Northern Ireland business leader explains...'What exactly is a ‘Passive House’?'

There are a lot of different terms used in the green energy sector, most of which can be very technical which doesn’t lend itself to easy consumption by the general public wanting to know more.

It is important that people understand the options available to them if they want to lower their carbon emissions and save themselves some money on their energy bills along the way!

One of these such terms is ‘passive house’ or ‘Passivhaus’.

Passivhaus is a German word which literally translates to passive house in English and refers to buildings created to rigorous energy efficient design standards so that they maintain an almost constant temperature, without needing to use as much energy as a traditional home.

Passive house buildings are constructed, insulated and ventilated so that they retain heat from the sun and the activities of their occupants, requiring very little additional heating or cooling.

At Dalys our system works extremely well in this type of house. We set our systems to run at 21°C throughout the house, with bedrooms set at 18°C. The intelligent heat pump technology used means that the systems are weather compensated, so they adjust to variations in the weather throughout the day and the systems flow in harmony with the outside temperature.

Passive houses can come in many different forms, but there are four general guiding principles as to what constitutes a ‘passive house’. These are airtightness, insulation, mechanical heat recovery ventilation and thermal (temperature) comfort.

There are many different technologies which can be incorporated into any home to make it a passive house. These include insulation, triple glazing and Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation systems (MHRV). Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation is a ventilation system which recovers heat from the house which would otherwise be lost through trickle vents, operating noisy extract fans or by opening windows.

Passive houses can also be heated in different ways. The aim of a passive house building is to reduce the cost of energy to heat it, while also making it a very comfortable house to live in, free from draughts. As passive houses require much less energy than traditional homes, they save the user both money on their energy bills and also have significantly lower carbon emissions.

However, there will still obviously be a need for some sort of heating mechanism and one of the most popular choices for passive houses would be an air or ground source heat pump which provides a constant temperature in the building and hot water all year round, at a very low cost. The benefit of using a heat pump, which uses electricity to run, is that it can use the power from Solar PV panels to significantly reduce the operating costs, plus the system can also cool the house when the infrequent warm spells do come along!

The technologies used are also very simple to operate, in contrast to popular belief, and don’t require much upkeep or servicing.

If having a fully ‘passive house’ doesn’t appeal to you, you can still implement some of these technologies such as heat pumps or Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation systems to lower your carbon emissions and save yourself some money in the long run.

We have been involved in houses of approximately 3500 square feet which have been built to a passive house standard and have an annual energy bill of less than £300 a year for all heating, hot water and cooling.

The principles also don’t solely apply to residential homes either, as passive house principles have been incorporated in many different types of buildings across the world including offices, factories and schools.

If you are interested in finding out more about renewable energy solutions, visit the website, get in touch at [email protected] or call us on 028 9266 7745.