Passivhaus overheating shouldn’t happen: it’s one of the criteria of the international Passivhaus standard.
Even so, people sometimes ignore this requirement during the early stages of the design process.
It shouldn’t be ignored. Overheating is a key design issue and should be addressed from the beginning as an integral part of the Passivhaus design process.
But how?
This blog post is a simple guide to preventing Passivhaus overheating by design.
This is a Passivhaus Basics blog post that gives an overview of a specific aspect of the Passivhaus Standard.
The international Passivhaus Standard is a clearly defined and rigorous standard for energy efficiency, comfort and quality assurance of buildings. Designing a building to achieve the standard requires detailed knowledge and a rigorous methodical approach to design and documentation. To ensure this happens, it is possible to train and qualify as a Certified Passivhaus Designer or Consultant.
The route to certification is the same for a designer or a consultant. It is only the individual’s prior qualifications and experience that determines if they qualify as one or the other. For clarity, this post will only refer to a Certified Passivhaus Designer, but for all intents and purposes, ‘designer’ is interchangeable with ‘consultant’ in this context.
A Certified Passivhaus Designer, regardless of their prior qualification, works across disciplines on a Passivhaus project. Their role integrates architecture, structure, building services, building science, energy modeling and construction detailing. They will at times both support and challenge the other designers on a Passivhaus Project.
The Certified Passivhaus Designer on a project doesn’t need to be completely independent. They can also be the architect, structural engineer, building services engineer, or another consultant on the team. And the same person fulfilling two roles does have advantages. However, in many cases combining two roles requires more time and work than one individual has available. Regardless, it is best if the Certified Passivhaus Designer is an integral part of the design team rather than just an occasional consultant.
The Passivhaus Building Certifier must be independent of the design team.
A Certified Passivhaus Designer brings the detailed knowledge and rigorous methodical approach needed to design buildings to the international Passivhaus Standard.
This blog post is a review of “The Passivhaus Designer’s Manual: A technical guide to low and zero energy buildings” published in October 2015 and edited by Christina J. Hopfe and Robert S. Mcleod. Until now, there hasn’t been an English language manual for Passivhaus Designers. Training courses include relevant teaching material, but it is only available for course attendees and makes the most sense in the context of the course. This book covers all the main topics of a Passivhaus Designer course in an accessible and technically detailed format.
It is intended to provide a technical reference on important topics that often require more detailed explanations than can be found in most introductory handbooks. It is assumed that those reading the book will already be familiar with the fundamental principles of low energy design.
It is a design-focussed manual, bringing the academic and practice-based knowledge of the long list of authors together into one volume. Suitable background information is provided for each topic, but the main thrust is towards practical application in designing Passivhaus, or low and ‘zero-energy’ buildings.
Passive buildings are not all about technology. Their greatest benefits are not in avoided costs and emissions but in quality of life. Why did people meeting around our dining room table stay alert and cheerful all day, than in an ordinary office, become sleepy and irritable in half an hour?
– Amory B. Lovins, Cofounder and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute
The Passivhaus Designer’s Manual could easily be the textbook for a Passivhaus Designers course. It will certainly become the reference book of choice for many Passivhaus Designers and the source of self-study for many aspiring Passivhaus Designers
This is a Passivhaus Basics blog post that gives an overview of a specific aspect of the Passivhaus Standard.
Windows, doors, rooflights, curtain walling and any other glazed elements often lose (or gain) significantly more heat than the surrounding walls or roof of the thermal envelope. For this reason, the international Passivhaus Standard pays particularly close attention to the design and specification of glazed elements.
This blog post looks at Passivhaus Windows as these are usually the main glazed element of a Passivhaus building. Other glazed elements can be considered along similar lines.
Reducing heat loss conserves energy, but it’s not just about energy efficiency. Reducing heat loss is also about providing optimum comfort for the people using the building. This is, after all, what the international Passivhaus Standard is all about: providing exceptional comfort whilst being radically energy efficient.
The international Passivhaus Standard also provides healthy living environments. Passivhaus buildings have plentiful clean fresh air and are free from mould. And the rigorous quality assurance of the standard results in highly durable buildings.
Passivhaus Windows have an important role in all of these aspects: Energy Efficiency, Comfort, Health and Durability.
The international Passivhaus Standard is most often associated with cooler climates. People assume it works best in climates like that of Germany and Northern Europe where the standard originates from.
But physics works wherever you are.
And people the world over want to live in comfortable, energy efficient homes.
So what about Australia?
We most often associate Australia with the beach and warm climates. With Sun, Sand and Surf.
And yet, Passivhaus is rapidly taking off in Australia. From a standing start of zero certified Passivhaus buildings only a year or so ago, there are now six at the time of writing.
Superpod delivered one of these certified Passivhaus homes. In this blog post, I interview the Superpod founder, Fiona McKenzie.
We talk about Superpod homes, Passivhaus Prefabrication and why Passivhaus is relevant in Australia despite what you might think.
