How is a passive house built?

Passive houses
A passive house stands out by having an incredibly
warm and comfortable indoor climate, and by having
very limited energy consumption.
Each passive house thus actively contributes to the pro-
tection of the climate.
The concept of the passive house is to build a house that
can retain heat and use the heat from the sun, also
known as passive heating, so that ultimately there is no
need for heat supply or a heating system.
By building in accordance with the passive house con-
cept and adding the best principles of the building phy-
sics, we get a building that is warm, comfortable and
healthy to live in.
Hence the name COMFORT HOUSES.

The concept of the passive house is to build a house that retains heat and uses the passive heat generated in the house by its residents, food prepara-
tion, electrical equipment and sunlight so that ultimately there is no need for heat supply or a heating system.

COMFORT HOUSES are built exclusively to well-known principles.

Passive heating
Passive heating works like a thermos flask, in that the
more heat is retained, the less energy needs to be used
to produce new heat.
The interaction between the individual building ele-
ments means that it is possible to construct a house
which uses almost no energy for heating and has a fan-
tastic indoor climate.
Approx. 90% of energy is used to keep a condition stable, e.g. the coffee in a coffee machine.
From active to passive!
Starting with the principle of passive heating, it is a rela-
tively small step from a low-energy house to a passive
house. A low-energy house needs very little heat supply
– a passive house needs no heat supply.
By building the house as a passive house, you can do
without district heating at all. This saving offsets the
extra cost of construction.
 Requirements
To meet the requirements for passive heating in Germany, some criteria’s have been defined for the energy con-
sumption, building envelope and ventilation of a passive house.

max. 15 kWh/m²/a (m² = Treated

Heating energy demand Criterium
floor)

Airtightness max. 0,6 h-1 Criterium

Thermal load max. 10 W/m² (m² = Treated floor) Recomandation

max. 120 kWh/m²/a (m² = Treated

Total primary energy demand Criterium
floor)

Overtemperature in rooms (temp. >25°C) max. 10 % Recomandation

The above requirements can be verified in accordance with the Passivhaus Dientsleistung’s calculation program PHPP (Passivhaus Projektierungs-Paket
- Passive House Design Package).

Heating energy demand

The energy demand is the ”raw” number of kWh to be
Ventilation

supplied to the air in the room to maintain an indoor

temperature of e.g. 20°C. The figure applies whether the
heating source is electricity, natural gas or bio-fuel.
4 The energy demand is calculated all year round and al-
lows for the local variations in outdoor temperature and
sunlight.

To maintain a fixed temperature of 20°C, as much has to

go in as out. In an ordinary house, the energy input re-
Windows

presents a very substantial proportion of space heating.

Added energy

In a passive house, loss through structures and windows

is minimised to such an extent that the combination of
passive heating and heat recovery from ventilation air
can provide almost all the heating.

Added
energy
Ventilation

Ventilation
Roof, walls, floor

Windows

Bodies

Equipment
Bodies

Equipment
Roof, walls,

Windows
Windows

floor

In an ordinary house the difference between heat loss and passive input is high.
This leads to a high heat demand (columns 1 and 2). In a passive house the diffe-
rence and therefore the heat demand are minimized (columns 3 and 4). Loss Gains Loss Gains
Requirements
Airtightness
Airtightness describes how airtight the structure is.

In Germany, where passive house requirements have

been defined, airtightness is defined as air changes per
hour at 50 Pa pressure difference. In Denmark it is defi-
ned as l/s per m² gross floor area. Converted to Danish
figures, the requirement of 0.6 h-1 corresponds to 0.32-
0.40 l/s per m².

Thus the requirement for airtightness is 4-5 times more

stringent than Danish requirements for new buildings.

The requirement for airtightness ensures reduced

energy consumption, optimal control of ventilation
functions and the elimination of damp problems in the
structures within the building envelope.

Heat load
Heat load is the maximum permitted demand on the
output of the space heating system. This is the heat that
needs to be added to the room air on the coldest day of
the year, unless there are visitors or you are baking a
cake, washing and tumble drying clothes or doing
something else that contributes high surplus heat.
5
The calculation is almost the same as for the energy de- The test for airtightness is carried out in the same way as for other new
buildings, but the requirement is 4-5 times stricter.
mand. The difference is that rather than an annual ave-
rage it calculates a one-day average on a cold winter’s
day. At the same time, it assumes a minimum of internal
heat input from bodies and equipment: that is, the
worst case.

The calculation needs to be carried out for both a cold

sunny day and a cold, cloudy day.
Ventilation

Added energy
Windows
Roof, walls,

Ventilation
floor

Bodies
Equipment
Windows
Loss Gains
The heat load for heating a passive house is so low that it can be Worst case: on the coldest day of the year the maximum demand on the
provided by a lightbulb; however, a passive house is not heated heating system may be 10 W/m².
with lightbulbs unless it is the high-efficiency type.
 Requirements
Total primary energy demand
The total primary energy demand is the energy used for
heating, domestic hot water, ventilation, cooling, elec-
tricity for running the building and household.
In other words: it is the total amount of energy that ne-
eds to be supplied to the property. Including for exam­ple
bio-fuels and electricity from wind power, from solar
cells, but excluding earth and solar heating.
any scope for cheating by heating the house with the
aid of inefficient white goods and standby power loss.
If you look at the passive houses built in the last 10 ye-
ars, it looks as if the 120 kWh/m2 per year is set very
high. On average, existing single-family houses need
88.5 kWh/m2, and none of them exceeds 108.0 kWh/m2.
The 120 kWh/m2 is not a target, but an absolute maxi-
mum.

A criterion for the total energy consumption including

“housekeeping electricity” exists in order to eliminate

The house must not be heated by an inefficient fridge or freezer. That is why there is also a criterion for the total power demand of the household.
 Requirements
Overtemperature in rooms
The recomandation for overtemperature in rooms is A recomandation for maximum overtemperature has
max. 10%. The 10% is the calculated proportion of the been imposed so as to ensure that the house is not
time of usage when the room temperature exceeds made unbearably hot to come home to in an attempt to
25°C. build as much passive solar heating as possible into a
design.
The calculation does not take into account whether you
open windows yourself to let in cool air. In practice you
would naturally adjust the room temperature in this
way when you are at home.

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U-value 0,1 W/m2K

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Airtightness

Heating energy demand

max. 15 kWh/m2 a

U-value 0,7 W/m2K

U-value 0,1 W/m2K

No thermal bridges U-value 0,12 W/m2K

 Realisation
The architect’s options when building a house with passive heating are limitless. The architect’s hands are free but,
as always, there are some important, recommended steps to follow in the planning phase so that everything goes
according to plan.

Planning
The first step is to set out the house in the best possible position on the plot.

- preferably with 40% of the windows area placed in the southfacing facade
- out of the shade of other buildings, hills or woods
- preferably with a compact layout

The next step is to plan the method of building the house, its surface structure – without unnecessary projections –
and the boundary of the heated area of the house.

Finally, the principles should be checked which ensure that the house retains heat. Heat retention is first and fore-
most realised through:

- increased thermal insulation

- elimination of thermal bridges
- airtight construction
- energy-efficient windows
- heat recovery and controlled ventilation
Realisation

Attic unheated

1st floor heated

Ground
floor Garage
heated unheated

Basemant
Basement heated
unheated

In black and white it can be hard to see where the heated boundary of the house is, so it is important to highlight the sections that are included in the
heated area.

9
More thermal insulation
To retain the heat, the insulation of the building en-
velope must be thicker than normal, and the insulation
must as far as possible form an unbroken layer round
the whole house so that thermal bridges are avoided.

In a passive house, the insulation must be thicker than in

normal structures, i.e. for single-family houses the U va-
lue should be under 0.1 W/m2K, corresponding to ap-
prox. 300 mm in walls and 450 mm in roof and floor.

The insulation must envelope the house.

 Realisation
Avoid thermal bridges
Wherever the insulation is interrupted or penetrated, or
where there is a step in the insulating layer, a thermal
bridge arises. Thermal bridges lead to 10-15% of the heat
loss in a traditional structure. To ensure that the building
needs no added heat at all, it is therefore necessary to
avoid thermal bridges.

The best way to locate thermal bridges is to review the

floor plan, cross-sections and detail drawings to find
possible gaps in the external insulation.

Anywhere that a step occurs in the insulation thickness

or where the insulation is broken, a solution must be
found to reduce the cold bridge as much as possible.

Geometrical thermal bridges can be avoided if the exter-

Colour the insulation yellow, then every break in the yellow line thermal
nal insulation is appropriately designed and is conti- indicate a potential cold bridge.
nuous.

10

At each thermal bridge, insulation should be inserted to give the heat as long a route out of the house as possible to eliminate heat loss at the thermal bridge.
Realisation
Airtight construction
Airtightness of the structure is a precondition for a good thermal balance and indoor climate. It is therefore neces-
sary to avoid penetrating the damp-proof membrane and where necessary to ensure that any penetrations are
made good and sealed.

Air flows in a leaky house Air flows in an airtight house

Airtightness of the structure also ensures that ventilation can be controlled correctly and that the air pas-
11
ses through the heat exchanger. This means that connections between various building elements, for
example between wall and windows and between wall and ceiling, must be made airtight.

The red line indicates where the airtightness plane is located in the buil-
ding. The line must enclose the heated area, and the line must be intact
all the way round. Joints between materials must be planned at each de-
tail point.
 Realisation
Energy-efficient windows
The windows must retain heat and let as much solar
energy enter the house as possible, so the windows
must use low-energy glass and thermally insulated fra-
mes.
To make the best possible use of passive solar heat gain,
the sun’s rays must hit the windows in winter when
there is a need for heat input, but the windows should
ideally not be directly affected by sunlight in summer.
This is achieved by having the large glazed panels facing
south and building them under a wide overhang.
East-, west-, and north-facing windows should only be
as large as necessary to achieve optimal light entry.

External Windows Windows

9,9°C Indoor temperature External 19,1°C Indoor temperatur
wall
22°C wall 22°C
18,5°C
21,4°C

Traditional house Outdoor temperature -10°C Passiv house

The requirement for a U-value of under 0.85 W/m2K for the built-in window ensures that there is always a thermally
comfortable indoor climate in the room. Even without a heating system, the internal surface temperature of the
window should not be less than 17°C on a cold winter’s day.

12
Indoor
Heat loss
U-value

Solar heat gain

g-value

Triple glazing which retains the heat in the room while solar heat Triple glazing with a thermally insulating window frame
is permitted to enter through the pane.

Orientation of the house and loca-

tion of the windows in the building
can be very significant to the total
energy that can be supplied to the
house.
Realisation
Heat recovery and controlled ventilation
The ventilation system ensures good, even air renewal in
the house. Heat from the used indoor air is used to heat
the new fresh air that is drawn in. For the ventilation to
be correctly controlled, the house must be airtight. This
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Schematic of venting in a passive house. Moist air from the kitchen, bathroom
and toilet are extracted while fresh air is supplied to the living rooms.
13

Compact systems
The system is available in several versions, in the form of
compact units that resemble a cupboard.

Hot water
Hot water comes from a heat pump that uses waste
heat from ventilation air, supplemented in some cases
by earth heating and a solar collector. The heat pump
can also provide the requisite additional heat.
 Comfortable advantages
Always warm and comfortable
Well-insulated, airtight structures and energy-efficient windows result in an even surface temperature throughout
the room, and it is possible to sit near the window all year round and enjoy the view and daylight without discomfort
from draughts or cold.

14

Good indoor climate

Controlled ventilation also has a number of advantages for the indoor climate: the air is purified of dust, pollen and
particles and the automatic extraction reduces moisture and dust so that you do not need to spend time airing the
rooms every day, but can open a window when you please.
Comfortable advantages
Quiet
Efficient insulation and good windows give the house better sound insulation so there is less noise pollution from
the surroundings.

15

Cost
Building in accordance with the passive house principle costs more than an ordinary house: experience shows that
the cost is about 8% higher. However, it is cheaper than a low-energy house and eliminates the worries about rocke-
ting energy prices.
 KOMFORT
HUSENE

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