Passive House Explained in 90 Seconds
See the Passive House Brochure for more information:
Text below Videos:
Passive House Explained in 90 Seconds
See the Passive House Brochure for more information:
Text below Videos:
At Construction Management Group, we are excited to be at the forefront of the Passive House movement. Passive Housing is the gold standard of energy efficient building and requires virtually no energy use for heating or cooling. The first Passive Homes were built in Germany and Austria 25 years ago and the concept is quickly making its way here to the United States. The key components to building a passive house are:
- Air tight construction
- Robust exterior insulation on all sides
- Efficient whole-house ventilation system
- Thermal-bridge-free construction
- High efficiency windows
We truly feel this exciting advancement in residential and commercial construction is poised for explosive growth over the next decade. Our firm is well equipped and educated to be your top choice for Passive House construction and can partner with you throughout the entire process from design to final build.
Passive House Explained in 90 Seconds
Useful Links:
Download PH_Brochure.pdf (5.41 MB)
See the Passive House Brochure for more information:
Text below Videos:
At Construction Management Group, we are excited to be at the forefront of the Passive House movement. Passive Housing is the gold standard of energy efficient building and requires virtually no energy use for heating or cooling. The first Passive Homes were built in Germany and Austria 25 years ago and the concept is quickly making its way here to the United States. The key components to building a passive house are:
- Air tight construction
- Robust exterior insulation on all sides
- Efficient whole-house ventilation system
- Thermal-bridge-free construction
- High efficiency windows
We truly feel this exciting advancement in residential and commercial construction is poised for explosive growth over the next decade. Our firm is well equipped and educated to be your top choice for Passive House construction and can partner with you throughout the entire process from design to final build.
Passive House Explained in 90 Seconds
Useful Links:
At Construction Management Group, we are excited to be at the forefront of the Passive House movement. Passive Housing is the gold standard of energy efficient building and requires virtually no energy use for heating or cooling. The first Passive Homes were built in Germany and Austria 25 years ago and it is growing quickly here to the United States. The key components to building a passive house are:
- Air-tight Construction
- Robust Exterior Insulation on All Sides
- Efficient whole-house ventilation system
- Thermal-bridge-free construction
- High efficiency windows
We truly feel this exciting advancement in residential and commercial construction is poised for explosive growth over the next decade. Our firm is well equipped and educated to be your top choice for Passive House construction and can partner with you throughout the entire process from design to final build.
Thermal insulation
All opaque building components of the exterior envelope of the house must be very well-insulated. For most cool-termperate climates, this means a heat transfer coefficient (U-value) of 0.15 W/(m²K) at the most, i.e. a maximum of 0.15 watts per degree of temperature difference and per square metre of exterior surface are lost.
Seeing is believing; Blue is Beautiful!
Classic iconic image of the thermography done of a New York Brownstone in the late evening on a cold winter day. The clear identifier of wasted energy is shown in yellow and red depicting heat loss through thermal bridges. The middle Brownstone depicted with a blue thermographic image is what we like to see. It makes a clear comparison between a conventional building giving off high heat loss and a High-Performance building with a drastic reduction in heat loss creating substantial energy savings… and all the other remarkable benefits that come along with it.
Passive House windows
Passive House windows
The window frames must be well insulated and fitted with low-e glazings filled with argon or krypton to prevent heat transfer. For most cool-termperate climates, this means a U-value of 0.80 W/(m²K) or less, with g-values around 50% (g-value= total solar transmittance, proportion of the solar energy available for the room)
The window frames must be well insulated and fitted with low-e glazings filled with argon or krypton to prevent heat transfer. For most cool-termperate climates, this means a U-value of 0.80 W/(m²K) or less, with g-values around 50% (g-value= total solar transmittance, proportion of the solar energy available for the room).
Ventilation heat recovery
Efficient heat recovery ventilation is key, allowing for a good indoor air quality and saving energy. In Passive House, at least 75% of the heat from the exhaust air is transferred to the fresh air again by means of a heat exchanger.
What is Air-tight Construction???
A deliberate continuous wrap around ALL sides; including the roof and underside to prevent any air leakage from entering or exiting the home or building. Why should we be so fussy about this??
This single measure is the first and most important part of the system that will create high indoor air quality, increase building longevity, prevent mold growth, substantially increase efficiency by reducing heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer. More importantly, the dangerous component about leaky buildings is that they allow warm, moist air to pass through creating hidden condensable surfaces that decay and mold our buildings over time. Moreover, they bring dust, pollen, and allergens into our hygienic living spaces.
Any uncontrolled leakage through any gaps, holes, crevices, whatever may exist must be ≤ 0.6 air changes per hour of the total air volume that passes through the building envelope. This is tested with an industry blower door test. This is significantly more efficient than the current Northeast United States building code requirements. The current building code in the Northeast requires ≤3.0 air changes per hour. In some parts of the United States, the code is ≤ 5.0 air changes per hour. The Passive House air-tightness envelope standard is typically 10 times better than conventional construction!
Airtightness of the building
Robust Exterior Insulation
Robust Exterior insulation on all sides; continuous, unbroken insulation on all sides including under the floor slab.
One of the most environmentally friendly and home-healthy forms of insulation can be found in dense pack cellulose insulation.
Uncontrolled leakage through gaps must be smaller than 0.6 of the total house volume per hour during a pressure test at 50 Pascal (both pressurised and depressurised).
Absence of thermal bridges
All edges, corners, connections and penetrations must be planned and executed with great care, so that thermal bridges can be avoided. Thermal bridges which cannot be avoided must be minimised as far as possible.
- The Space Heating Energy Demand is not to exceed 15 kWh per square meter of net living space (treated floor area) per year or 10 W per square meter peak demand. In climates where active cooling is needed, the Space Cooling Energy Demand requirement roughly matches the heat demand requirements above, with a slight additional allowance for dehumidification.
- The Primary Energy Demand, the total energy to be used for all domestic applications (heating, hot water and domestic electricity) must not exceed 120 kWh per square meter of treated floor area per year.
- In terms of Airtightness, a maximum of 0.6 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals pressure (ACH50), as verified with an onsite pressure test (in both pressurized and depressurized states).
- Thermal comfort must be met for all living areas during winter as well as in summer, with not more than 10 % of the hours in a given year over 25 °C. For a complete overview of general quality requirements (soft criteria) see Passipedia.
Absence of thermal bridges
All edges, corners, connections and penetrations must be planned and executed with great care, so that thermal bridges can be avoided. Thermal bridges which cannot be avoided must be minimised as far as possible.
Thermal insulation
All opaque building components of the exterior envelope of the house must be very well-insulated. For most cool-termperate climates, this means a heat transfer coefficient (U-value) of 0.15 W/(m²K) at the most, i.e. a maximum of 0.15 watts per degree of temperature difference and per square metre of exterior surface are lost.
Passive House windows
The window frames must be well insulated and fitted with low-e glazings filled with argon or krypton to prevent heat transfer. For most cool-termperate climates, this means a U-value of 0.80 W/(m²K) or less, with g-values around 50% (g-value= total solar transmittance, proportion of the solar energy available for the room).
Ventilation heat recovery
Efficient heat recovery ventilation is key, allowing for a good indoor air quality and saving energy. In Passive House, at least 75% of the heat from the exhaust air is transferred to the fresh air again by means of a heat exchanger.
Airtightness of the building
Uncontrolled leakage through gaps must be smaller than 0.6 of the total house volume per hour during a pressure test at 50 Pascal (both pressurised and depressurised).
Absence of thermal bridges
All edges, corners, connections and penetrations must be planned and executed with great care, so that thermal bridges can be avoided. Thermal bridges which cannot be avoided must be minimised as far as possible.
Please feel free to call us at 203-966-3388 or email us at info@cmgbuilder.com if you would like to learn more about Passive House.
