While the passive house standard is becoming main stream in mid-European countries, where it is also applied to larger scale office, school, and commercial buildings, it is only inertly adopted by a very small group of practitioners in the United States. Reducing demand by design is a key measure to achieve net zero energy and furthermore carbon neutral buildings, thus a major feature of the passive house strategy is the highly insulated well sealed envelope combined with passive solar heating, passive cooling strategies, and air to air heat exchange. Additionally, the passive solar design approach considers the complex relationship that exists between orientation, spatial composition, building fabric, and thermal and climatic conditions. The passive house approach uses convection to distribute passive solar heat gained from south-facing windows and natural ventilation for cooling; a controlled, mechanical heat recovery system ensures high indoor air quality. In larger scale buildings, these complex system interactions can only be achieved with an integrated design process. Due to an over-emphasis on technology-driven strategies, the reach toward the next level of highly-energy-efficient high-performance housing has been viewed as cost prohibitive; the methods by which to achieve such goals are generally unknown in the broader construction industries. This article will highlight that the passive house concept, with proven success in approximately 20,000 projects worldwide, offers a powerful strategy that is both energy-efficient and cost-efficient. Offering a high indoor comfort and healthier indoor air quality than a standard building, the passive house approach, especially when coupled with an Integrated Design Process, is fully market-transferable, therefore promising a cost-effective solution for buildings designed close to net-zero standards.
展开▼
