDIES Now that we have all the information on Passivhaus in regards to what it is, how you can incorporate it, and how to be approved, lets look at some real- life case studies of Passivhaus in action. Passivhaus is spreading globally and not just in theory, but in practice. These case studies will show you how Passivhaus plays out in the real world.
Family House in Denmark With Passivhaus making a big impact in Europe, this family house in Glostrup, Denmark is the perfect nearly- zero energy house ever built. This family made their house with the help of ROCKWOOL’s intelligent building system. The family has said that “It was very important for us to choose a solution that we can vouch for in terms of climate impact and the future of our children. And that was exactly what the Rockzero construction system could provide." Denmark is quite a cold country, especially in the winter. Rockzero houses use stone wool to insulate the house. The stone wool also acts as a fire resilient material. The family can sleep soundly knowing that their house is safe inside. This house was also not too costly for the family. They explain that, "The economic aspect was also important. With Rockzero, we have a sustainable house with the highest available energy class and still it’s only a little more expensive than a regular house.” This is great to note. Often, we see environmentally friendly as financially costly. However, with the ROCKWOOL energy efficient house, you get the best of both worlds. With heating and cooling costs staying low and protective layers of fire-resistant stone wool on the outside of the house, this house is the future of energy- efficiency. The best part is that this house can be bought buy any regular family looking to buy a house. It may feel like an odd choice socially speaking, but will do wonders for you and the planet.
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Family House in Italy Moving a little down south, another family in Europe decided to hop on the energyefficiency train. In Cherasco, Italy is a new build house that is made to withstand all kinds of weather. With global warming on the rise, this is an unexpected benefit of having a sustainable house. ROCKWOOL’s stone wool insulation is used in the build of this home. The owner of the house was also the architect on the project. Maria Grazia Novo wanted to “change and improve the family home.” The house she bought was hundreds of years old and needed a bit of help in terms of renovation. Since the house was so old, there was a lack of mains gas heating. This and a desire to make an environmentally healthy house prompted Maria to choose a Passivhaus build for her family’s new home. This was one of the first Passivhaus’ to be built in a Mediterranean climate. Because of this, they weren’t entirely sure if the Passivhaus system would work in this region of the world, climate wise. However, the house was a success and ended up keeping its old- world charm mixed with the new approach to energy efficiency thanks to the Passivhaus design. The project was a big one when it was built in 2015, but is still standing to this day.
ROCKWOOL’S STONE WOOL INSULATION IS USED IN THE BUILD OF THIS HOME. THE OWNER OF THE HOUSE WAS ALSO THE ARCHITECT ON THE PROJECT. MARIA GRAZIA NOVO WANTED TO “CHANGE AND IMPROVE THE FAMILY HOME.” G B R I o n l i n e . o r g /a r t i c l e s
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The House at Cornell Tech This innovative project took place in New York City in creating the world’s largest Passive House skyscraper. The House at Cornell Tech is one of a kind and helped NYC with its environmental goals. New York City is aiming for a 50% cut in lower Manhattan’s CO2 emissions by 2030. They also hope to have a citywide CO2 80% reduction by 2050. NYC is packed with people, which means a lot of energy is used and lost by the city. Starting with Passivhaus design to reduce energy wasted on heating and cooling is a great start for NYC in achieving their end goals. The House at Cornell Tech is 26 stories tall and acts as a for students, staff, and faculty. At this height, it’s the largest building built in the Passivhaus design to this date. According to the ROCKWOOL website, “It’s estimated that The House will save 882 tons of CO2
emissions per year – the equivalent of planting 5,300 new trees.” This is a great way to conquer NYC’s future goals and a great step in the right direction.
The Clinic in the Czech Republic This clinic is located in Olomouc, Czech Republic. This is another large building that has benefitted from the help of Passivhaus. This is a 5- story building with a 100- bed capacity for patients, an intensive
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care unit, a department of geriatrics, and rooms designed for disabled patients. This hospital seems to be doing great work for helping people and with Passivhaus, is doing great work at helping the environment. The clinic is at a nearly zero energy rate because of the low U- value for thermal isolation. However, the clinic is still well ventilated and breathable, which is of course important for a hospital. Less heat will have to be used, but the hospital will still be comfortable to stay at for the patients. The stone wool also creates a safety barrier. It has the ability to resist mold and other harmful germs, which is great for keeping patients from getting even sicker while at the hospital. This extension to the hospital is called “Pavilion II” and hopefully will become the standard for all clinics and hospitals around the world in due time.
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CONCLUSION Passivhaus design is making a big impact in terms of helping the environment. The design is not just theory but also real- life examples put into practice. If we want our future generations to live a lush life, we have to start building the planet back up today. Passivhaus is a great option to lower our energy use and thus our environmental footprint. Interested in further exploring this topic? Explore the references, watch our audio visual course on passivhaus and join the discussion on passivhaus and several other sustainability topics at gbrionline.org/community-learning
REFERENCES 1
What is a Passive House? [ ] (passipedia.org)
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Embodied energy | Your Home
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Passive House | How does it work? (rockwoolgroup.com)
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What is Thermal Bridging, and How to Stop It In a Home (progressivefoam.com)
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7 simple ways to improve energy efficiency | BDC.ca
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03_flyer_certification_building_service_component.pdf (passiv.de)
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Nearly Zero-Energy Family House (rockwoolgroup.com)
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Family House Cherasco (rockwoolgroup.com)
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The House at Cornell Tech (rockwoolgroup.com)
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University Hospital Olomouc - built to nearly zero-energy levels (rockwoolgroup.com)
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