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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.

australia: sun sand surf and passivhaus

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Architectural design is typically carried out with little or no environmental consideration integral to the process. Once the design has reached a certain stage environmental considerations – whether material toxicity, water conservation, carbon emissions or energy conservation or something else – are then assessed. At this point decisions are made to revise and iterate the design for better environmental outcomes or to add ‘environmental features’. We know the results of this disjointed design process and we know this has to change if buildings are going to be better for people and the planet!

Unfortunately many environmental standards reinforce this process in two ways. Firstly by being separate from the design process, often as an assessment procedure. Secondly by requiring ‘environmental features’ be added in order to score points or increase the rating of the design.

The Passivhaus Standard is different. Unlike most environmental standards for architecture, design is central to the Passivhaus Standard. And the Passivhaus Standard is central to the design process.

Design is a reason to Love Passivhaus!

017 Love Passivhaus Design
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This blog post is a review of “Passive Houses: Energy Efficient Homes” published in March 2012. Chris van Uffelen, who compiled this monograph, is a prolific author with over 50 architecture and design related titles to his name. The book surveys 56 single-family energy efficient homes from around the world that collectively

showcase the great variety of exciting and at the same time sustainable architectural solutions.

I first heard of this book when Murray Durbin mentioned it during his interview on the Home Style Green podcast. Murray and Lee Ann Durbin had found this book to be a particular inspiration when setting out to design their own residential Passive House in Auckland, New Zealand. They have written extensively about the process and you can see pictures of the completed residential Passive House on their blog.

It is a well-deserved recommendation. This book covers an enormous geographic and climatic range, and it showcases a wide variety of architectural styles and approaches to energy efficient homes.

013 Residential Passive House Design

“Passive Houses: Energy Efficient Homes” includes houses from the USA, Canada, England, Wales, Germany (as you would expect!), Austria, Switzerland, several Scandinavian countries, Australia, China, Japan and more. The author didn’t limit the choice to only certified residential Passive Houses, but instead selected inspirational energy efficient homes demonstrating a whole range of standards, all employing ‘passive’ techniques of one sort or another.

Out of the 56 homes showcased, at least 18 are certified to the European Passive House Standard and 6 to the Swiss Minergie Standard, which is very similar. Many examples meet a different standard such as the Califorina Green Building Standards Code, KfW40 (a German low energy standard), Energy Star and the UK’s Code for Sustainable Homes Code 6. There are also some certified to multiple complimentary standards. For example the Prescott Passive House in Kansas City, USA, is Passive House certified and also LEED Platinum.

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This blog post is a review of “The Passivhaus Handbook” published in October 2012. The authors wrote and compiled this practical handbook for anyone who wants to be involved in delivering ultra-low energy housing. Janet Cotterell and Adam Dadeby were the architect – client team for the Totness Passivhaus B&B, the third retrofit in the UK to be certified to the Passivhaus Standard. Following their work together on the B&B they formed Passivhaus Homes and subsequently wrote The Passivhaus Handbook.

The Passivhaus Handbook is:

…intended to provide knowledge of both the methodology and the skills needed to achieve genuinely low-energy buildings, whether new or retrofitted, that perform as intended.

While passivhaus is not just for houses, The Passivhaus Handbook really is the ‘bible’ for developing passivhaus housing, particularly if you are thinking of a self-build passivhaus. The authors give substantial background into the “how and why of passivhaus” and then hold your hand through the whole process of a project. There is valuable guidance on setting up a passivhaus project, particularly applicable to self-build passivhaus, and then key practical aspects of a passivhaus project are each given a chapter. The book wraps up with chapters on living in a passivhaus, illustrated with four case studies, and a chapter specifically about UK policy.

011 Self-build Passivhaus Handbook
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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?

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