As a homeowner, I wanted this website to share my vision and experience on how to save energy while retrofitting an old and inefficient house. This website is about show and tell. It is designed to be very down to earth, visual and self explanatory with a lot of emphasis on encountered issues and solutions.
About
Passive House
For me, the best energy is the one you don’t use. Passive House is THE best way to retrofit a house that needs refurbishing or to build a new house if you want to reduce its carbon footprint and yours. It reduces a house energy use by 95%. LEED is a good complement for other environmental concerns (water management, reduction of energy use for transport to and from house, etc.) Passive House is also creating a peaceful shelter around the family with much reduced sounds from outside and it provides for a very healthy home for kids with its indoor air renewed and filtered 4 times a day.
I am proud to share this experience that made me face failure 5 years ago due to my lack of experience and a careless selection of the wrong people to work with. But now this is a wonderful success story thanks to my on-going commitment, strong belief, and an AAA Team!
-Veronique
What is Passive House?
Passive House is a building standard that is truly energy efficient, comfortable and affordable at the same time.
Passive House is not a brand name, but a tried and true construction concept that can be applied by anyone, anywhere.
Passive House is focused on the health, comfort, durability, affordability, efficiency and predictability of our built environment.
Passive House is a cutting edge approach to design and construction, proposing to make sustainable design a proportionate response to the threat of climate change – it dramatically reduces the energy used to operate a building while simultaneously enhancing the occupants’ thermal comfort and raising the buildings’ indoor air quality to an unsurpassed level.
The comprehensive methodology that is used produces healthy, comfortable, long lasting, affordable and energy efficient buildings by focusing on a very clear and strict set of energy requirements.
Developed in the 1990s in Germany, the Passive House approach is growing exponentially in Euorpe and around the globe. The Passivhaus Institut (PHI) in Darmstadt Germany forms the scientific foundation for the Passive House approach. PHI has placed a premium on predictability and results, and research has shown (citation needed to cepheus) that PHouses do perform as calculated in the Passive House Planning Package (PH energy model) – making it a less risky than traditional “green” approaches.
Passive House can be applied to almost any building type, from single family homes, to apartment buildings to schools, factories, civic centers and fire houses – virtually anything is possible. Passive House doesn’t prescribe a style, a layout or any material – you are free to design what you want.