Tag: PassiveHouse

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It is often assumed that the Passivhaus Standard only applies to individual houses, or perhaps semi-detached or terraced houses. It is true that the Passivhaus Standard was originally developed for houses. And the translation of the German word “Passivhaus” into English as “Passive House” reinforces this assumption. However, once established, the Passivhaus Standard rapidly expanded to include many other building types as people realised the benefits it consistently delivers. And as other types of buildings have been delivered to the Passivhaus Standard, the Passive House Planning Package used in the design and certification process has evolved and developed also. Now it is possible for almost any type of building to achieve certification to the Passivhaus Standard.

Quality assured design and construction, reliable indoor comfort and radical reductions in energy consumption – who wouldn’t want these outcomes for any kind of building?

005 Passivhaus-NotJustHouses Continue reading →

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False.
I often read and hear people, including passivhaus experts, state that once a building is airtight it requires mechanical ventilation. This is not strictly true. And there are many examples of passivhaus buildings that operate using ‘natural ventilation’ during the summer months. An airtight building significantly reduces air movement through the building fabric: walls, floor, roof, window frames and junctions etc.. And we should never rely on this kind of air movement to provide the air that we breath inside a building, for ventilation, that is. (Fancy drinking the water that seeps through a leaking roof? It’s kind of similar.) A ventilation strategy and system that genuinely does work, and is used properly all year round, is needed in any building, airtight or not. Once you add comfort and energy efficiency into the equation, this almost always means mechanical ventilation with heat recovery will be required for some of the year. The comfort and energy efficiency benchmarks of the Passivhaus Standard certainly mean this is the case.

And this is where airtightness and mechanical ventilation converge – both are needed for comfort and energy efficiency.

004 Airtight-Passivhaus-MVHR Continue reading →

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Gary Vaynerchuk, the social media superstar and business leader, released a book in 2013 called “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” (#JJJRH) which uses a Boxing analogy to highlight the best approach to using social media channels. Jabbing is giving value to your followers & community, and the follow up Right Hook is asking for something, whether this be attention or sales. This means at least 75% of your posting on social media should be about giving value and sharing useful information and insights with your followers and community, not asking for attention or for a sale. Everyone appreciates generosity over being repeatedly asked for attention.

What has this got to do with passivhaus? The Passivhaus Standard is most well known as “the world’s leading standard in energy efficient design.” And energy efficiency asks building owners and occupants for something. It asks them to at least modify their behaviour and to pay more attention to the operation of their building. However, energy efficiency is actually only part of passivhaus. People don’t often realise that the Passivhaus Standard is also a rigorous comfort standard that ensures a building is free from draughts, free from cold spots, free from excessive over heating and provided with a constant supply of fresh clean air. And it does so with the minimum amount of energy.

Passivhaus throws an outstanding “Jab, Jab, Jab” of occupant comfort before hitting home with the solid “Right Hook” of energy efficiency.

Passivhaus-Comfort Continue reading →

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The mainstream approach to sustainable design is business-as-usual architecture with some easy bolt-on “sustainable features.” Easy solutions like this are what got us into the current mess: buildings contributing 40% of our CO2 emissions as we enter the anthropocene. (Have you read my manifesto?) Designing to the passivhaus standard means accepting more constraints and this requires more effort; it’s not an easy solution. A rigorous process must be followed. However, the passivhaus standard is actually very simple with clear performance benchmarks that must be met. And the results are simple: no complex offsetting or complex carbon calculating is necessary.

Passivhaus buildings simply reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions, by design.

002 Passivhaus-Simple Continue reading →

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As passivhaus uptake has increased in recent years there has been plenty of discussion about whether a project can be designed to ‘passivhaus principles’ (short answer: no) and whether a project is still a passivhaus building if it isn’t certified (short answer: no, again). Setting aside these particular questions, why bother with passivhaus certification?

Here are three good reasons; Quality Assurance, Accountability and Performance that lasts.

001 Passivhaus-Certification Continue reading →