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.
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.
This is a Passivhaus Basics blog post that gives an overview of a specific aspect of the Passivhaus Standard.
The international Passivhaus Standard does not explicitly require mechanical ventilation. And yet almost every certified Passivhaus building includes a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery.
What is mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) and why is it needed in Passivhaus buildings?
Mechanical ventilation is familiar to most people. This leads to the assumption that a Passivhaus ventilation system is the same as other mechanical ventilation systems. It is not.
There are things that MVHR does not do. It is important to know what these are in order to understand the difference between Passivhaus MVHR and other types of ventilation.
And there are things that Passivhaus MVHR does do that other ventilation systems don’t, including ‘natural ventilation’. It is important to know what MVHR does do, as MVHR is vital to the consistent success of the passivhaus standard.
Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) is key to delivering the benefits the Passivhaus Standard promises – radical energy efficiency and exceptional comfort.
Our baby was born early in April, just as Spring is arriving here in the northern hemisphere.
Our house isn’t a passivhaus home.
There are many reason’s why we don’t yet live in a passivhaus home, but that isn’t the subject of this blog post. Now with a new baby as well as our toddler, even more so than before, I wish we did live in a passivhaus home. I care very deeply about the comfort and health of our children. And knowing first-hand the benefits of the Passivhaus Standard, I am acutely aware of what we are missing out on.
Affordable to run, comfortable and healthy to live in, passivhaus homes are ideally suited to young families. Of course, passivhaus homes are ideally suited for all people to live in! However, young children are particularly vulnerable and in need of comfortable and healthy homes. And with the cost of bring up children, parents need a comfortable and healthy home to be affordable.
Sustainable and environmental design are often talked about in terms of the benefit for future generations. Unfortunately, despite the good intentions, this can be abstract and vague. The Passivhaus Standard, on the other hand, is a practical immediate solution that benefits the next generation, today.
The Passivhaus Standard ensures homes are comfortable, healthy and affordable to run. Passivhaus homes are of immediate benefit to next generation: our children.
What is the fundamental purpose of a building?
Buildings serve several needs of society – primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical division of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) and the outside (a place that at times may be harsh and harmful).
– Wikipedia
As you can see, comfort is fundamental to the purpose of a building. So why do we find it so hard to ensure our buildings are actually comfortable? Why does our ‘world-class’ architecture still fail to provide comfortable buildings to live, work, learn and play in? (Besides using far too much energy and emitting far too much CO2!)
The Passivhaus Standard is known as the world’s foremost building energy efficiency standard. And it is that, but it is also a comfort standard. After all, what is the point of a building being energy efficient (or low carbon for that matter) if it compromises the functionality and comfort of the people who use the building? Passivhaus buildings provide exemplary comfort for the occupants by maintaining a healthy comfortable temperature, by being quiet, by having fresh air and by being draught-free.
Comfort is a reason to Love Passivhaus!
