Tag: Passivhaus

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This blog post is a review of “American Passive House Developments” published in 2012. It is the third book of Passive House case studies from the US that author Mary James has published.

The previous two books explained the Passive House approach, detailing nine pioneering U.S. case studies (2008) and showcased ten Passive House projects from a wide range of climates across the U.S. (2010).

This third book, “American Passive House Developments”, explores how the passive house movement in the U.S. has scaled up and expanded beyond the single-family residential sector. It contains seven case studies, covering large multifamily, mixed-use, and commercial buildings.

These are important case studies. These projects are the forbearers to the explosion of Passive House current happening in the U.S., including the Passive House residential high-rise for Cornell University. As Mary James points out in the Introduction:

[The clients] have been willing to be innovative, are concerned about the future, and know that they will own their buildings for multiple decades—and be paying the electric bills. The fact that these projects were built at a small cost premium, if any, over conventional construction made the commitment to PH [Passive House] a choice 
with very clear-cut benefits.

“American Passive House Developments” is an excellent guide to a selection of seminal Passive House buildings in the U.S.

Passive House Case Studies from the US
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This is a Passivhaus Basics blog post that gives an overview of a specific aspect of the Passivhaus Standard.

The Passivhaus Standard requires a fabric first approach and a high-performance thermal envelope. Not only does the thermal envelope need to be high performance, it also needs to have an efficient surface area in relation to the size of the building. The thermal envelope is, after all, the main area through which a Passivhaus building can lose heat.

The Heat Loss Form Factor is one way of measuring the efficiency of the surface area of the thermal envelope.

The Heat Loss Form Factor is the ratio of thermal envelope surface area to the treated floor area (TFA). This is effectively the ratio of surface area that can lose heat (the thermal envelope) to the floor area that gets heated (TFA).

In other words, the Heat Loss Form Factor is a useful measure of the compactness of a building. And the more compact a building is, the easier it is to be energy efficient. Conversely, the less compact a building is, the more insulation will be required for the building to be energy efficient.

The Heat Loss Form Factor is a measure of compactness and an indication of how much insulation will be required to achieve the Passivhaus Standard.

Passivhaus Heat Loss Form Factor

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This blog post is a review of “Hermann Kaufmann IZM: Illwerke Zentrum Montafon” published in April 2015, edited by Marko Sauer.

This is a beautiful book about a beautiful building. The IZM is a new 120m long, five-storey office building in the Montafon valley of the Vorarlberg region in Austria. It brings together, in a central location, both the civil and electrical engineers of the hydropower generation company, Illwerke Vorarlberg.

The Illwerke Zentrum Montafon (IZM) in Rodund is an unparalleled timber structure: with a usable floor area of over 10,000 m2, it was the largest office building made of wood in Central Europe on completion. Assembled in only six weeks, the timber construction above the concrete base is the first application of the LifeCycle Tower (LCT) system on the free market.

The building is an exemplar of integrated architecture. The alpine setting, materials research, modern technology, prefabrication, traditional craftsmanship, low energy / low carbon design, and social contribution all play their part in making the IZM a work of stunning Passivhaus architecture.

“Hermann Kaufmann IZM: Illwerke Zentrum Montafon” is an elegantly restrained monograph of essays, beautiful photographs and clear drawings. It is, in a sense, reflective of the building itself. It maintains the very high standard of presentation and technical detail that can be found in all Detail magazines and books.

Passivhaus architecture is integrated architecture. This book details an exceptionally beautiful work of integrated architecture.

031 Exceptional Integrated Architecture

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This is a Passivhaus Basics blog post that gives an overview of a specific aspect of the Passivhaus Standard.

The Passivhaus Standard requires airtight construction. What does this mean?

Essentially it means a draught-free building envelope.

A clear airtightness strategy is required to achieve this. The airtight line needs to be continuous even when formed of different materials. And it needs to be joined up, even where there are penetrations.

Sometimes airtight construction gets confused with how a building is ventilated or with ‘breathing construction.’ This post clears up these particular confusions.

And why does the Passivhaus Standard require airtight construction?

Airtight construction is draught-free construction. It is an essential part of the Passivhaus Standard to protect the building envelope, to ensure radical energy efficiency and to provide exceptional comfort.

030 What is Airtight Construction
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A passivhaus home in almost all climates across the world will include a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery (MVHR*). This kind of ventilation system is required for both energy efficiency and for comfort. However, to many people this is an intimidating and misunderstood aspect of passivhaus. As a result, there are various concerns and misconceptions about what a passivhaus ventilation system is and how you use it.

To address some of these issues I have enlisted the help of Zehnder, a global supplier of Passivhaus Certified ventilation systems. In this post, we explore the following aspects of a residential passivhaus ventilation system:

  1. How do I control the ventilation system?
  2. What day-to-day interaction do I need to have with the ventilation system?
  3. What is the boost function and when should I use it?
  4. When should I switch the ventilation system off?

Rupert Kazlauciunas, Senior Technical Advisor at Zehnder Group UK, very kindly provided answers to my questions

In a residential passivhaus, the ventilation system can be simple to use. It will save energy and money, while ensuring comfort and excellent indoor air quality.

029 Residential Passivhaus Ventilation System
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