New to Passive House? Download this free introduction to Passive House Jessica presented at the 2015 Passive House Conference.
History
The Passivhaus standard originated from a conversation in May 1988 between Bo Adamson of Lund University, Sweden, and Wolfgang Feist of the Institut für Wohnen und Umwelt (Institute
for Housing and the Environment, Germany). Their concept was developed through a number of research projects, aided by financial assistance from the German state of Hessen.
In September 1996 the Passivhaus-Institut was founded, also in Darmstadt, to promote and control the standards. Since then, thousands of Passivhaus structures have been built, to an estimated 25,000+ as of 2010. Most are located in Germany and Austria, with others in various countries worldwide.
In 2012 the first Passive House in NZ was built in Glendowie, Auckland.
There are now dozens in the process of planning or construction in NZ.
Passive House – official definition:
A Passive House is a building, for which thermal comfort (ISO 7730) can be achieved solely by post-heating or post-cooling of the fresh air mass, which is required to achieve sufficient indoor air quality conditions – without the need for additional recirculation of air.
What is a Passive House?
Passive House is not a brand name, but a construction concept that can be applied by anyone and that has stood the test of practice.
They must meet the following criteria:
- heating/cooling demand <15kWh/m2 per annum OR heating/cooling load <10W/m2
- primary energy consumption <120kWh/m2 per annum (hot water heating etc..)
- Envelope must achieve an air change rate of ≤ 0.6ACH@50pascals
- MHRV system must be ≥ 75% efficient o Total electrical efficiency must be ≤ 0.45 Wh/m3
- surface temperatures must not be less than 3.5K less than the operative temperature, i.e 16.5 ° C
- Surface temperature of windows may deviate by a maximum of 4.2K.,
- Floors must be between 19 ° C and 27 ° C at all times
- hygiene requirement: Windows surface temperature must not fall below 13 ° C to avoid mould growth
- No draughts (vAir ≤ 0.1 m/s )
- Overheating must not exceed 25 °C for more than 10% of the time the building is occupied
- Relative Humidity is in a range of 30 -70 %
- MHRV must be capable of providing a minimum fresh air temperature of 16.5 °C at -10 °C outside temperature
If any of these criteria are not met then the house cannot be certified, or call, a Passive House.
Hiberna Ltd is proud to be bronze supporter of the Passive House Institute NZ
Thermal Bridge analysis