Eco Homes: 8 of the Most Sustainable Features to Consider, According to Experts

Table Of Content

• Passive House Accelerator Magazine Features two California Passive House Projects
• Money Matters: Building a greener future with sustainable housing
• Eco Homes: 8 of the Most Sustainable Features to Consider, According to Experts
• The city of Vancouver is actively promoting Passive House construction
• Comparison with zero energy buildings
• Heat Recovery Ventilators & Energy Recovery Ventilators

Which requirements exist with regard to components, planning, design, and project implementation? What is it like to live in a Passive House, what has already been built, and why are Passive Houses such an attractive investment? In order to competently answer such questions, the International Passive House Association (iPHA) has created the informational brochure "Active for more comfort".

Passive House Accelerator Magazine Features two California Passive House Projects

Appropriate shading strategies exploit the sun's energy in the heating season and minimize overheating during the cooling season. Daylighting can be a critical passive strategy to reducing lighting loads in non-residential buildings and improving indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Continuous insulation throughout the entire building enclosure helps to reduce a buildings heating and cooling needs and improves comfort.

Money Matters: Building a greener future with sustainable housing

Offering a passive home rental is extremely valuable as passive homes aren’t as widely available as other rentals on the market. No matter where you are inside a passive house, the idea is that the temperature stays consistent. Even areas next to windows or doors where there can easily be drafts will become regulated. Since the windows and doors are well insulated, your tenants will be able to comfortably sit by a big window, sipping their morning coffee, in the middle of winter. Since there is no active heating system, a passive home uses “free heat” to warm the home.

Eco Homes: 8 of the Most Sustainable Features to Consider, According to Experts

90%; since then, lots of realized passive houses have been monitored with convincing results. In other words, the Passive House is a “factor 10 house” which only uses one tenth of the energy used by average houses. Please click here to learn about the amount of primary energy this translates to. The passive house concept delivers - the savings are real, there is no performance gap.

The Catskill Project Is a Passive House Community in Sullivan County - Hudson Valley

The Catskill Project Is a Passive House Community in Sullivan County.

Posted: Mon, 11 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

A guide to Passive Houses: designs, costs and savings

So chances are, that without certification, you will fall short of expectations. Essential to the success of the methodology is the ability to reliably calculate the performance characteristics before the building is built. So at the core of the methodology is the Passive House Planning Package or PHPP, energy model. These aspects and more are all carefully calculated, and all integrated with the entire architectural process of design and construction – from day one of the project’s conception. From this discovery and formulation of the passive house concept, the Passive House Institute or PHI for short, developed the Passive House Standard – our next iteration of the phrase. The holistic design of Phius buildings make them uniquely built for the long haul.

The city of Vancouver is actively promoting Passive House construction

This is good news for buyers, as you’ll likely have less work to do on your newly purchased home to make it more comfortable and carbon-friendly. “It’s a set of principles that puts conservation first to reduce the amount of energy it takes to heat and cool a building to measurable comfort levels,” explains Michael Knezovich, the Communications Director at Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS). Because passive homes are achieved through construction technique, the term “passive house” is arguably limiting — nearly any type of building can be passive, from single-family homes to skyscrapers.

Comparison with zero energy buildings

As sustainable living continues to be an important topic of discussion in the United States, homeowners are increasingly looking for ways to make their homes more energy efficient. Saving money on utility bills and enjoying a more comfortable living environment are rewarding personal advantages, but the benefits of a green home extend far beyond one’s own front door. You’ll need a Roomba to make that final part of the dream come (partially) true, but there’s a type of home that’s practically Jetsons-like in its attention to conservation and efficiency. Avoiding thermal bridges, weak points in the building envelope, contributes to pleasant, even interior temperatures while eliminating moisture damage and improving energy efficiency. In addition, thermal control involves installing well-insulated windows that qualify as passive house windows to prevent heat transfer.

Heat Recovery Ventilators & Energy Recovery Ventilators

The most common thermal bridge is a gap in insulation, but outlets, junction boxes, and plumbing can also act as thermal bridges. Thermal bridges are more common at corners, jogs, balconies, and discontinuities, which is why Passive House designs tend to be simpler. The annual specific heat demand for the zero-heating house should not exceed 3 kWh/m2a. Zero heating building is generally considered to be simpler to design and to operate as there is no need for modulated sun shading. A disadvantage resulting from the thickness of wall insulation required is that, unless the external dimensions of the building can be enlarged to compensate, the internal floor area of the building may be less compared to traditional construction. The specific heat load for the heating source at design temperature is recommended, but not required, to be less than 10 W/m2 (3.17 btu/(h⋅ft2)).

Thermal Control

A passive house is a building that is designed and constructed to be extremely energy efficient, with the goal of reducing its environmental impact and energy consumption. Yes, passive house construction is estimated to cost 10 to 15 percent more than standard building costs. That said, by slashing energy costs, passive houses save owners considerably over time. With an airtight enclosure, continuous, balanced ventilation is absolutely critical to indoor air quality (IAQ). Passive buildings continually exhaust air from bathrooms, kitchens and other areas with stale air and supply fresh air to living and working spaces.

Whether you live in one, dream of owning one, or have never heard of a passive house until reading this article, there’s no denying that real estate has a green future. Homeowners — and the real estate agents helping them prepare their homes for market — are more aware than ever of the importance of components like proper insulation and high-quality windows for effective temperature regulation. Plus, there’s that nice little perk of saving cash on heating and cooling costs. Utility bills are more stable and predictable, and so are your day-to-day living conditions.

If you make any energy-saving modifications to your rental property, don’t forget to market it on the web using our free rental advertising tool and tenant screening services so you can attract potential tenants. With a combination of heavy insulation and an airtight structure, noises from busy streets and other outside sounds are reduced. Not only that, but the absence of an active heating and cooling system takes away the additional noise the equipment makes as it runs, making a passive home much quieter than other buildings. So even if your property resides in a busy area, you won’t be compromising your available tenant pool. The buildings are designed for longevity and sustainability, which means that your list of would-be renovation projects during the years is kept to an absolute minimum.

Passive house builders also focus on air control to ensure superior indoor air quality of a home. They do this by air sealing the enclosure and providing balanced, mechanical ventilation that constantly provides fresh air and prevents drafts. Airtightness is the foundation of air control in passive building design, helping to make the home more energy efficient and durable, which ultimately results in energy and cost savings.

Finally, in 2015, PHIUS released the PHIUS+ standard that considers cost-effective and climate-specific performance criteria. A passive house (“passivhaus” in German) is a design standard that delivers healthy, comfortable, and efficient homes using a holistic approach. Essentially, these homes heat and cool themselves, cutting energy bills by about 90 percent. Homeowners often report that they don’t even have to turn on their heat during the winter because of the way their passive house is designed. With more powerful hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves, and flooding, homeowners are experiencing more frequent power outages and rising energy costs.

The cavities can be filled with as much as 12 inches of densely packed cellulose, fiberglass, or other materials. Just inside the inner wall there is often a cavity containing all the wiring and ducting. With all this insulation, Passive Houses are pleasantly quiet and comfortable. These standards are much higher than houses built to most normal building codes. In September 1996, the Passivhaus-Institut was founded in Darmstadt to promote and control passivhaus standards. By 2010 more than 25,000 passivhaus structures were estimated to have been built.[1][9][22] Most are located in Germany and Austria, others in various countries worldwide.