Passive House (PH) is a tried and true performance standard for building extremely low energy buildings.
The up-front costs are easily absorbed over the life time of the building because expensive plant is significantly reduced and does not require as much maintenance / replacement.
Many parts of Europe have a requirement for all their social housing & public buildings to be PH standard.
The PH system is most beneficial to those in our community who are struggling to pay for heating.
Through the PH Planning Package software building performance is guaranteed.
PH buildings are very comfortable and quiet with good air quality and high occupant satisfaction.
Benefits for social housing providers
Social housing providers would be showing leadership in building design.
A PH building would provide an excellent learning opportunity for other providers to learn about PH.
Tenants who currently cannot afford heating would be able to do so because heating bills would typically be less than one fifth or less compared with a typical Code built house.
For those tenants who are not heating their homes, the PH system would still provide a healthy home.
Because of the high surface temperatures achieved in PH homes it is not possible for black mould to grow.
Health issues arising from poor housing would be reduced meaning that there are benefits to other social health providers.
Thermal comfort and health
A PH building stays at a constant temperature throughout the year and there is little difference between summer and winter or day and night.
The internal thermal comfort can be controlled by occupants leading to fewer complaints.
The air quality is excellent.
There are very small variations of internal ambient temperature, so no cold / hot spots which annoy occupants.
PH houses are quiet without the constant noise of plant cycling through cooling or heating.
Once a PH has been ‘experienced’, it is very hard to accept anything less.
Energy / Operational costs
A Code standard house could consume over 100kWhr/m2/annum for heating but as a PH the building would consume less than 15KWhr/m2/annum.
There is significantly less heating plant to maintain and replace.
Construction
There are existing pre-fabricated wall systems that could be used that already have the windows installed together with an air-tightness layer for quick construction on site.
This project would also educate the construction community in the challenges and benefits of PH.
It is possible that local companies could supply some of the building elements such as windows.
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COR Associates, 14 North Terrace, Kelburn, Wellington 6012