WHAT ARE THE PASSIVE HOUSE CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS?

A Passive House must meet 3 requirements to obtain certification:


HOW DO WE KNOW THAT IT WORKS?

Thousands of Passive Houses have been built in Central Europe. A demonstration project, funded by the European Commission, was developed to examine and prove the sustainability of the Passive House concept in Europe. The CEPHEUS (Cost Efficient Passive Houses as European Standard) project consisted of the construction of about 250 housing units from 1998 to 2001 to Passive House standards in five European countries.

The buildings have been monitored and building operations measured and evaluated. www.cepheus.de/eng/index.html
Link to www.passiv.de / click on English flag / click on CEPHEUS - measurement results.

 

HOW ARE PASSIVE HOUSE REQUIREMENTS REACHED?

The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) is a design tool which assists in balancing the energy consumption of a building (heat gains vs. heat losses) so that the design can reach the Passive House requirements. PHPP has proven that it can accurately predict the energy consumption of buildings as long as the construction is executed appropriately. The PHPP Software and User's Manual are available through the Passive House Institute US: www.passivehouse.us.

 

 

Section thru Multi family Passive Building from Cepheus project




 

 




Multiple family Passive Buildings from CEPHEUS project

Wall section with continuous insulation, no thermal bridging, exterior rain screen, interior service cavity from CEPHEUS project