Sustainable Building: Passive House Design

It's not always bad to be passive, especially when it comes to sustainable building. Passive Houses are starting to stack up worldwide and this means good things for widespread, dramatic impact on energy conservation.

You might be wondering what is a Passive House? Well, this level of sustainable building is a concept that represents today's highest energy standard with the promise of slashing the heating energy consumption of buildings by an amazing 90%!

"Passive" describes the system's underlying receptivity and retention capacity. A Passive House is a very well-insulated, a virtually air-tight building that is primarily heated by passive solar gain and by internal gains from people, electrical equipment, etc.

When architect couple Milena Karanesheva and Mischa Witzmann decided it was time for more space, they decided to give up city life and build a Passive House outside of the French capital. They settled on the small town of Bessancourt, about 17 miles northwest of Paris.

The bamboo that they decided to cover the house in, creates an avoidance of heat gain through shading and window orientation also helps to limit any cooling load, which is similarly minimized.

They incorporated double-flow ducts into the home’s interior, exposing them at various points. They distribute fresh air, keeping temperatures around 66 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and 71 degrees in the summer, never going higher than 78. Perfect, right?

They kept the interiors simple and modern through contemporary seating and stylish, modern lighting.

It can't hurt to incorporate even some of the sustainable elements of a Passive House. Ironically, it would be a very determined and progressive step forward for any of us to take on....

Images: Dwell, Green Source