Faced with a decision regarding
building a house, we wonder what it should be like to meet our current and
future requirements.We place great emphasis on issues related to the building's
operating costs. Low costs, we
will certainly provide us with the construction of a passive house. What is meant by this term?
For modern construction,
issues related to energy efficiency are of key importance. With a view to the near future, houses
are designed and built with a small demand for thermal energy. Passive houses need no more than 15
kWh / (m² / year) - it is even ten times less than in standard single-family
houses. Deciding to build a
passive house, low bills for heating are provided for ourselves, and thus we
limit the consumption of non-renewable energy sources and related to their
operation, emission of pollutants into the natural environment.
Location and archiving
of a passive house
The orientation of the
plot and the location of the house in relation to the world sides should favor
acquiring free solar energy, that is why in large passive houses large glazing
is planned on the southern facade of the house. However, from the coldest northern
side, a garage or utility rooms are often located, which become a kind of
buffer, limiting heat loss. Home
architecture is also of great importance. Ideally,
the ratio of the external partitions, the heated part of the passive house, to
its cubic capacity, will be as small as possible (the higher it is, the higher
the energy consumption will be). The
solid of the passive house should be compact and straight, with a single or
gable roof.
Design assumptions in a
passive house
Passive buildings have
high requirements as to thermal insulation. A
passive house is a tight house - all the ways of escape of heat outside are
limited by the use of appropriate materials and the application of appropriate
insulation. The heat transfer
coefficient U of the external partitions of a passive house should not exceed
0.12 W / (m² ∙ K), while in a standard house the permissible value is 0.3 W /
(m² ∙ K). Also, woodwork should
meet high demands - both windows and external doors must be characterized by
the lowest U-value, whose value must not exceed 0.8 W / (m² ∙ K). Passive house should make maximum use
of energy from the environment. Heating
systems in passive houses are based on heat pumps, solar collectors, or
energy-saving gas condensing boilers. An
essential condition for the construction of an effective passive house is the
use of mechanical ventilation in it, with heat recovery, ie a recuperator.
