The world’s most energy efficient building standard offers not only a saving on energy but also a comfortable indoor environment for both homes, public buildings and commercial complexes. This is the Passive House standard.
How does a passive house work?
The standard is built on a set of five principles that ensure stable temperatures, comfortable indoor air, reduction of noise and a minimal energy use:
- No thermal bridging – this means making sure walls, floors and roofs are well insulated with no gaps. This reduces the need for heating or cooling to achieve a comfortable temperature.
- High-quality insulation – The quality of the insulation is key to the success of the building design. The insulation serves to minimize the heat exchange with the outside environment Passive House buildings employ high-quality insulation like stone wool.
- Superior windows – to ensure that the entire building envelope is well insulated it is important to use quality windows that have a low thermal conductivity.
- Airtight construction – there should be no uncontrolled airflow between the internal and external environment.
- Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery – all this effort to insulate the building is coupled with high quality ventilation that recovers heat from the used air and transfers it to the fresh air coming in. This ensures a minimal loss of energy and a good indoor air quality.
