Passivhaus / Passive House
Passivhaus is a leading low energy building standard, developed by the Passivhaus Institute in Germany. In simple terms, a passivhaus (or passive house) building is able to provide a very good level of thermal comfort with a very low heating and cooling energy requirement. A number of technical requirements must be met in order for a building to be certified as a passivhaus project.
A passivhaus building provides the occupants with a warm, comfortable and well ventilated indoor environment throughout the year, even during the winter months. In the UK, this is achieved primarily by having a highly insulated and very airtight building construction.
The performance standards can be applied to any type of building, not just homes. As a country, we need to radically reduce the operational energy use of our homes and workplaces, since this energy use creates huge quantities of carbon dioxide through the burning of fossil fuels to produce power. Passivhaus buildings have a much lower operational energy use than a 'standard' building built to current UK building regulations standards, are also more comfortable and healthier for occupants because they are well ventilated and reduce the chances of mould or condensation forming on interior surfaces.
We are working on an increasing number of projects targeting the Passivhaus and EnerPHit low energy building standards. We use the Passivhaus standard for new build homes and the EnerPHit standard for work to upgrade the performance of existing buildings.
Matt Wickham is a Certified Passive House Designer and a member of the UK Passivhaus Trust.
