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The
passive house is an energy-efficient building with
year round comfort and good indoor environmental comfort
without the use of significant active space heating
or cooling.
A passive house is a building in which a comfortable
interior climate can be maintained without active heating
and cooling systems. The passive house is the ultimate
in low energy building and is recognised worldwide as
the most advanced in terms of energy performance of
buildings. The passive house offers one of the most
desirable technological and economical solutions for
comfortable living and working.
The passive house standard, developed by the Passivehaus
Institut in Germany (www.passiv.de) is a specific construction
standard for buildings. To-date approx. 20,000 houses
in Europe have been built to the passive standard. The
passive standard includes excellent insulation levels
with minimal thermal bridging, very low air-leakage
through the building, utilisation of passive solar gain,
mechanical ventilation with efficient heat recovery.
The primary focus in building to the Passivhaus Standard
is directed towards creating a thermally efficient envelope
which makes use of free heat gains in order to minimise
space heating requirement.
The energy requirement of a house built to
Passivhaus Standard is;
- Annual space heating requirement of less than 15kWh/(m2a)
- Total primary energy demand for space and water heating,
ventilation, household appliances and lighting not to
exceed 120 kWh/(m2a)
- Air leakage not to exceed 0.6 air changes per hour
A
passive house is cost-effective when combined with capitalised
costs (construction, including design and installed
equipment, plus operating costs for 30 years) do not
exceed those of an average new home.
The Thermohouse Solution
The thermohouse system is a flexible system of construction
which enables the occupier not only to benefit from
the low energy requirement but also to enjoy the superior
indoor air quality and living environment. By 2020 all
new buildings in Europe shall be constructed to this
standard (EU agreement 17th November 2009). The thermohouse
system enables the construction of a thermally efficient
envelope today, and in a cost competitive manner.
See list of elements
1.
The thermohouse external wall system provides
a strong, durable, airtight wall with excellent insulation
properties. There are two widths available for external
wall elements 400mm and 450mm with a U value of 0.13
and 0.11 respectfully.
2. The thermohouse roof panel is a highly insulated
panel with unique structural strength. Easy to install
this roof panel will make a house weatherproof in a
short time. The u-value of the roof is 0.15.
3. The thermohouse underfloor heating board operate
more efficiently when used with the thermohouse system.
This board has a u-value of 0.45 to 0.12.
The thermohouse thermal envelope is compared to the
Passivhaus Standard in the following chart:
| Insulation
System |
Passivhaus
Standard |
Thermohouse
|
| Walls
|
U
= 0.15 |
U
= 0.13-0.11 |
| Roof |
U
= 0.15 |
U
= 0.15 |
| Underfloor
Board |
U
= 0.15 |
U
= 0.12 |
| Thermal
Bridges |
w=
0.01 W/(m2K) |
w=
0.01 W/(m2K) |
In addition, window frames, doors and window glazing
must have a U-value = 0.8 W/m2K and an air tightness
of n50 = 0.6 air changes per hour.
Though not part of the thermohouse thermal envelope
the thermohouse system also includes the thermohouse
floor panel and thermohouse internal wall system. These
facilitate the completion of the project in a fast efficient
manner.
People are becoming increasingly aware of the advantages
of building a passive house house. Now these houses
can be built at competitive prices using the thermohouse
system and are fully certified for a minimum life span
of 60 years.
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