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Design and realisation of the Passive House concept in different climate zones

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Abstract

The term Passive House refers to a performance-based energy standard for high-efficiency buildings. It is clearly defined, with validity for all climates of the world. Under cold climate conditions, the design typically focuses on minimising heat losses and optimising solar gains. In milder climates, moderate insulation, including improved window qualities, is sufficient, but on the other hand, the building performance during summer requires more careful consideration. For hotter climates, the insulation requirements increase again, and solar loads through windows, walls and roofs must be limited. In hot and humid climates, humidity loads are also minimised or reduced. In practical implementation, every Passive House has its own, specific boundary conditions which lead to different constructions and technical solutions to fulfil the stringent requirements of the Passive House standard. The paper briefly introduces Passive House design principles and criteria. Then, nine examples for passive houses in climates of Canada, the USA, Germany, China, Greece, Spain, Taiwan, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates illustrate the bandwidth of possible solutions. For many projects, practical experiences are available, which typically reveal high user satisfaction and energy consumptions close to what would be expected from the design calculations. In some cases, a potential for further improvements is described.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Passivhaus Institut, Rheinstraße 44/46, 64283, Darmstadt, Germany

    Jürgen Schnieders, Javier Florez, Berthold Kaufmann & Elena Reyes

  2. TE Studio, 901 23rd Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN, 55418, USA

    Tim Delhey Eian

  3. Energy Plus Project, Piazzetta San Marco 7/8, 31053, Pieve di Soligo, Italy

    Marco Filippi

  4. Hellenic Passive House Institute, Anastaseos Str. 112, 15669, Papagou, Greece

    Stefanos Pallantzas

  5. RDH Building Science Inc., 4333 Still Creek Drive #400, Burnaby, BC, V5C 6S6, Canada

    Monte Paulsen

  6. Energiehaus Arquitectos, C/Ramón Turró 100-104, 3-3, 08005, Barcelona, Spain

    Micheel Wassouf

  7. Passive House Taiwan, 3F., No. 16, Section 2, Heping East Road, Da’an District, Taipei City, 10662, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Shih-Chieh Yeh

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  1. Jürgen Schnieders
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  2. Tim Delhey Eian
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Schnieders, J., Eian, T.D., Filippi, M. et al. Design and realisation of the Passive House concept in different climate zones. Energy Efficiency 13, 1561–1604 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-019-09819-6

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