Passive House – building our future

Building our future

The Pitkin-Douglas House.

A high-performance home is an investment in the future – for you, your family, and the local and global community.

When thinking about building a home, people often focus on what it looks like, but what about what it feels like to live in? Imagine your sanctuary, a place to breathe easy and feel comfortable all year, without worries about drafts, overheating, mould, condensation, or energy bills. People are demanding more than ever from the buildings they occupy. We have a rising awareness of how we as consumers have an impact on climate change. What can we do to use resources smartly and more efficiently without compromising on quality? Covid has shone the spotlight on the indoor spaces that we spend our time in – are they comfortable, fit for purpose, and with appropriate ventilation? We are lucky in New Zealand that we don’t face the extreme temperatures that other parts of the world do. But then even more so we should question why traditionally our buildings are so cold in the winter, and more and more, overheating in the summer. With any build or house purchase, we need to consider our priorities. Sometimes we need to reconsider what is essential. Planning a simpler shape or a slightly smaller house in order to prioritise overall how the building will perform is just smart and forward-thinking. Passive House is a proven and effective method of creating high-performance buildings that are both energy-efficient and healthy. A Passive House building is designed and built to the climate, and will have excellent air quality, minimal use of energy required for heating and cooling, and a comfortable temperature maintained year-round. 50 | www.canterburytoday.co.nz The name Passive House comes from the German Passivhaus, with haus meaning building, and passive referring to the majority of heating and cooling demand being met through “passive” sources such as the sun, orientation and shading, or the heat emitted by occupants and household appliances. Often people talk about applying “Passive House principles”. But this is a bit like assembling the ingredients of a cake and then ignoring the recipe. You may end up with something edible, but it probably won’t be entirely what you expected, and it’s possible that the ingredients won’t interact in the way that was intended at all. Passive House done right means that the different components of the building and how they interact with each other and the local climate can be modelled, predicted and measured. Building a Passive House is a collaborative process – every step is considered, evaluated, and checked. Aiming for Passive House standard means that all the way through the design, build and completion, a skilled professional certifier will be independently checking progress. This makes it much more likely that any errors in design or construction will be noticed and can be resolved much earlier. And a Passive House designer or builder knows how thoroughly their work will be checked and that they will be held accountable for the performance of the building. And all this of course means that the homeowner can be confident that they get what they paid for – a durable asset with lasting performance, which will continue to perform as highly as expected for lifetimes. While Passive House has a specific focus on building performance, it is also complementary with other considerations and schemes. For example, achieving Passive House standard automatically means a number of credits towards Homestar. Homebuilders may also consider things such as locally sourced / low carbon / recycled materials. Other considerations might be minimising construction waste, or making buildings more accessible for old age. Passive House Institute New Zealand, Te Toputanga o te Whare Korou ki Aotearoa (PHINZ), is the hub of the Passive House community in New Zealand. Our Te Reo name means the grouping of the houses of vitality, a name which captures the purpose of Passive House beautifully. Projects such as Ethos Homes’ Bushland Park subdivision demonstrate that we can and should build attractive, healty, comfortable and sustainable living communities. Passive House – Homes Where People Thrive, is a free brochure published by PHINZ which can be downloaded here: https://passivehouse. nz/ PH-Homes-Thrive. A list of Passive House professionals including designers, builders and component suppliers can be found here: https://passivehouse.nz/directory/.