Passive Houses in a Cold Climate

Definition of the Passive House Standard

The Passive House Standard is a construction standard, developed by the Passivhaus
Institute in Germany,15 especially with the area between northern hemisphere latitudes 40
degrees (Madrid and Ankara) and 60 degrees (Oslo and Helsinki)16 in mind. The Standard can
be met using a variety of design strategies, construction methods and technologies and is
applicable to any building type.
The Passive House Standard is a specific construction standard for buildings with good comfort
conditions during winter and summer, without traditional space heating systems and without
active cooling. Typically this includes optimized insulation levels with minimal thermal bridges,
very low air-leakage through the building, utilization of passive solar energy and internal gains
and good indoor air quality maintained by a mechanical ventilation system with highly efficient
heat recovery.
Every building style has advantages and disadvantages. There are many reasons which
speak for a Passive House. Some of the main advantages can be found on almost every
homepage or book related to Passive Houses.
Pilot projects
Interest in passive houses has increased in Romania. Several projects started in 2007.
Two passive house projects under construction serve as pilots where different technologies and
parameters are being tested. The presented passive house is a two storey family house. Building
is a massive building with exterior insulation composite system as thermal insulation.
The passive house is a wooden single family house. The loadbearing structural system is
a modified platform with I beam wall structure and internal floor. Basic structural details of the
system
are already known in Europe. Both buildings have a trussed roof. The properties of these
buildings are given in table