Passive House

What is Passive House

Passive House is a low energy standard of building developed by Wolfgang Feist in Germany in the late 80’s. This standard of building will give homeowners an ultra-low energy home that will need next to no heating to remain comfortable and healthy. The main pillars of Passive House are;

High Levels of Insulation
High Air Tightness
Low levels of thermal bridging
High Performance Windows & Doors
Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation

In Ireland over the past decade there has been a large shift towards more energy efficient building. The most recent building regulations stipulate that all buildings must achieve an A2 level of building with an air tightness of 5 ACH (air changes per hour) or less. The heating needed in an A2 standard building is 45kWh/m². In comparison a Passive House needs only 15kWh/m² for heating and must achieve an airtightness level of 0.6 ACH. This results in very small energy bills for the lifetime of the house as well as ensuring a comfortable and healthy indoor environment for the residents.

Irish construction standards are moving closer to Passive with every review of the building regulations. In fact all public buildings from 2018 onwards must achieve NZEB standard, which is a close relation to the Passive House standard.

One of the main elements of all low energy building is a high level of air tightness to ensure heat is not lost through gaps in the construction. The lower the air change rate, the more important ventilation systems become, as such HRV has become integral part of low energy buildings. HRV ensures adequate ventilation, providing clean, fresh air 24/7, while also contributing to the energy efficiency of the building by recovering 90%+ of the heat to reduce the demand on the heating system.

To respond to the move towards Passive House standard ProAir Systems have developed the ProAir PA 600PLI unit. The PA 600PLI has been certified by the Passive House Institute as a Certified Passive House Component. Our Passive House unit as well as our experienced design team will help you to achieve the most energy efficient building possible. Our in house Passive House Designer can advise on design strategies to ensure optimum performance.

For more information on Passive House watch the video here and for more information on the ProAir PA 600PLI HRV unit see more here.