What is the Passive House Standard
The Passive House Standard is a performance standard rather than a design standard.
This means that there are no constraints on design, materials, orientation or layout.
The Passive House Standard is simply an exhaustively researched and proven standard that sets simple performance criteria to ensure comfort, health, durability and low running costs.
In the Passive House standard, comfort is defined as:
| Comfort Standard | Allowable Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum indoor temperature | 20° C |
| Maximum indoor temperature | < 25° C for >=90% of the time |
The Standard
The Passive House Standard sets three key performance criteria for the building:
| Performance Metric | Allowable Value |
|---|---|
| Space Heating Energy Demand | <= 15 kWh / m2, or |
| <= 10 W / m2 | |
| Airtightness | <= 0.6 ach n50 |
| Total primary energy | <= 120 kWh / m2 |
Space Heating Energy Demand
The maximum amount of heating energy that may be delivered to the building to maintain comfort.
Airtightness
Airtightness of the building envelope as measured by a Type A blower door test.
Total primary energy
The maximum amount of energy, measured at the generation source, the building may consume in total.
Additional Criteria
There are also several secondary criteria that must be fulfilled:
Surface Temperatures
The Certifier must be satisfied that the internal surface temperatures of the building will be sufficient to meet the health and comfort criteria.
Interstitial Condensation
The Certifier must be satisfied that the building envelope will be safe from interstitial condensation.
Fresh Air
The Certifier must be satisfied that the building has an adequate supply of fresh, outdoor air.