Passive House standard is widely utilized in Europe, but to a much smaller extent here in the US; it achieves approximately 80% reduction in heating and cooling energy.
Passive building is designed and built in accordance with these five building-science principles:
- Employs continuous insulation throughout its entire envelope without any thermal bridging.
- The building envelope is extremely airtight, preventing infiltration of outside air and loss of conditioned air.
- Employs high-performance windows (double or triple-paned windows depending on climate and building type) and doors – solar gain is managed to exploit the sun’s energy for heating purposes in the heating season and to minimize overheating during the cooling season.
- Uses some form of balanced heat- and moisture-recovery fresh air ventilation.
- Uses a minimal space conditioning system.
To learn more visit:
https://www.phius.org/what-is-passive-building/passive-house-principles
Interested in a tour of a local project? See https://www.facebook.com/Squirrel-Hill-Passive-House-Duplex-182341078626908/, the story of this Passive House construction.
Contact [email protected] for a tour; open to groups of 1-4 persons even in Covid-19 time.