The ­Passive House

“Use less energy” is the mantra of a stringent

German building standard that’s catching on Green Without Gizmos
By Jefferson kolle

Three requirements make it simple

P
assive House is a performance- The standard is strict
based building standard that can (it’s German, after all),
result in a house that consumes as and the performance
little as 10% of the total heating
numbers are very low.
and cooling energy used by a house built to
Unlike other programs
the 2006 building code. If you’re an architect
that have multiple cri-
or builder, imagine the reaction you’ll get
teria for certification,
from clients when you tell them that you can
the Passive House
either build a house that uses energy by the
focuses on just three
dollar or one that uses it by the dime.
things: air infiltration,
To achieve their impressively low levels of
Btu consumption, and kwh usage. The new energy-efficiency
energy consumption, certified Passive Houses
section of the International Residential Code (IRC) deals only
rely on proper solar orientation, an airtight
with air infiltration, and the government’s Energy Star pro-
envelope, lots of insulation, mechanical ven-
gram, while more strict than the IRC, is still a long way from
tilation, and the reuse of heat.
the Passive House standard. Here’s the nitty gritty.
Designing and building a Passive House
requires using proprietary energy-load soft-
Air infiltration
ware aimed at keeping energy use low and
includes construction that can be painstak- The Passive House standard for air infiltration can be
ing. A flubbed detail can mean the difference no greater than 0.6 air changes per hour (ACH) at 50
between reaching the standard or not. pascals, which means the house is virtually airtight. The IRC’s
current ­energy code requires 7 ACH at 50 pascals. Energy Star
Lower lifetime energy use requires less than 5 or 6 ACH, depending on the climate zone.
The Passive House standard was devel-
oped in Germany (where it’s known as Btu consumption
“Passivhaus”) in 1996 by physicist Wolf- The annual energy use for heating and cooling can-
gang Feist, who was inspired by and fully not exceed 4755 Btu per sq. ft. annually. The average
acknowledges the influence of the ground- new home built to current code consumes nearly 10 times that
breaking, superinsulated houses built in the amount. Energy Star has requirements for appliances and
United States and Canada in the 1970s. In mechanical systems that can still amount to nearly eight times
this country, Feist’s work has been cham- the Passive House requisite.
pioned by German-born architect Katrin
Klingenberg, who started the Passive House Energy usage
Institute US, also known as PHIUS (www The maximum total energy use of the house, which
.passivehouse.us) in Urbana, Ill. includes heating, cooling, and electricity, cannot
Upwards of 20,000 Passive Houses have exceed 11.1 kwh per sq. ft. While there are no specific energy-
been built in Europe, and while there are use standards for code-built and Energy Star homes, estimates
fewer than two dozen in this country, there put their usage around 30 kwh and 20 kwh, respectively.
are many on the drawing board, and the

48 FINE HOMEBUILDING Photos this page and facing page: courtesy of Craig Buttner. www.finehomebuilding.com april/may 2010 49
 Roof
R-value
2-in. closed-cell
62 spray foam 16-in. I-joist

Rafter tails cut flush with the

16-in.-deep exterior wall eliminate thermal
rafter cavities bridging and make air-sealing
filled with details more effective.
dense-pack
cellulose
3/4-in. CDX
plywood
top plate

The envelope
makes it possible
Tyvek taped to
underside of 2x4 interior
roof sheathing wall, 24 in. A Passive House is set carefully on
on center the site to maximize solar gain,
Massive Closed-cell
spray foam but solar orientation goes only so
but passive far toward achieving the Passive
This house on Martha’s Vineyard goes House Institute’s performance
a long way toward dispelling the myth Wall
requirements. A well-insulated
2x6 exterior wall, R-value envelope that’s virtually airtight
that a Passive House will, by matter 24 in. on center This airtight
of course, look more like an institu- 45 drywall technique,
which calls on
is the real news here. Building
tion than a cozy dwelling. Beyond the thick walls, incorporating airtight
caulk to seal
beautiful design lie the hallmarks of every perimeter drywall techniques, and care-
a Passive House: an R-35 basement,
of the interior fully detailing housewrap are a
walls, keeps air
R-45 walls, and an R-62 roof, along 12-in.-thick from escaping to
few ways builders and designers
double- the outside and achieve these goals. Mechanical
with triple-glazed windows, minimal stud walls throughout the ventilation is a must, of course,
heating and cooling equipment, and eliminate house, yielding a
energy bills to match. software-generated number that predicts a or energy-recovery ventilation system and thermal more balanced air as are triple-pane windows. Elimi-
bridging
house’s energy based on its design. ultra-high-performance doors and windows, above the
pressure inside. nating thermal bridging is also
Location: Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.
Houses built to the 2006 International and designed for passive-solar and internal- foundation. important. To achieve certifica-
Architect: Craig L. Buttner—Architect
Energy Conservation Code (IECC) score a heat gains. tion, building designers start with
P.C., Boston (www.clbarchitecture.com)
100 on the HERS index. Energy Star and Starting at the foundations, Passive Houses a building envelope much like the
Builder: Clancy Construction (www Dense-pack
LEED homes can’t surpass 80 or 85, depend- employ a massive amount of insulation, one shown here.
.lclancy.com) cellulose
ing on their climate zone. Net-zero homes upwards of 16 in. of rigid foam, between the
Passive House consultant:
Katrin Klingenberg, PHIUS
score the lowest, at 0. A Passive House scores ground and the concrete slab. Exterior-wall
between 20 and 30 on the HERS index. systems, which are as thick as 16 in., can be Closed-cell
Size: 4000 sq. ft. Termite-shield
While a net-zero house may use less total built with double-stud 2x4s or 2x6s, or verti- spray foam
copper flashing
Annual heating/cooling cost: $400-$600
energy than a Passive House, it achieves that cal I-joists used as studs. In some climates, Dense-pack
score by adding energy made with alterna- insulated concrete forms (ICFs), structural cellulose ⁄ -in. subfloor
34

tive-energy sources into the calculations. insulated panels (SIPs), and even straw-bale XPS rigid-foam
movement has gained converts quickly as The Passive House standard disallows site- walls have been used. Roof systems are typi- insulation
91⁄ 2-in. I-joist
energy prices have increased. generated alternative-energy sources in its cally framed with I-joists of varying depths.
Armed with the mantra “First, use less computations and relies instead solely on its Because of their air-permeability, fiberglass
Tyvek wrapped around 2x8 pressure-
energy,” Passive House advocates say that low energy consumption. As Klingenberg batts are not often used. Preferred choices the rim joists and treated sill plate
rather than getting hung up on the amount notes, “A Passive House can become a net- are dense-pack fiberglass and cellulose, and incorporated into the atop sill seal
airtight drywall eliminates
of energy it takes to build a home, it is more zero house with the addition of a very small polystyrene and spray-foam insulations. air infiltration at a home’s
Slab
R-value
important to look at how much energy the renewable-energy system.” The standard Passive House builders spend a lot of time most leak-prone area.
home will use during its lifetime. Statistics doesn’t change from one location to another, air-sealing. Brad Holmes and his brother, 34
2x4 interior
differ, but on average, a typical code-built but the way a house is built does. Kurt, recently finished building a Passive basement wall
Basement
house will use 10 times more energy to heat, House in Duluth, Minn. (The house will Wall
cool, and operate its various systems for 40 Lose—no, use—almost no heat soon earn a LEED platinum rating.) “We R-value

years than the amount used to build it. To lower energy consumption to this degree, caulked every location where wood meets 35 ⁄ -in. XPS rigid-foam
34
4-in. concrete slab
To get an idea of how little energy a Pas- a house must be airtight, superinsulated, wood,” Holmes says. The house underwent insulation
sive House uses, it helps to look at the Home without thermal bridging (see “How It three blower-door tests before the drywall XPS rigid-foam
Energy Rating System (HERS) index, a Works,” pp. 16-17), equipped with a heat- was hung just to make sure all the leaks had insulation

50 FINE HOMEBUILDING Photo: courtesy of Craig Buttner. Drawing facing page: John Hartman. April/may 2010 51
 standard is based wholly on a building’s per-
formance. If a house meets the standard, it is
considered to be a Passive House.
Not surprisingly, the steps needed for
accreditation are regimented, and although
only three are required, many more are rec-
ommended. It is not mandatory to work
with a trained consultant when building a
Passive House, but in the long run, it’ll be
quicker, easier, and less expensive than doing
it on your own.
Precertification starts at the planning stage;
all specifications are reviewed to make cer-
tain that no major errors exist.
After the house is built, but before the walls
Near-zero Passive are insulated, blower-door tests are done to
Architect Nancy Schultz designed ensure the airtightness meets the Passive
and built her own Passive House in House standard. As Holmes pointed out, the
some of the coldest country in North first test reveals leaks that can be corrected
while the walls are open. After a crew tracks
America. Even with R-55 walls and
triple-glazed windows, Schultz was down and fixes them, a second or even third Triple-pane windows
a bit skeptical that the house would test occurs. are a must, but not a
perform as predicted by the Passive Contractors are required to submit “as-
built” photographs to PHIUS that show the
requirement
House Institute’s planning software. A
brief spell last winter without power house was built to the specifications agreed Although they’re not required, triple-
or any solar backup put the design upon during the precertification stage. Along glazed windows like the ones shown here
to the test. After two weeks without with the photos, the general contractor has from Unilux (www.unilux.de) are strongly
heat, the house still held at 50°F. to submit a declaration that guarantees the recommended for cold-climate Passive
Bonus savings. Energy from alternative house was built as planned. Houses. Available from both German and
“Now I’m a believer,” Schultz says. sources such as photovoltaic and solar-
Location: Isabella, Minn. thermal-collection systems aren’t calculated
Finally, a last blower-door test is performed. Canadian manufacturers, windows with
into a Passive House’s energy use. But the If the house passes the 0.6-air-changes-per- triple glazing and insulated frames have a
Architect: Nancy Schultz
Schultz house (and some others) use them hour grade, a certificate is issued by PHIUS low U-factor yet still provide enough solar
Builder: Ron and Sons Carpentry to reduce energy usage and get to net zero. that says the building is a Passive House. gain to allow a house to meet the Passive
Passive House consultant: The cost of certification depends on whether House standard.
Conservation Technologies (www you’ve used a Passive House consultant Although some manufacturers go so
.conservtech.com)
work, see “How It Works,” FHB #205 and electric heat mats in bathroom floors, even total loads of appliances, lighting, and other throughout the project. If you haven’t used far as to have their windows certified by
Size: 2100 sq. ft. heated online at FineHomebuilding.com). domestic water heaters, can fulfill the need mechanicals. PHPP will even predict the fin- one, you’ll probably need to hire one to walk the Passive House Institute, the standard
Annual heating/cooling cost: Windows and doors have always been for any additional heat on the coldest days. ished home’s carbon-dioxide emissions. you through the processes and the software allows the use of uncertified windows.
well below $0 when alternative energy a weak link in energy-efficient buildings, Passive Houses are designed to maximize Adam Cohen is an architect whose company, at the going rate of about $150 per hour. But Good triple-glazed windows aren’t cheap.
is included
but major improvements have led to the solar-heat gain when and where it is wanted, Structures Design/Build, in Roanoke, Va., if you’ve used a consultant, or become one Canadian windows cost $40 to $50 per
development of triple-pane windows with an and minimize that gain when and where it has been building energy-conscious houses yourself, the cost is under $1000. sq. ft., while German windows cost up to
extremely low U-factor. Historically, Euro- is not. Passive House design also maximizes for 25 years. He thinks the PHPP software There are several reasons why the pioneer- $100 per sq. ft.
been sealed. Holmes said the tests revealed pean windows have been more efficient than the amount of natural lighting in a building, has an “amount of specificity that is much ing energy-efficient houses of the past cen- Whether German or Canadian, the best
“three to four trouble spots that we’re glad those made in this country, but some Canadian which makes for more pleasant living spaces more precise” than other modeling programs tury didn’t catch on. Politics played a part, as triple-glazed windows gain more heat
we found before the rock went up.” and U.S. manufacturers have started making while reducing artificial-lighting costs. he has used, which, he says, “makes it easy to did the limitations of the technologies of the than they lose. From an energy perspec-
One reason to make a house airtight is windows with U-factors as low as 0.13. fudge some of the details.” The precision of time, which, fortunately, have been surpassed tive, these windows perform better than
to be able to control the air that enters and Because Passive Houses are superinsulated Software minimizes guesswork the program allows the user to make small by today’s better windows, doors, and venti- an insulated wall.
leaves it, which can dramatically improve the and airtight, heat loss is kept to a minimum. Not surprisingly, planning a Passive House design changes and immediately see how lation systems. The arguments for reducing —Martin Holladay is a senior editor at
indoor-air quality (IAQ) and reduce the The buildings don’t often require a tradi- involves no guesswork; rather, it’s based on they affect the building’s energy use. houses’ energy use were certainly valid in ­GreenBuildingAdvisor.com.
movement of heat through convection. One tional central-heating system (the savings an energy-modeling program called the Pas- 1974 when architect Wayne Schick coined
of the ways that Passive Houses reduce en- from which can offset some of the extra costs sive House Planning Package (PHPP). Getting accredited the term “superinsulation.” Thirty-five years For more information and resources,
ergy use is to use energy- and heat-recovery associated with building to the standard). The program calculates by taking into Unlike some of the energy-efficient build- on, the reasons are all the more compelling. look for a link to Martin’s blog,
ventilators (ERVs and HRVs). Basically, Instead, they rely on solar gain and the heat account almost every aspect of a house, ing programs—LEED and NAHB Green, The big question is how to make the ideas ­“Passivhaus ­Windows,” in the ­Magazine
these systems remove the heating or cooling including the site’s weather patterns and solar for example—the Passive House standard Extras section of FineHomebuilding
produced by electrical equipment and the really take hold this time around. □
.com, and for his ­upcoming article
energy from tempered air inside and trans- occupants, as well as the recycled heat from orientation; the type of construction and the doesn’t assign a rating or use a point system “In Search of the Best Windows in
fer that energy to the incoming air. (For an HRVs. Supplemental heat sources, such as materials used; the window designs and loca- for the materials and methods used during Jefferson Kolle is a freelance writer and ­America” in FHB #213.
in-depth explanation of how these systems a few feet of electric-resistance baseboard, tions; the ventilation-system design; and the construction. Instead, the Passive House former editor at Fine Homebuilding.

52 FINE HOMEBUILDING Photos: this page, courtesy of Short Elliot Hendrickson Inc.; facing page, courtesy of Unilux. www.finehomebuilding.com april/may 2010 53