Passive house

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One of the original Passive Houses at Darmstadt, Germany
One of the original Passive Houses at Darmstadt, Germany
One of the original Passive Houses at Darmstadt
One of the original Passive Houses at Darmstadt

The term Passive house (Passivhaus in German) refers to the rigorous, voluntary, Passivhaus standard for energy use in buildings. It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating. A similar standard, MINERGIE-P®, is used in Switzerland [1].

The first Passivhaus buildings were built in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1990, and occupied the following year. In September 1996 the Passivhaus-Institut was founded in Darmstadt to promote and control the standard. Since then more than 6,000 Passivhaus buildings have been constructed [2] in Europe, most of them in Germany and Austria, with others in various countries world-wide.

Despite the name, the standard is not confined only to houses. Several office buildings, schools, kindergartens and a supermarket have also been constructed to the standard. Although it is mostly applied to new buildings, it has also been used for refurbishments.

Contents

[edit] The standard

The dark colours on this thermogram of a Passivhaus (right) show how little heat is escaping compared to a traditional building (left).
The dark colours on this thermogram of a Passivhaus (right) show how little heat is escaping compared to a traditional building (left).

The Passivhaus standard requires that the building is within the following limits [3]:

  • The building must not use more than (≤) 15 kWh/m²a (4,755 Btu/ft²/yr) in heating energy
  • The specific heat load for the heating source at design temperature must be less than 10 W/m² (3.17 Btu/ft²)
  • With the building pressurised to 50Pa by a blower door, the building must not leak more air than 0.6 times the house volume per hour (n50 ≤ 0.6/h).
  • Total primary energy consumption (primary energy for heating, hot water and electricity) must not be more than 120 kWh/(m²a) (38,039 Btu/ft²/yr)

These standards are much higher than houses built to most normal building codes. For comparisons, see the international comparisons section below.

National partners within the 'consortium for the Promotion of European Passive Houses' (PEP) are thought to have some flexibility to adapt these limits locally.

[edit] Space heating requirement

By achieving the Passivhaus standards, Passivhaus buildings are able to dispense with conventional heating systems. The ability to do this is the underlying Passivhaus objective. However this does not mean that no heating is required, and most Passivhaus buildings do include a system to provide low levels of supplemental space heating. This is normally distributed through the low-volume heat recovery ventilation system that is required to maintain air quality, rather than by a conventional hydronic or high-volume forced-air heating system, as described in the space heating section below.

[edit] Construction costs

In Passivhaus buidings, the cost savings from dispensing with the conventional heating system can be used to fund the upgrade of the building envelope and the heat recovery ventilation system. With careful design and increasing competition in the supply of the specifically designed Passivhaus building products, in Germany it is now possible to construct buildings for the same cost as those built to normal German building standards, as was done with the Passivhaus apartments at Vauban, Freiburg [4].

Evaluations have indicated that while it is technically possible, the costs of meeting the Passivhaus standard increase significantly when building in northern Scandinavia above 60° latitude [5] [6].

[edit] Design and construction

The passivhaus uses a combination of low-energy building techniques and technologies.
The passivhaus uses a combination of low-energy building techniques and technologies.

Achieving the major decrease in heating energy consumption required by the standard involves a shift in approach to building design and construction. Design is carried out with the aid of the 'Passivhaus Planning Package' (PHPP) [7], and uses specifically designed computer simulations.

To achieve the standards, a number of techniques and technologies are used in combination:

[edit] Passive solar design

Following passive solar building design techniques, where possible buildings are compact in shape to reduce their surface area, with windows oriented towards the south (in the northern hemisphere) to maximise passive solar gain. However, the use of solar gain is secondary to minimising the overall energy requirements.

Passive houses can be constructed from dense or lightweight materials, but some internal thermal mass is normally incorporated to reduce summer peak temperatures, maintain stable winter temperatures, and prevent possible over-heating in spring or autumn before normal solar shading becomes effective.

[edit] Superinsulation

Passivhaus buildings employ superinsulation to significantly reduce the heat leakage through the walls, roof and floor compared to conventional buildings. A wide range of thermal insulation materials can be used to provide the required high R-values (low U-values, typically in the 0.10 to 0.15 W/m2K range). Special attention is given to eliminating thermal bridges.

A disadvantage resulting from the thickness of wall insulation required is that, unless the external dimensions of the building can be enlarged to compensate, the internal floor area of the building may be less compared to traditional construction.

In Sweden, to achieve passive house standards, the insulation thickness would be 335 mm (0.10 W/m²C°) and the roof 500 mm (U-value 0.066 W/m²C°).

[edit] Advanced window technology

Typical Passivhaus windows
Typical Passivhaus windows

To meet the requirements of the Passivhaus standard windows are manufactured with exceptionally high R-values (low U-values, typically 0.85 to 0.70 W/m²K for the entire window including the frame). These normally combine triple-pane insulated glazing (with a good solar heat-gain coefficient, low-emissivity coatings, argon or krypton gas fill, and 'warm edge' insulating glass spacers) with air-seals and specially developed thermally-broken window frames.

In Central Europe, for unobstructed south-facing Passivhaus windows, the heat gains from the sun are, on average, greater than the heat losses, even in mid-winter.

[edit] Airtightness

The standard requires the building to achieve very high levels of airtightness, much higher than are normally achieved in conventional construction. Air barriers, careful sealing of every construction joint in the building envelope, and sealing of all service penetrations through it are all used to achieve this.

Airtightness minimises the amount of warm (or cool) air that can pass through the structure, enabling the mechanical ventilation system to recover the heat before discharging the air externally.

[edit] Ventilation

Mechanical heat recovery ventilation systems, with a heat recovery rate of over 80% and high efficiency ECM motors, are employed to maintain air quality, and to recover sufficient heat to dispense with a conventional central heating system. Since the building is essentially airtight, the rate of air change can be optimised and carefully controlled at about 0.4 air-changes per hour. All ventilation ducts are insulated and sealed for air tightness.

Although not compulsory, earth warming tubes (typically ≈20cm diameter, ≈40 m long at a depth of ≈1.5 m) are often buried in the soil to act as earth-to-air heat exchangers and pre-heat (or pre-cool) the intake air for the ventilation system. In cold weather the warmed air also prevents ice formation in the heat recovery system's heat exchanger.

[edit] Space heating

In addition to the heat echanger (centre), a micro-heat pump extracts heat from the exhaust air (left) and hot water heats the ventilation air (right). The ability to control building temperature using only the normal volume of ventilation air is fundamental.
In addition to the heat echanger (centre), a micro-heat pump extracts heat from the exhaust air (left) and hot water heats the ventilation air (right). The ability to control building temperature using only the normal volume of ventilation air is fundamental.

In addition to using passive solar gain, Passivhaus buildings make extensive use of their intrinsic heat from internal sources – such as waste heat from lighting, white goods (major appliances) and other electrical devices (but not dedicated heaters) – as well as body heat from the people and animals inside the building. Together with the comprehensive energy conservation measures taken this means that a conventional central heating system is not necessary, although they are sometimes installed due to client scepticism.

Instead, Passive houses sometimes have a dual purpose 800 to 1,500 Watt heating and/or cooling element integrated with the supply air duct of the ventilation system, for use during the coldest days. It is fundamental to the design that all the heat required can be transported by the normal low air volume required for ventilation. A maximum air temperature of 50°C (122°F) is applied to prevent any possible smell of scorching from dust that escapes the filters in the system.

The air-heating element can be heated by a small heat pump, by solar thermal energy, or simply by a natural gas or oil burner. In some cases a micro-heat pump is used to extract additional heat from the exhaust ventilation air, using it to heat either the incoming air or the hot water storage tank. Small wood-burning stoves can also be used to heat the water tank, although care is required to ensure that the room in which stove is located does not overheat.

Beyond the recovery of heat by the heat recovery ventilation unit, a well designed Passive house in the European climate should not need any supplemental heat source if the heating load is kept under 10W/m² (p72 Passive House Estate in Hannover-Kronsberg.

Because the heating capacity and the heating energy required by a passive house both are very low, the particular energy source selected has fewer financial implications than in a traditional building, although renewable energy sources are well suited to such low loads.

[edit] Lighting and electrical appliances

To minimise the total primary energy consumption, low-energy lighting (such as compact fluorescent lamps), and high efficiency electrical appliances are normally used.

[edit] Quality of life

By their design, passive houses usually have the following traits:

  • the air is fresh, but dry (esp. in winter)
  • because of the high resistance to heat flow (high R-value insulation), there are no "outside walls" which are colder than other walls
  • since there are no radiators, there's more place on the room's walls
  • inside temperature is homogenous, it is impossible to have single rooms (e.g. the sleeping rooms) at a different temperature from the rest of the house
  • the temperature changes only very slowly - with ventilation and heating systems switched off, a passive house typically loses less than 0.5° centigrade per day (in winter)
  • opening windows only has a very limited effect - after the windows are closed, the air very quickly returns to the "normal" temperature

[edit] International comparisons

  • In the United States the standard results in a building that requires space heating energy of 1 BTU per square foot per heating degree day, compared with about 5 to 15 BTUs per square foot per heating degree day for a similar building built to meet the 2003 Model Energy Efficiency Code. This is between 75 to 95% less energy for space heating and cooling than current new buildings that meet today's US energy efficiency codes.
  • In the United Kingdom, an average new house built to the Passive House standard would use 77% less energy for space heating compared to the (2002?) Building Regulations [8].
  • In Ireland, it is calculated that a typical house built to the Passive House standard instead of the 2002 Building Regulations would consume 85% less energy for space heating and cut space-heating related carbon emissions by 94% [9].
Dr Feist, founder of the Passivhaus Institut and co-originator of the concept
Dr Feist, founder of the Passivhaus Institut and co-originator of the concept
Prof. Bo Adamson, co-originator of the concept
Prof. Bo Adamson, co-originator of the concept

[edit] Origins of the passive house

The Passive House standard originated from a conversation in May 1988 between Professors Bo Adamson of Lund University, Sweden, and Wolfgang Feist of the Institut fur Wohnen und Umwelt (Institure for Housing and the Environment [10]). Their concept was developed through a number of research projects, aided by financial assistance from the German state of Hessen. The eventual building of four row houses (terraced houses) was designed for four private clients by professors and architects Bott, Ridder and Westermeyer.

After the concept had been validated at Darmstadt, with space heating 90% less than required for a standard new building of the time, the 'Economical Passive Houses Working Group' was created in 1996. This developed the planning package and initiated the production of the novel components that had been used, notably the windows and the high-efficiency ventilation systems. Meanwhile further passive houses were built in Stuttgart (1993), Naumburg, Hesse, Wiesbaden, and Cologne (1997) [11].

The products developed for the Passivhaus were further commercialised during and following the European Union sponsored CEPHEUS project, which proved the concept in 5 European countries over the winter of 2000-2001.

While some techniques and technologies were specifically developed for the standard, others (such as superinsulation) were already in existence, and the concepts of passive solar building design dates back to antiquity. There was also experience from other low-energy building standards, notably the German Niedrigenergiehaus (low-energy house) standard, as well as from buildings constructed to the demanding energy codes of Sweden and Denmark.

[edit] Comparison with zero energy buildings

A net zero energy building (ZEB) is another term for a very similar approach to creating small buildings that use substantially less energy. Zero energy building or zero energy homes are gaining popularity in the United States, due to the increased awareness of the importance of building's energy efficiency as well as the reduced cost required to operate such buildings and homes.

Unfortunately the ZEB seems to have been implemented without making maximum use of passive techniques to minimise heat loss and instead relies on active techniques to make up the energy / heat shortfall. See zero energy building for details of the debate.

[edit] See also

Portal:Energy
 Energy Portal

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] Official Passive House organisations

[edit] Passive House research

[edit] Passive House examples

[edit] Residential

[edit] Commercial

[edit] Other links


Energy and Conservation   Edit
Energy conservation | Energy-efficient landscaping | Low energy building | Passive house | Passive solar building design | Superinsulation | Simple living | Ecological footprint | Ecovillage | Waste | Zero energy building
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