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New Construction Energy Evaluations
Published in Stan Harbuck, Donna Harbuck, Residential Energy Auditing and Improvement, 2021
The “Passivhaus” (German for “Passive House”) or Passive House program is a high-performance building program that originated in Germany. It is similar to the RESNET program in that it is used to help design and build new buildings. But, Passive House can also be used to conduct retrofits on existing buildings. A specialized software, the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP), is used to evaluate building plans for energy efficiency. The program further utilizes the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Therm software for an even more detailed analysis of R-values for specific details of the construction, see example shown in Figure 11-12. Since design of the building and quality in construction on-site is critical in providing a high performance building, it is generally assumed that the architect or consultant would need to pay numerous visits to the building site while special quality training is available for the trades under the Passive House Program. (See Appendix Q for more information)
Building scale sustainable design
Published in Rob Fleming, Saglinda H Roberts, Sustainable Design for the Built Environment, 2019
Rob Fleming, Saglinda H Roberts
Passive House is a demanding performance standard for the eco-efficient design of buildings. It is an absolute standard in that there is no baseline to measure against but rather requires meeting stringent energy performance requirements. Passive House or Passivhaus was founded in Germany in the 1990s. Passive House uses all the best passive strategies, especially a tight building envelope and proper orientation, to “max out” the performance of the building prior to the use of active systems for heating and cooling. According to the Passive House Institute in the U.S., buildings can achieve up to a 90% reduction in energy costs by using this system (Passive House Alliance 2018). The system is widely popular in the European Union (EU) and gaining popularity in the U.S. and around the world. Some clients prefer the straightforward nature of Passive House over the more holistic multi-attribute rating systems, because it addresses energy usage directly, while leaving issues like water savings, green materials selection, and site issues to be pursued at the client’s discretion without the imposition of standards beyond the local code. The primary strategies to achieve Passive House are shared below in a bit more detail.
Design Process for an Optimized Enclosure
Published in Donald B. Corner, Jan C. Fillinger, Alison G. Kwok, Passive House Details, 2017
Donald B. Corner, Jan C. Fillinger, Alison G. Kwok
Ideally, energy-modeling software can help the design team optimize a building by indicating the performance impacts of design parameters, including insulation values, window areas, shading geometry, ventilation rates and heat recovery efficiency, lighting, appliance, and mechanical system performance, etc. An energy model can also determine whether the building meets certification criteria for both enclosure performance and total energy use. For passive house, certification is a two-step process. During the design stage, the building design and the energy model are reviewed for consistency and compliance with performance criteria. If acceptable, the building is “pre-certified” before construction begins. After construction is complete, the building is tested and commissioned. If as-built results are acceptable, and the building has been constructed according to plan, the building can be “certified” as a passive house.
Has a singular focus of building regulations created unhealthy homes?
Published in Architectural Science Review, 2020
Shruti Nath, Mark Dewsbury, Jeroen Douwes
Australia’s long-term goal toward net-zero energy housing can be best compared to the German Passivhaus method (Dadeby 2012; McLeod, Mead, and Standen 2019). Passive Houses are designed with the motive to achieve comfortable habitable spaces with minimum energy use for heating and/or cooling. Some of the attributes which play an important role in the concept of Passive House design and construction are the insulation levels, window quality, building structure, airtightness, orientation, climate and advanced mechanical systems for heating and ventilation (Iordache et al. 2016). In Australia, subject to climate type, the energy consumed by a 6 Star home can vary significantly, whereas Passive Houses have a flat-rate energy allowance, as shown in Table 1. It should be noted that Australian regulation focusses on the building design, whereas a certified Passive House has met design, construction and post-occupancy performance evaluations.
Energy potential of a ground-air heat exchanger – measurements and computational models
Published in Science and Technology for the Built Environment, 2022
Silviana Brata, Cristina Tănasă, Daniel Dan, Valeriu Stoian, Ioan Silviu Doboși, Sorin Brata
Energy consumption in the construction sector of the European Union (EU) accounts for about 40% of overall energy consumption, higher than consumption in the transport and industry sectors. The building sector's large share of energy consumption in overall energy consumption generates approximately 36% of CO2 emissions. Therefore, the EU's main goal is to boost energy performance and expand the use of renewable energy sources in buildings. In this context, efforts were made to promote and implement the nearly zero energy building (nZEB) concept as a requirement for the energy efficiency of buildings. The Romanian building stock is mostly composed of residential buildings and almost 61% are single family houses (Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration 2014). In these building, the major consumption is for heating as it accounts for 80% of the total (Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration 2017). Nowadays there are several concepts, design techniques and technologies available for improving energy performance, among which the passive house concept, which is already well-known worldwide. In addition to energy conservation, passive houses have the main objective of guaranteeing their occupants a qualitative, stable and comfortable indoor environment. To this end, passive houses are equipped with mechanical ventilation systems with heat recovery. Moreover, ground to air heat-exchangers (GAHE) can be used to preheat/precool the fresh air before entering the mechanical ventilation unit. Therefore, by using ducts buried in the ground, it is convenient to preheat or precool fresh air because ground has a higher temperature than outdoor air during winter and a lower temperature during the summer season.