People often ask us what is a passive house. Normally people confuse a passive house with a passive solar house. Well we finally have some pictures that really bring home the difference between a passive house and regular home or a passive solar home. Before I get into the specifics I just wanted to give my view of what a passive house is. There are three main concepts behind a passive house:
- Super insulation
- Reduced air exchanges (how much air leaks from your house)
- Reduced thermal bridges (the ways that heat can leave or enter the home)
When you combine these three concepts you can radically (up to 90%) reduce the energy demands on heating and cooling. In other words you don’t have to heat and cool the air around your house just the inside of the home. The pictures we’ve recently uploaded demonstrate this. For example, you want to seal everything so that no air will leak. In the sealing picture you can see that the outside shielding is sealed to the outside framing providing for an air tight enclosure. The exterrior framing is futher air proofed by adding a rubber gasket that sits between the exterrior framing and the basement walls. Additionally, thermal bridges are reduced because a gap between the framing exists so that the framing doesn’t reach from the inside of the home to the exterrior. The gap in this shot will be filled with insulation.
It is pretty exciting to see the home start to come together and some of the passive house concepts be put into practice.
I’m interested in your project because my wife and I are currently remodeling a house with ideas of meeting the Passive House standard. I’d be very interested in seeing a manufacturer/supplier list for some of the things you will be using in your house–the rubber gaskets, for example. Do you have windows picked out? We’re still in discussion on that one. I’d like to go with Serious Windows. I enjoy reading about and seeing your progress!