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The Passive House requires no active heating or cooling systems
The introduction in 2005 of the completely passive house upgrade redefines what it is possible to achieve, setting a new standard of energy-preservation.
A Passive House is a building in which a comfortable interior climate can be maintained without active heating and cooling systems (Adamson 1987 and Feist 1988) because heat-losses are reduced to such a degree that no separate heating is necessary. The key elements of a Passive House are superinsulation, absolute air-tightness, and the elimination of all cold-bridging combined with a heat-recovery ventilation system.
The U-values of the exterior building components generally range between 0.1 and 0.15 W/m2C. This standard has been named "Passive House" because the passive heat inputs – delivered externally by solar irradiation through the windows and provided internally by the heat emissions of appliances and occupants – essentially suffice to keep the building at comfortable indoor temperatures throughout the heating period.
It is a part of the Passive House philosophy that efficient technologies are also used to minimize the other sources of energy consumption in the building, notably including electricity for household appliances. Passive House is the most commonly used term for this approach, but terms such as “Zero-energy house”, “Body-heat house” and “House without heating” are different in name, but not in nature.
The criteria for a Passive House per m² living area include a maximum of 10 W/m² constant heating-load, a maximum of 15 kWh/m²yr annual space-heat requirement and no more than 42 kWh/m²yr annual total amount of energy input. Amazing reductions in energy demand and the economic advantage of extremely low running costs are the obvious plus-factors for the Passive House concept.
As well as this, an ecological building advantage can be recognized. At the projecting stage careful considerations are made for every minuscule detail of the building, with the physical performance, as well as the environmental impact of all materials used being analysed.
The Passive House represents the most consistent concept of sustainable building today.
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