Verification of the Passive House Concept to the South of Brazil Climate

Abstract

The high impact of the building's sector on energy consumption and on the environment has led to increased concerns on the performance of indoor thermal buildings, and led many countries to define stricter requirements for their building legislation. In 2010, the European Union has established that by the end of 2020 all new buildings must have energy consumption close to zero (NZEBs (nearly zero energy buildings)), increasing the pursue for more efficient building design. One way to achieve buildings with low energy consumption while maintaining a high thermal comfort is the passive house concept. The paper presents an architectural project designed to meet the Passive House requirements for the climate of southern Brazil. The energy balance was carried out using the energy balance tool⎯PHPP (passive house planning package), that verified the compliance of the prerequisites required for certification, which are related to the primary energy consumption, heating , cooling demand and overheating rate of the building.