What is a passive house?
- A passive house is a very energy efficient building which requires such a small amount of heat that it can be heated mainly by “passive” sources such as the incoming sunlight and existing appliances.
- Heat recovery via mechanical ventilation is necessary
- The concept works well in any climate, from hot and humid to cold and dry; physics is the same everywhere.
- Heating costs are reduced by approx. 90%
While there are many ways to achieve the passive house standard they share in common extraordinarily high thermal comfort and extraordinarily low energy consumption. Extremely low annual space heating/cooling demand is achieved through careful design; while there is wide discretion in design in terms, of how the targets are achieved the principles are consistent.