Passive Design
Monday, February 9th, 2009One of the most exciting features of our new house is the passive design. By this, we are building a structure that is so efficient in terms of energy heat / loss, our mechanical systems will be extremely minimal. Our monthly energy bills will be very low, and our long term energy costs will be much less than you’d expect. This building is ‘not just another pretty face.’
We’ve been researching strategies through the PHIUS (Passive House Instatue US). The goal is to comply with Architecture 2030 today. The PHIUS web site claims they are the worlds leading standard in energy efficient construction. Energy saved is 80% compared to conventional standards of new buildings. There is a lot of information about the passive strategy on the web site. They also have energy modeling software available for sale for $225. Because we’re already going with LEED, we will probably not register our project with PHIUS. Many of the items, like the energy modeling, we’re already paying for through LEED.
The passive house phylosophy aligns fairly closely with our approach. There is a strong focus on the following categories:
-design without thermal bridges
-ventilation with heat recovery
-innovative heating technology
These links are certainly worth the read. It is important to note, the passive house does not address many other items LEED addresses, such as material types, local materials, site location, project team, and innovation to name a few. We’ll post individually on the 6 passive house strategies to follow
