WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BUILDING TO PASSIVE HOUSE STANDARDS?
Clearly, the five criteria we’ve looked at will each have a material impact on the energy consumption and daily living condition of a building. We can also go some way in quantifying the absolute difference made in energy consumption. According to the Passipedia website:
“Passive House buildings allow for space heating and cooling related energy savings of up to 90% compared with typical building stock and over 75% compared to average new builds. Passive House buildings use less than 1.5 l of oil or 1.5 m3 of gas to heat one square meter of living space for a year – substantially less than common “low-energy” buildings. Vast energy savings have been demonstrated in
warm climates where typical buildings also require active cooling.”
Other frequently cited benefits of Passive Houses include: -
A consistent supply of fresh air throughout the building, meaning higher quality and more hygienic air supply
Improved durability of the building
Significantly lower cost to heat and cool buildings
A possible uplift in property value
And our personal favourite : comfort
"Energy efficiency is actually only part of passivhaus. People don’t often realise that the Passivhaus Standard is also a rigorous comfort standard”
For more on why Passive House standards improve the comfort of your home, we’d point you to
this article. Architect, Passive House designer and blogger Elrond Russell writes brilliantly on the real-world benefits owners of Passive Houses benefit from in their daily lives.