BSD-025: The Passive House (Passivhaus) Standard—A comparison to other cold climate low-energy houses

1. https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-025-the-passivhaus-passive-house-standard#:~:text=Typical%20Passivhaus%20Approach&text=Almost%20all%20Passivhauses%20rely%20on,bridges%20(except%20for%20wood%20framing)

2. https://passivehouse.com/

The Passivhaus (PH) standard is a set of voluntary criteria for an ultra-low energy use home. Originally developed in Germany for houses and low-rise multi-unit residential buildings, the standard has been applied to houses in a range of other countries and to commercial buildings as well.

The primary Passivhaus target criteria are:

• a total heating & cooling demand of <15 kWh/m2/yr (4.7 kBtu/ft2/yr)

• total primary (i.e., source) energy of <120 kWh/m2/yr (38 kBtu/ft2/yr)

• airtightness 0.6 ACH@50 Pa or less