Everyone loves to save up. And investing in a Passive House might just be one of the best ways to do that. When we usually think of the word passive, we think of negative connotations. But in this case, there's nothing negative about it. Especially not when you're going to save up to 90% on the cost of heating or cooling your house.
A Passive House (or PassivHaus in German) is one of the recent growing trends in sustainable green architecture. It encompasses a multitude of great features, on top of which is being cost effective because it uses minimal energy for heating and cooling. It guarantees that your home is, both literally and metaphorically, a comfort zone.
For a building to be licensed as Passive, the following architecture and design principles must be met:
,- The building’s envelop must be extremely airtight, which means that it doesn’t allow much outside air to enter (or condition air to get out). Or as technically stated, "the building must not leak more air than 0.6 times the house volume per hour."
- Unlike what most people think, a Passive house is perfectly aired through a continuous mechanical ventilation system . This mechanism ensures optimal comfort by making sure the temperature is the same throughout the building via a heat recovery ventilator, while the old stale air is expelled alongside any excess humidity (keeping it at a fresh 30% to 60%).
- Not only does it keep unconditioned air outside, it also keeps heat out through continuous insulation and the prevention of any thermal bridging.
- Another reason why your Passive Home is your dream home is because of the use of high-performance windows, typically triple-paned, which keep all the noise outside.
- Managing solar-gain for heating or cooling, according to need. Given whether the building is in the northern or southern hemisphere, windows are placed to maximize the benefit of solar heating.
The first Passivhaus was built in 1991 (yes that is 23 years ago) and yet it seems to be as good as new. Why? Because it's hot and trendy now. Licensing a Passivhaus requires an investment in materials of the highest quality, otherwise you’d be going through the unnecessary hassle of fixing a failing system.
If you’re considering making the big move, here are some figures you may want to bear in mind. A Passivhaust currently costs approximately $60 per square meter, although the cost is expected to relatively drop once the trend starts catching on in more places.
Are you next in line to adopt this Earth loving, tree hugging architectural approach?