Several Passive House projects undergoing certification have requested a way to estimate the additional R-value of an adjoining unconditioned spaces (such as garage). A good example is a garage which is part of the building but outside of the Passive House Thermal Envelope. This garage will increase the insulation value of the thermal envelope by buffering it from the exterior …
DHW Tanks – W/K from kWh/day
Summary The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) requires that energy losses from Domestic Hot Water (DHW) Storage tanks be entered as Watts per degree Kelvin (W/K) rather than the more common KWh/day. This explains how to convert from kWh/day to W/K and some ways this can be more complicated than you would expect as you need to know the temperatures …
How to scale HRV data to ERV for use in Passive House Planning Package
Summary Several Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) systems available have HRV performance data for the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) but do not have Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) performance data. Knowing the performance is important for designing Passive Houses. A simple scaling is suggested to provide a first approximation. Method Looking at the PHPP version 9.3 example file we can set …
Hygiene Criterion applied to a thermal bridge
PH certification criteria requires that a minimum surface temperature be achieved. Steps: 1. Determine the exterior temperature to use – call this the Hygiene External Temperature. This temperature can be any value lower than the internal temperature. I typically use 0 °C as the Hygiene External Temperature and 20 °C as the interior temperature but this is only a matter …
05 July 2018 Opinion’s Jessica Berentson-Shaw: KiwiBuild risks embedding wealth and housing inequalities
“It is feasible for people in government to ensure the next generation of children has more choice.Building standards need an overhaul. We are lagging behind other similar countries.Mr Twyford should be informed by open source energy-efficient housing systems like the passive house standard.It is a system that lends itself to prefabrication on a large scale, and has been used in …
03 July 2018 Australian Passive House Association: A zero-energy home is not as challenging as you might think, with the right toolkit
In this article, Clare Parry from the Australian Passive House Association points out how it’s really a simplicity introduced by Passive House that allows these homes to easily meet zero-energy by focusing on the basics of the envelope. “The Passive House standard is a proven methodology for achieving homes that have minimal operational energy requirements and provide a high standard …
06 June 2018 Stuff Piers Fuller: A tenth of New Zealand houses not fit to live in, health researcher says
I met Dr Pierse at University of Otago’s Public Health Summer School on the day of the release of the World Health Organisation’s International Housing & Health Guidelines (25 February 2019). This was nearly the same day that the Healthy Homes Guarantees Act was released. The research that went into the WHO International Housing & Health Guidelines was incredible – …
27 May 2018 Wanganui Chronicle – Home is where the heart(and the heat) is by Rachel Rose
I think the epic quote from this article could be paraphrased as “Your brand new home might still be cold, damp, and bad for your health”. I think that’s a pretty epic statement – and unfortunately accurate. You just bought a brand new home and a few months later there is mould and the power bill is actually a bit …
23 April 2018 Stuff’s Will Harvie: The applied science of super energy-efficient Passive Houses
“Building a super energy-efficient Passive House requires careful planning, design and applied science. “ “It’s just a house,” says Glenn Murdoch, design director at Theca Group. “There’s nothing special that you can see. The only thing [visible] is that the windows and doors are different.” And the other thing you don’t see is the +90% energy savings on heating or …