The key elements of a passive house.
Sunday's New York Times Business section documented one Boston family's adventure of building a passive home in rural Maine. "A so-called passive home...is so purposefully designed and built—from its orientation toward the sun and superthick insulation to its algorithmic design and virtually unbroken envelope—that it requires minimal heating, even in chilly New England," explains The New York Times. The house required so few heating elements—in fact, this Maine home can stay warm throughout the winter without a furnace—that the homeowners were denied insurance coverage by several carriers suspicious of the new home's quality.
Having never heard the term Passivhaus, I read on: "While some 25,000 certified passive structures—from schools and commercial buildings to homes and apartment houses—have already been built in Europe, there are just 13 in the United States, with a few dozen more in the pipeline."
As this new practice expands in the US, there are several challenges consumers face: an estimated 10% cost premium to build to passive home standards, as compared with 5% in Europe; there are only 160 passive home-certified architects, engineers, and builders in the US; the US supply chain for passive house products—windows and other building materials that are designed to more rigorous standards—is undeveloped, leaving consumers with the option of purchasing less-efficient materials.
Explaining how passive home design compares, The New York Times says "Energy Star and LEED aim for efficiency improvements of at least 15% over conventional construction—both programs can earn a variety of tax credits and other incentives. The passive-home standard, perhaps because it's unfamiliar to many officials who create efficiency stimulus programs, is eligible for few direct government subsidies, despite the fact that homes using it can be up to 80 percent more energy-efficient, over all, than standard new houses and consume just 10 percent of the heating and cooling energy."
This building standard seems so logical for new home construction—it's future-focused, produces quality dwellings, and is conservative. As Katrin Klingenberg, the director of the Passive House Institute US, explains, "We have to stop using halfway measures. Each new building that we don't go all the way with now is putting us in a deeper hole." I can't say I disagree with her—she makes a perfect point.
Read the full New York Times article Can We Build in a Brighter Shade of Green? and view the related video interview.
Additional information: Habitat for Humanity Plans Passive House in Vermont; Passive House Institute US
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I'm not sure what constitutes the certification of a passive solar building, but passive solar as terminology has been around for quite awhile, and there are many, many more than 13 passive solar dwellings in the US! From underground houses to straw bale houses to earthships, using trombe walls, orientation for solar gain, superinsulation, thermal mass--the list goes on. Passive solar was a pretty hot topic back in the 60s and 70s, until we were sold on the idea that energy was cheap, and that just adding some insulation and double-paned windows was Good Enough.
This is not a new concept. How do you think houses were built before the Industrial Revolution? There are most definitely more than 13 passive homes in the US.
these are not passive SOLAR houses, but passive houses, from the german passivhaus. i urge you to read on about this. the passive house phenomenon is indeed pretty phenomenal. imagine having a house without a furnace, or air conditioning! they are engineered in a very detailed way so that every single window, every single wall adds to the house's energy efficiency. they have taken the old fashioned home and taken it to a new level.
The "solar" part of "passive solar" describes the siting of the house to utilize the solar heat gains illustrated above. Passive solar houses were indeed designed and engineered to maintain comfortable temperatures without the use of a furnace or air conditioning. They utilize every part of the design to increase energy efficiency, exactly as you describe and as illustrated above! Just leaving the word "solar" out of the name doesn't make it a new phenomenon! There are many, many examples of precisely this type of building around the country.
I'm so glad to see these kind of articles on a mainstream blog.
I'm going to be even more excited when this becomes integrated with every residential design project.
I'm often wondering why people before making a fool of themselves can't read a bit about a subject and get themselves informed.
...or is just wounded pride?