Post-Occupancy Evaluation of a Passive Multi-Unit Residential Building and a Single-Family Passive House

Abstract

Passive buildings are increasing in popularity in Canada. This paper examines two passive buildings initially constructed in the past decade: the Peterborough passive multi-unit residential building (MURB) and the Wolfe Island single-family dwelling. A post-occupancy evaluation was performed on the buildings. The buildings were modelled in HOT2000 and the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) to ensure the validity of the results. The energy bills were collected from the building owners to acquire the real-time consumption of the buildings. The models have shown a good agreement with the collected data. Furthermore, data loggers were installed in both buildings for indoor temperature monitoring to ensure that they adhere to the passive house explicit criteria. Internal gains, shading, and orientation were analyzed to assess their effect on heating and cooling loads. Peterborough MURB has shown more energy-saving potential compared to the Wolfe Island passive house. Heating load reduction has been compared, more than five times, to the cooling load reduction potential. The reduction in GHG emissions can be up to 39% when passive house parameters are applied to the Wolfe Island house. This paper has shown the potential of the passive house in relation to sustainable buildings in Northern climates.