In a Passive Home the whole building envelope
has an excellent thermal insulation. The envelope consists of all
parts of the construction, which separate the indoor climate from
the outdoor climate. All construction methods can be used for Passive
Houses and have been tested successfully: masonry construction,
lightweight construction, prefabricated elements, insulating concrete
formwork construction, steel construction, and all combinations
of the methods above.
The thermal heat loss coefficients
(U-Values) of external walls, slabs to the ground, and roofs
are within 0.1 to 0.15 W/(m²K) (for Central European climate;
other climates will be discussed at the conference). These are upper
level values for all contemporary constructions. As a consequence
the transmission heat losses during the cold season are negligible.
Another consequence is that the temperatures of the internal surfaces
are almost the same as the indoor air temperature. This leads to
a very comfortable indoor climate and avoids damages caused by the
humidity of indoor air.
During hot periods in summer, a high
thermal insulation is a protection against heat, too. To ensure
high thermal comfort during summer, well designed shading and sufficient
ventilation are important, too.
Good thermal insulation and an airtight construction are well proved
in Passive Houses. Another basic principle used is "Construction
Avoiding Thermal Bridging": The insulation is applied continuously
around the envelope of the building without serious thermal bridging.
By this method there will be no cold spots and no increased heat
losses. This is a contribution to high quality, comfortable, and
long lasting construction, too.
11th International Conference on Passive
Houses:
Experience with insulation,
air tightness, and innovative methods for the building envelope
will be discussed in the Workshop "Reserach
and Development". Insulation is efficient for energy conservation,
increasing thermal comfort in existing buildings, too. This will
be shown by retrofit examples in Workshops on using Passive House
components for refurbishment.
Top products of insulating components will
be presented in the exhibition - some with models of original size.
Additional
information on insulation suitable for Passive Houses
(updated:
2006-09-23 thanks
to Dylan Lamar for proof reading
© Passive House Institute;
unchanged copy is permitted, please give reference to this page) |