Passive house
Nowadays that the increasing cost of heating and cooling a building has become a real thorn for every household or workplace, the only economically and environmentally viable solution is integrating Passive House Standards in construction, which means creating ultra-low energy consumption buildings.
What is Passive House?
Passive House is a building standard that is truly energy efficient, comfortable, affordable and ecological at the same time. It first applied in Europe in the early ’90 and has been proved that it allows energy consumption to de reduced up to 90% compared with typical buildings. However, the Passive House concept has been known since ancient times and it can be found in historical buildings, such as Knossos Palace on Crete.
Externally, there is no difference between typical modern structures and Passive Houses and every building can be built or renovated according to Passive House standards.
The primary concept is based on the principles of Bioclimatic Design. However, Passive House goes one step further.
The following 5 basic principles apply for the construction of Passive Houses:
- Excellent thermal insulation envelope
- Increased airtightness of the building
- Absence of thermal bridges
- High-performance Passive House windows
- Ventilation heat recovery
With the first four principles we achieve near-zero heat losses. According to the fifth principle, the interior of the building is continuously ventilated with fresh air, maintaining this way a pleasant and healthy environment. Moreover, ventilation recovers the heat generated in rooms, such as kitchen and bathroom and then uses it to heat the rest of the building. Additionally, by applying the principles of Bioclimatic Design we can take full advantage of solar gains for heating in winter or reduce the cooling energy needs in summer.
Reference: Passivhaus Institut
All of the above, lead to the minimization of heating and cooling energy required to maintain the desired interior conditions. According to the standard, the primary requirement to qualify a building as a Passive House is that it consumes less than 15kWh/m2 per year for heating or cooling, when at the same time a conventional house in Greece consumes an average of 130kWh/m2!
This energy amount corresponds to a maximum consumption of 1.5 l/m2 of oil per year, which means that a 100m2 Passive House will need only 150l of oil per year!
Yes, these numbers are true and they have been confirmed by thousands of Passive Houses worldwide. In Greece, 2 Passive Houses have already been built, showing excellent performance.
Why should I choose a Passive House?
The Passive House technology is the construction method of the future, which will solve the thorny problem of energy consumption. Already in Germany every public building has to be built in compliance with Passive House standards. The recent Greek regulations provide the same requirement for every building built from 2020.
But why should you wait for 2020 when you can get a Passive House today? Taking also in mind that any future intervention to upgrade an existing building costs more and causes more trouble than building it correctly from the beginning, Passive House is a one-way street for any new construction.
Passive Houses offer:
- Near-zero energy consumption for heating, cooling and hot water.
- Long-term economic benefits.
- Thermal comfort without temperature fluctuations in the building.
- Healthier indoor environment free of dust and moisture problems.
- Eco friendly technology.
- Minimal additional construction costs (about 7-10%), which are eliminated in the first two years of operation.
- Complete energy self-sufficiency and a passive income, when combined with Renewable Energy Systems.
- Construction with high quality certified materials.
- Passive House Certification from the International Passive House Association.
- Exemption from future energy efficiency taxes on buildings.
Every new or already existing building can be built or retrofitted as a Passive House and benefit fully from its advantages.
Reference: Hellenic Passive House Institute
What we offer
Our company is a member of the Hellenic Passive House Institute and undertakes the design and construction or retrofit of new and existing buildings, in compliance with Passive House Standards.
Specifically, we undertake:
- The Design of new or existing buildings according to the Passive House Standards.
- The required building permits and authorizations.
- The selection of the most appropriate certified materials.
- "Turn-key" construction of Certified Passive Houses.
- The certification process for every Passive House.
Our company is currently designing two new Passive House in Kozani.
For more information about Passive Houses you can visit the Hellenic Passive House Institute website.
“Get the house of the future today…”
Protect your health, your money and the environment by investing on a Passive House. Prevent extra costs and inconvenience of a future energy upgrade, when it will become compulsory by law.
