What is a Passive House?

Here’s another crack at a very brief summary of what a Passive House is.  There’s a ton of information on this subject available on the internet.  At the end of the post are links to a bunch of sites that are very informative if you’re interested in reading further.

What is a Passive House?

A Passive House (PH) is an ultra-energy efficient building.  The PH standard was developed in Germany in the 1980s and 1990s.  A building built to the PH standard will require a small fraction of the energy to heat and cool compared to a building constructed in a more standard manner.  A common boast about a PH is that it only requires a couple of hair dryers for heating in the dead of winter in a cold climate.  By capturing heat from the sun and effectively keeping that heat inside the building, a PH is able to accomplish this seemingly magical feat.  The PH standard is one of the most rigorous building standards in the world.

The PH standard requires that a building’s energy usage not exceed very strict limits.  Additionally, there is one prescriptive requirement to meet the PH standard, i.e. that there is very little air leakage in the building.  The table below illustrates the PH requirements.

Criteria	Requirement in kBTU/ft2	Requirement in kWh/m2
Annual Heat Demand	≤ 4.75 kBTU/ft2	≤ 15 kWh/m2
Peak Heat Load	≤ 3.17 kBTU/(ft2hr)	≤ 10 kWh/(m2hr)
Annual Cooling Demand	≤ 4.75 kBTU/ft2	≤ 15 kWh/m2
Total Annual Source (Primary) Energy	≤ 38.1 kBTU/ft2	≤ 120 kWh/m2
Air Leakage	≤ 0.6 ACH @ 50 Pascals

Here’s an example of a comparison of a Passive House to a traditional house.  The current 2100 ft² condo we live in, built in the 1970s, is heated by 525 gallons of kerosene per year.  At 135,000 BTU/gallon of kerosene, this equates to an annual heat demand of 71,000 kBTU.  To meet the PH standard, a 2100 ft² condo would need to have an annual heat demand of no greater than 10,000 kBTU (4.75 times 2100).  A PH the same size as our current home would need to consume at most 14% of the energy we currently use to heat our home.  For our condo to meet the PH standard, we’d need to be able to heat our home with 74 gallons of kerosene instead of 525 gallons.

Preliminary indications are that our new house with a floor area of 2800 ft² will have an annual heating demand of 3.6 kBTU/ ft², exceeding the PH standard by 25%.  A very small 9000 BTU air source heat pump will be able to heat the entire house using only 1250 kWh per year of electricity.  At $0.14/kWh this will cost $175 per year which is considerably cheaper than the $2500 a year we spend to heat our smaller condo.

The analysis above is a bit of a simplification.  The hypothetical 2100 ft² condo described wouldn’t need to actually use 74 gallons of kerosene to heat, rather, the PH modeling software would need to think that it would use the energy equivalent of 74 gallons of kerosene to heat.  We’re taking the leap of faith that, in our new home, the heating requirements projected by the PH modeling software will be close to the actual heating requirements.  We’ll report back to you on this after the winter.

What techniques are employed in building a Passive House?

The combination of the following 3 strategies can result in a building meeting PH certification requirements.

1. Passive Solar Building Design
1. The vast majority of windows face south.
2. High efficiency windows with very high solar heat gain coefficients are used, i.e. windows that are able to capture heat from the sun inside the house rather than reflect the heat back outside.
3. Roof overhangs shade windows when the sun is high in the sky during the summer months to prevent overheating.
2. Air Tightness
1. No air gets in or out of the building except through a mechanical ventilation system that transfers energy from the indoor air being exhausted to the incoming outdoor air.  Very efficient Energy Recovery Ventilation systems are able to retain up to 90% of the indoor air’s energy.
3. Super Insulation
1. Framing with techniques to reduce Thermal Bridging, i.e. energy leaking in and out of the building through studs in the wall
2. Thick walls that contain very effective insulation
3. High efficiency windows that reduce heat losses overnight

None of these techniques are very difficult or expensive to implement.  They just require thought in the design process to achieve the goal of energy efficiency.

What are the benefits of living in a Passive House?

• A planet friendly lower carbon footprint.
• Reduced costs for building heating and cooling.
• More comfortable indoor environment.
• The entire house stays one temperature.  No cold or hot rooms.
• There are no drafts. 
• Wall and window temperatures remain very close to room temperature.
• Healthier indoor environment.
• The mechanical ventilation system ensures that fresh air is constantly circulating through the building. 
• Ventilation system filters reduce the amount of particles in the indoor air. 
• Moisture levels are carefully controlled to eliminate the risk of mold.

Places to read more about Passive Houses?

There are tons of sites with information about PH.  Below are some sites that I’ve found useful.

http://www.homesthatfit.com/blog/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house

http://www.passivehouse.us/passiveHouse/PHIUSHome.html

http://vermontpassive.com/

http://www.gologichomes.com/featured-projects/passive-house.html

http://edgewaterhaus.com/

http://www.passivehouseinthewoods.com/

Raise the Roof

Fork lift setting a section of the trusses

Looking up through the trusses to the sky

Our big green box is looking more like a house now that the roof is on.  I watched as the builders attached with uniform spacers several custom built trusses. This created as section of the roof that was then fork lifted onto the top of our big green box.  This process was repeated a few more times which completed the structure that is like a beautiful spine that creates the structure of the roof.  This heavy duty structure will be supporting many PV Solar panels as well as some good New England snow so it has to be strong. 

Today the builders finished putting on the roof sheathing.  You can see the seams are taped to help create a tight air seal necessary for a Passive House.

After the internal room studs are placed, the next few steps will really distinguish the building process as being uniquely Passive House with the installation of the insulation.  To stay tuned, please enter your email address on the right into "follow by email".  You will receive a notice when we post each new blog entry.  I will no longer send out individual email reminders.


It's starting to look like a house



From the dirt, a house begins to emerge



Foundation poured and backfilled.

Apropos of Spring, Our Connecticut Passive House has sprouted up from the ground like the crocuses and daffodils. After seeing our house for so long on paper and in my imagination, it's amazing to see it physically begin to take shape.

Cement footings, then thick cement walls for the basement and the base of the garage were poured last month, thanks to the mild winter. The first floor/basement ceiling has been constructed as well as part of the first floor exterior walls.

South/east corner.  Large windows let light and heat in
 the lower level.

So far, it looks like construction you'd see on a typical house.  There are a few differences, however.  A lot of attention is being paid to air tightness as the frame is constructed.  Gaps between consecutive sill plates are sealed.  There's a layer of rubber weatherstripping between the foundation and the sill plate.  Joints on the exterior walls are sealed with tape.  A lot of attention is also paid to reducing thermal bridging.  Instead of joists 16" apart ours are 24" apart.  The frame of the house will be constructed with double stud walls.  You can see the exterior stud wall in this picture.  Inside the exterior studs will be 5" of rigid foam insulation creating a continuous area of insulation.  Inside the rigid foam insulation will the be interior stud wall.  Both the interior and exterior stud walls will be insulated with cellulose between the studs. In the basement, a layer of rigid foam insulation will sit inside the foundation walls and underneath the concrete basement floor.

A huge ammount of planning and design has gone into this project and it is so exciting to see it all comming to fruition.  I guess I need to rename "our patch of dirt".  Now it's "our big green box".