Guide To Passive House Standards

The concept of a Passiv Haus, or Passive House, was developed more than three decades ago and is now considered to be the world‘s leading standard in energy efficient construction.

The core Passive House principles of superior airtightness, thermal insulation, specialised glazing, and controlled ventilation have been leading the way in standards of quality, comfort and energy efficiency since 1991. Passive House projects have been completed all across the planet, with in excess of 30,000 units now complete. In Ireland, fewer than 50 projects are certified as Passive House, however, this is set to increase over the coming decade as homeowners experience the many benefits of owning, maintaining and residing in a passive home.

For a building to be certified as a Passive House, it must meet a set of exacting standards developed by the International Passivhaus Association (IPA). Among these are:

  • An annual heating or cooling demand of less than 15kWh/m2 or 10W/m2

  • Less than 120KWh per square metre total energy consumption per year

  • Living spaces that maintain temperatures of 20-25°C for 90% of the year

  • At most, 0.6 air changes an hour, eliminating heat loss and drafts

 

The Benefits of a Passive House

Certified Design and Construction

All certified Passive Houses are designed, inspected and constructed to rigorous standards, with a registered Passive House Certifier to independently certify the project upon completion.

Helena McElmeel Architects, the design practice tasked with delivering Radharc na Chaolaíre, has Certified Passive House Designers on the team and has successfully completed and certified Passive Houses in Ireland.

Quality – Exceeding Building Regulations

Passive houses are built for the future and exceed current mandatory building standards. First introduced in Germany in 1991, the Passive House Standard today still exceeds the current Building Regulations in terms of comfort, energy efficiency and build quality. Typically, a Passive House uses only one tenth of the energy consumed by an average house. This can be attributed, in part, to the ‘thermal bridge’-free design, which ensures the insulation layer enclosing the entire house is applied without any weak spots. The primary objective of this principle is to eliminate cold surfaces that can lead to condensation and mould, as well as excessive heat losses. This robust construction detailing, combined with an extremely low air leakage rate means that Certified Passive Houses are built to the highest standards.

Whole House Comfort

Resident comfort is one of the primary goals of Passive House design and HME Passive House buildings are designed to be comfortable all year round due to the highly efficient thermal insulation process. Significantly, a recently completed Post Occupancy Evaluation on a HME Certified Passive house in Galway confirmed through recorded data that the level of comfort modelled during the design phase was actually delivered post occupancy, in accordance with PH Design and Certification Criteria.

Through the use of high efficiency mechanical ventilation with heat recovery system, and  a renewable high efficiency air to water heat pump, the home is designed to stay comfortable in the warmer months, while providing heat in the colder months. This allows for the occupant to select the optimum temperature and comfort level for them all year round.

Excellent Air Quality providing health benefits

With indoor air quality, or IAQ, high on the national agenda right now, Passive houses are designed to be amongst the healthiest homes available. Continuous low-volume ventilation provides filtered fresh air directly to living spaces and exhausts stale air from kitchens, bathrooms and other service spaces. The resulting indoor air is of excellent quality and free of contaminants and airborne toxins. The health benefits recorded through the above-mentioned Post Occupancy Evaluation carried out on a Galway home recently reinforced this, with the owners affirming the benefits of such superior indoor air quality and supported by IAQ monitoring which demonstrated the excellent Co2 levels and air quality.


Helena McElmeel Architects is an award winning, design focused architectural practice with diverse experience and deep expertise in the delivery of beautiful, bespoke, low energy buildings. Guided by a passion for place and the natural environment, passive house principles are incorporated into all designs. www.mcelmeel.ie