Passive House (Passivhaus)

Abstract

Glossary Airtight construction A method of construction for building envelopes that targets less than 0.6 ACH or 0.5 cfm50/ft 2 envelope-infiltration rates when tested for air leakage at 50 Pa pressure. Balanced mechanical ventilation with heat recovery Highly energy-efficient mechanical equipment for airtight homes to provide constant amounts of fresh air (20 cfm/person [30 m 3 /h]) to the inhabitants and to exhaust the same amount of air to remove moisture, stale air, and indoor pollutants. The system must also recover the energy from exhaust air at the highest possible level, which helps maintain thermal comfort in the building. Passive (house) building concept A building achieving close to thermal stasis by employing a set of building science principles to optimize heat loss and gain through the building shell. Primarily, this means limiting transmission losses by using climate-specific insulation levels of its components and appropriate window specifications to maintain thermal comfort in winter using a very small amount of energy input-roughly 1 W/ft 2 [10 W/m 2 ]-during peak temperature periods.