A passive house design or Passivhaus is an ultra-low energy building that focuses on the use of free and renewable energy sources to provide building ventilation, heating, lighting, and cooling. It enhances the quality of indoor air, helps maintain a comfortable warm temperature, and promotes a healthy environment inside the house while minimizing the energy use for mechanical heating and cooling.
As the green movement becomes more and more popular each day, many people are getting involved with it and are starting to take their own share of responsibility in saving mother earth and in sustaining and preserving the natural resources. As evidence, construction firms that offer sustainable architecture projects are now growing in numbers as more homeowners and commercial building owners realize the advantages of a sustainable building.
What is a passive house design?
Passive house or Passivhaus is a voluntary and rigorous sustainable building standard for energy efficiency. The design focuses on the use of free renewable energy sources like the wind and the sun for space ventilation, heating, lighting, and cooling. This ultra-low energy house design responds to both the site conditions and the local climate to maximize the occupants' comfort, to reduce temperature fluctuations, to maintain a healthy environment inside the house, to enhance indoor air quality, and to make the home more enjoyable to live in while minimizing the use of energy.
A passive house design does not only reduce energy use for mechanical heating and cooling, it likewise minimizes the building's environmental impacts like its greenhouse gas emissions.
Incorporating passive design into existing and new buildings
The passive design can be incorporated into both existing and new buildings. However, the benefits it can provide may differ if you add the design to an existing building rather than into a new one. Although you can integrate the passive design principle into an existing building, it would be challenging to attain its full benefits.
Incorporating Passivhaus into a new building can cost very little or almost nothing. If the Passivhaus is being integrated into the entire house design as well as into the process of planning and construction, you can maximize the benefits that you can achieve from the passive design principles.
Passive design key elements
The key features of a Passivhaus include the orientation and location of the building on the site, thermal mass, window design, building layout, insulation, ventilation, and shading. These key features have to harmoniously work with each other and should holistically be considered in order to achieve an excellent indoor air quality and comfortable temperatures.
The type of building ventilation system will greatly affect the quality of indoor air as it provides passive cooling inside the house. On the other end, thermal mass and insulation help in maintaining comfortable indoor temperatures.
The orientation and location of the building, as well as the window design, layout of the room and shading are among the most important contributing factors that you need to take into consideration in order to achieve the right amount of solar access. The building should receive solar access that is just enough to make the room comfortably warm during the winter season and to avoid overheating during summer months.
Aside from the key features of the passive house design, the designers and architects should also take into consideration the other important factors like the covenants, landscape or views, restrictions set by the local authority, as well as the needs and preferences of the building owner.
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