When renovating or building a home sustainability is paramount. Designing a home that stays warm in winter and cool in summer without putting additional stress on traditional heating or cooling systems is more important than ever. This is the common sense Passive House theory comes in.
‘Passivhaus’ originated in Germany in the 1980s, as an approach to building more efficient, healthier, and sustainable housing. It works with the natural environment, rather than relying on outside systems.
The Electrify2800 group headed to Shiralee to check out Kiri and Mark’s fantastic project of transforming a 1940s home on their property into a certified Passive House.
All windows and doors are triple glazed, appropriate insulation was installed, the building is thermosealed to boost thermal efficiency, with the busiest parts set to take in northern sun.
An essential consideration for certification is being airtight. That’s 100% airtight with an energy recovery ventilator to move the air around. The average Australian home unintentionally exchanges between the inside and the outside typically 12 to 15 times every hour, let alone such an aged house. This is all made possible thanks to local builder Steve from Paradigm Passive Haus. He has a few builds about Orange, with a few new builds planned too.
According to Steve in five key elements are:
- Quality glazing, triple glazed windows and doors
- Thermal efficiency, being up to 90% more efficient than a typical Australian home (cooling and heating)
- Air tightness. An airtight building is one that has been designed and constructed to minimise the uncontrolled movement of air through the walls, roof, floor and joinery. Airtightness can be measured. This provides an indication of the quality and likely future performance of the building.
- Continuous insulation to keep the house warm during winter and heat out during summer.
- Ventilation, using a mechanical ventilation system. These systems work together to exchange indoor and outdoor air while minimising the energy required to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures.
It’s exciting to see all the innovative ways locals are taking action to live more sustainably and play their part in addressing global warming, while reducing their energy costs and demand and costs, while making homes more liveable and comfortable.
Whether it’s changes like switching from fossil gas to the brilliant, efficient experience of induction cooking, making plans to replace legacy technology like gas hot water or petrol vehicles with efficient, clean electric alternatives, or looking at ways to retrofit and renovate for sustainability and energy efficiency.