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Design and realisation of the Passive House concept in different climate zones

Article in Energy Efficiency · December 2020

DOI: 10.1007/s12053-019-09819-6

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-019-09819-6

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Design and realisation of the Passive House concept

in different climate zones
Jürgen Schnieders & Tim Delhey Eian & Marco Filippi & Javier Florez &
Berthold Kaufmann & Stefanos Pallantzas & Monte Paulsen & Elena Reyes &
Micheel Wassouf & Shih-Chieh Yeh

Received: 8 February 2019 / Accepted: 1 August 2019 / Published online: 2 September 2019
# Springer Nature B.V. 2019

Abstract The term Passive House refers to a
performance-based energy standard for high-efficiency
buildings. It is clearly defined, with validity for all
climates of the world. Under cold climate conditions,
the design typically focuses on minimising heat losses
and optimising solar gains. In milder climates, moderate
insulation, including improved window qualities, is suf-
ficient, but on the other hand, the building performance
J. Schnieders (*) : J. Florez : B. Kaufmann : E. Reyes
Passivhaus Institut, Rheinstraße 44/46, 64283 Darmstadt,
Germany
e-mail: juergen.schnieders@passiv.de
T. D. Eian
TE Studio, 901 23rd Avenue NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418, USA
M. Filippi
Energy Plus Project, Piazzetta San Marco 7/8, 31053 Pieve di
Soligo, Italy
during summer requires more careful consideration. For
hotter climates, the insulation requirements increase
again, and solar loads through windows, walls and roofs
must be limited. In hot and humid climates, humidity
loads are also minimised or reduced. In practical imple-
mentation, every Passive House has its own, specific
boundary conditions which lead to different construc-
tions and technical solutions to fulfil the stringent re-
quirements of the Passive House standard. The paper
briefly introduces Passive House design principles and
criteria. Then, nine examples for passive houses in
climates of Canada, the USA, Germany, China, Greece,
Spain, Taiwan, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates
illustrate the bandwidth of possible solutions. For many
projects, practical experiences are available, which typ-
ically reveal high user satisfaction and energy consump-
tions close to what would be expected from the design
calculations. In some cases, a potential for further im-
provements is described.

S. Pallantzas Keywords Passive House . Efficiency . Climate .

Hellenic Passive House Institute, Anastaseos Str. 112, Comfort . Cooling . NZEB
15669 Papagou, Greece

M. Paulsen
RDH Building Science Inc., 4333 Still Creek Drive #400, Introduction
Burnaby, BC V5C 6S6, Canada

M. Wassouf The Passive House is a performance-based energy stan-

Energiehaus Arquitectos, C/Ramón Turró 100-104, 3-3,
08005 Barcelona, Spain
S.<C. Yeh
Passive House Taiwan, 3F., No. 16, Section 2, Heping East Road,
Da’an District, Taipei City 10662, Taiwan, Republic of China
dard that aims at optimising a building’s design and
properties in the context of the local climate conditions
(Passive House Institute 2016; Grove-Smith et al.
2018). The first Passive Houses were built in Germany
in the 1990s (Feist and Werner 1993; Feist and Werner

Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

1562
1994; Feist 1997, 1998), followed by first pilot projects
in Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and France. This type
of buildings achieved a very low heating energy con-
sumption at comfortable indoor temperatures. Peper and
Feist (2015), for example, describe several Passive
House settlements in Germany and Austria that
achieved measured average heating consumptions of
less than 15 kWh/(m2 year). Results from the CE-
PHEUS project (Cordis 1997) for Sweden, Germany,
Austria and Switzerland show a measured heating con-
sumption of 17 kWh/(m2 year), with room temperatures
between 20 and 26 °C during 90% of the time and
average additional building cost of 6% (Schnieders
et al. 2001; Schnieders 2003; Schnieders and
Hermelink 2006). Feist (2004) presents further results
from several monitored Passive House projects, demon-
strating that Passive Houses in Germany saved approx-
imately 90% of the heating consumption as compared to
the building stock. For China, simulations by
Schnieders et al. (2016) predict typical savings in useful
energy demand for space heating of 80 to 90% and for
cooling and dehumidification of 50 to 60%, in compar-
ison to buildings according to current Chinese building
standards.
The general principles of Passive House design in
central Europe can be characterised by strictly
minimised or reduced heat losses, passive solar energy
use and, for the summer, solar control and night venti-
lation. Key factors are appropriate building layout and
orientation, excellent insulation, mechanical ventilation
with heat recovery (MVHR, in hot, humid climates also
energy recovery), triple glazed low-e windows with
insulated frames and constructions with small thermal
bridge coefficients. The reduced heat flows allow for
simplifications of the mechanical services, so that life-
cycle costs similar to or lower than that of conventional
new construction can be achieved (cf. also Schnieders
et al. 2001). Leutner and Clar (2016), in an analysis of
120 multi-family buildings for social housing in Ham-
burg, Germany, found that the passive houses had even
lower building costs than less efficient standards.
The strategy of minimised heat flows can also be used
successfully in other climates in and outside Europe. Of
course, the components and solutions vary with the cli-
mate (Schnieders 2009; Schnieders et al. 2012, 2015;
Passipedia 2018). For hot climates, the most important
difference is that the ambient temperatures and humidities
exceed the desired indoor conditions for extended
periods.
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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
Certification for the Passive House standard is main-
tained by the Passive House Institute (PHI) in Darmstadt,
Germany. Based on numerous simulations and first expe-
riences with constructed buildings, the PHI developed
international Passive House criteria since 1996 (Feist
1996, 2007). The current version is set out by Feist et al.
(2015) and the Passive House Institute (2016).
As of today, many passive houses have been built to
these criteria in climates other than central Europe, and
some of these buildings have been described in the
scientific literature (e.g. Dan et al. 2016; Figueiredo
et al. 2016; Consoli et al. 2017; Khalfan and Sharples
2016; Fokaides et al. 2016). The aims of this paper are to
present Passive House examples that have been built in
the different climate zones of the world, to illustrate
which different solutions were chosen by the designers
and to report exemplary experiences. It will become
evident that each site, each building and each client
realised an adapted solution.
Before the examples are described, an overview of
Passive House design principles and criteria will be
given.
General Passive House design principles, depending
on the climate
The Passive House standard is performance based and
does not impose any explicit restrictions on the building
layout or the component properties. Nevertheless, de-
sign principles and starting points for an optimisation
can be given.
These relate to the seven climate zones shown in
Fig. 1, which were identified based on the development
of cost-optimised building configurations for all cli-
mates in the world (Schnieders et al. 2012). For each
climate zone, typical Passive House component proper-
ties could be derived which can serve as a starting point
for the building optimisation. They are shown in Table 1.
These values are only intended to provide an orientation
on the quality of components for passive houses in the
different climates—neither do all passive houses have to
use exactly these values nor would using components
with exactly these numerical values guarantee that a
building will work as a Passive House. The actual
qualities needed are chosen in the individual projects
in such a way that the performance criteria will be met
(see “General Passive House design principles, depend-
ing on the climate” section).
Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1563

Fig. 1 World map of Passive House climate zones following Krick (2012). Graphics: Passive House Institute

In addition, following some general design prin-
ciples, depending on the climate zone, can greatly
simplify the design of a passive house.
& A compact building shape, with a good ratio of
exterior surface to living area, is particularly impor-
tant in cold and very hot climates.
& The majority of the windows should face towards
the equator (in heating-dominated climates, where
the low winter sun provides solar gains) or both
north and south (in cooling dominated climates,
where most solar load occurs on the roof, followed
by the east and west façades). This design will
optimise solar gains both in winter and summer.
& If sanitary rooms and kitchens are located in the
same part of a dwelling unit, ventilation duct sys-
tems become particularly simple.
& Thermal bridges should be avoided.
& In warm climates, Passive House may not necessar-
ily require a MVHR, but heat recovery can be useful
in some climates of the very hot climate zone.
& For climates with cold winters or with humid sum-
mers, an energy recovery ventilator (ERV), which
also recovers humidity, is appropriate. In hot and dry
climates, heat recovery ventilators (HRV), without
humidity recovery, are suitable.
Feist et al. (2005) describe one of the first
Passive House settlements, including many details
of practical Passive House design and construction
in a central European climate.
Passive House criteria
Compliance of a building with the Passive House
criteria is always verified using the Passive House

Table 1 Recommendations for building component properties according to Feist et al. (2015)

Climate zone Uwindow, installed [W/(m2 K)] Uwall/roof [W/(m2 K)] HRV efficiency [%] Glazing

Arctic 0.45 0.09 80 Vacuum or quadruple low-e glazing

Cold 0.65 0.12 80 Triple or quadruple low-e glazing
Cool–temperate 0.85 0.15 75 Triple low-e glazing
Warm–temperate 1.05 0.3 75 Triple low-e glazing
Warm 1.25 0.5 (*) Double low-e glazing
Hot 1.25 0.5 (*) Double solar protective glazing
Very hot 1.05 0.25 (*) Triple solar protective glazing

*ERV recommended for humid summers

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1564
Planning Package (PHPP). The PHPP consists of a
spreadsheet and an accompanying manual. It calculates
annual and peak heating and cooling loads as well as the
total energy demand of the building.
As the name implies, the PHPP is not only used for
verification but is mainly intended to assist during the
design of passive houses.
Throughout this paper, all specific values refer to
the treated floor area (TFA) according to the PHPP,
which will be denoted as ‘useful floor area’ in the
following. For residential buildings, this is the sum of
the net floor areas of all rooms within the thermal
envelope without the surfaces covered by internal
and external walls, voids, or staircases. Details about
the calculation procedure can be found in Feist et al.
(2015). Referring the energy demand to the gross
floor area would result in figures that appear to be
considerably smaller.
Default assumptions for indoor conditions of passive
houses are 20 °C room temperature in winter and 25 °C
room temperature with a maximum humidity ratio of
12 g/kg in summer. Comparing to ISO 7730 (2005),
these values correspond to a predicted mean vote of
PMV = 0 for 1.2 met, 1.2 clo in winter and 1.1 met,
0.5 clo in summer, both at negligible air velocity.
Deliberately, the Passive House does not refer to
adaptive comfort standards, regardless of the type of
cooling that is applied. Schnieders (2009) discusses the
reasons.
In the following, the most important criteria for Pas-
sive Houses are summarised and explained.
1. Heating
It is sufficient to fulfil one of the following
requirements:
& Peak heating load ≤ 10 W/m2
& Annual heating demand (useful energy) ≤ 15 kWh/
(m2 year)
A heating load of 10 W/m2 can be covered by heating
the supply air that is required for good indoor air quality,
as shown by Feist (2007). Such small heating loads also
allow for other simplified heating systems, e.g. concrete
core activation (Hasper 2012; Kaufmann and
Schnieders 2012; Kalz et al. 2006; Schnieders et al.
2012) or heating one central room per apartment if the
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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
interior doors are sometimes left open (Schnieders
2016).
Simulations, e.g. by Schnieders et al. ( 2012),
have shown that the 10-W/m2 heating load roughly
corresponds to a heating demand of 15 kWh/
(m2 year) under central European climate condi-
tions. This is the basis for the second criterion,
15 kWh/(m2 year). This value represents a level
of heating energy which is close to negligible in
relation to other sectors of energy consumption in
households. This can be shown by comparing to
household electricity or domestic hot water (DHW).
If covered by a heat pump, 15 kWh/(m2 year)
heating demand requires approximately 5 kWh/
(m2 year) of electricity, less than 20% of a typical
European household electricity consumption of ap-
proximately 30 kWh/(m2 year) for plug loads, ap-
pliances and lighting, i.e. without heating and
DHW (Grinden and Feilberg 2008; Eurostat
2018). Following Hasper (2015), 15 kWh/
(m2 year) is also a typical value for the useful
energy demand for DHW production.
2. Overheating
For buildings that fully rely on passive cooling in the
summer, a certain overheating is considered to be ac-
ceptable. The indoor temperature must not exceed 25 °C
for more than 10% of the year. The Passive House
Institute, e.g. Schnieders (2012), recommends to design
for less than 5% overheating.
Similarly, a limit of 20% of the year applies for
humidity ratios above 12 g/kg in passively cooled
buildings.
3. Cooling
If an active cooling system is installed, there is
a climate-dependent requirement that relates to the
sum of sensible and latent cooling (see Table 2 for
examples). The final requirement for the total
cooling demand is the sum of the permissible
sensible and latent cooling demands. This ap-
proach leaves maximum freedom for the designer
to shift energy demand from sensible cooling to
dehumidification and vice versa.
& Sensible cooling
Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1565

If the annual sensible cooling demand (useful energy)
is below 15 kWh/(m2 year), the requirements are
fulfilled.
If this value is exceeded, the peak cooling load must
be below 10 W/m2, and in addition, the cooling demand
is limited by a value that depends on the climate data
and the internal heat loads. This limit is calculated in the
PHPP and involves allowances for solar loads, ventila-
tion and transmission loads or losses and passive
cooling by night ventilation and bypassing the heat
recovery.
The value of 15 kWh/(m 2 year) was chosen
analogously to the heating case, being small enough
not to require further attention. As it is physically not
always possible to achieve this value, e.g. with high
interior loads in non-residential buildings or for
tropical and subtropical climates where no heat sinks
for passive cooling are available for extended pe-
riods, this limiting value can in some cases be
exceeded. For these cases, the limit relates to the
cooling demand that can be achieved with highly
efficient buildings of low life-cycle cost (Schnieders
et al. 2012).
calculation presumes a humidity recovery of 60% when-
ever the monthly average ambient humidity ratio is
higher than the interior setpoint; otherwise, a bypass is
assumed.
4. Airtightness
For every Passive House, an airtightness test is
required, with a maximum leakage of n50 = 0.6 air
changes per hour (ACH). Airtightness is important
for low energy consumption, good indoor air quality
and correct operation of the ventilation system (in-
cluding exhaust air systems without heat recovery).
It helps to prevent draft and to avoid damages to the
thermal envelope due to uncontrolled humid air
flow. The limit given above results in infiltration
loads that, for residential buildings, are of a similar
order of magnitude as the ventilation loads from the
MVHR. It has also been proven to be achievable in
practice with acceptable effort and small additional
cost, once the know-how is available. Thus
different, climate-dependent requirements appeared
inappropriate.

& Latent cooling 5. Primary energy

A permissible latent cooling demand is calculated The Passive House criteria also limit the total
based on the interior and exterior humidity loads. The amount of energy consumed in the building, includ-
ing not only energy for space conditioning and DHW,
but also for appliances, lighting, etc. This requires a
common metric for different energy carriers. Non-
Table 2 Requirements for the cooling demand in a residential
building with internal heat loads of 2.1 W/m2. The sensible and
renewable primary energy (PE) was used for this
latent requirements need not be fulfilled separately purpose until 2014.
With the increasing fraction of renewables in the
Passive House requirements for cooling [kWh/(m2 year)] electricity mix, the primary energy factor for elec-
Sensible Latent Total tricity changed and will continue to do so in the
future. In the German Energy Savings Ordinance,
Frankfurt am Main, Germany 15 0 15 for example, it dropped from 3.0 in 2002 (EnEV
Los Angeles, CA, USA 15 0 15 2002) to 1.8 in 2016 (EnEV 2014). Nevertheless,
Seville, Spain 15 0 15 energy and electricity will be a limited resource in
Tokyo, Japan 15 2 17 the future, especially if supply is solely based on
Seoul, South Korea 15 2 17 renewables. Therefore, since 2015, the PHPP con-
Phoenix, AZ, USA 28 0 28 tains a new assessment procedure using Primary
Miami, FL, USA 31 6 37 Energy Renewable (PER). This metric is based on
Dubai, UAE 48 4 53 the assumption of a future, fully renewable scenario.
Cancún, Mexico 46 13 59 It calculates the amount of renewable electricity that
Jakarta, Indonesia 54 12 66 needs to be generated to cover a specific energy
service, taking conversion processes and storage

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1566
losses into account (Feist 2013, 2014; Grove-Smith
and Feist 2015; Grove-Smith et al. 2016, Grove-
Smith et al., submitted).
The PER demand of a Passive House is limited to
60 kWh/(m2 year), again including all energy services in
the building. Renewable energy generation on site can
optionally be accounted for in this system, but it can
only offset the consumption to a limited extent. Build-
ings with high amounts of renewable energy production
can additionally qualify as Passive House Plus or Pas-
sive House Premium.
Alternatively, the PE criterion may still be used. With
a default PE factor for electricity of 2.6, the primary
energy limit is 120 kWh/(m2 year), including all energy
services.
Passive House components can be applied in refur-
bishments, too, although it is often very challenging to
aim for the Passive House standard in existing buildings.
The so-called EnerPHit standard defines criteria for
high-efficiency renovations which are achievable with
reasonable effort.
There are supplementary requirements for Passive
House certification, relating to air quality, thermal
comfort, humidity, etc. Further details about the
Passive House and EnerPHit standards can be
found in Feist et al. (2015) and Passive House
Institute (2016).
Cold: USA, Hudson, WI
Climate and location
Hudson is located in the north-western part of Wiscon-
sin, close to Minneapolis. The climate is harsh in the
Fig. 2 Climate data for Hudson, WI, USA, 45° N. Diagrams: Passive House Institute
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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
winter with average January temperatures below −
10 °C. Lows reach − 30 °C and below. On the other
hand, solar radiation onto a south-facing surface in the
core winter months is above 100 kWh/(m2 month) and
thus has a high potential for solar heating (Fig. 2).
With average July temperatures of 23 °C, the conti-
nental climate is at the border of making active cooling
necessary.
Under these climate conditions, it is important to care-
fully design the glazing ratio and orientation in order to
balance the useful solar gains during cold periods against
overheating risk caused by high solar loads in summer.
Building description
The Passive House in the Woods (Figs. 3 and 4, Table 3)
is a three-bedroom, two-story single-family home with
walkout basement level and a rooftop terrace. Commis-
sioned by a private client, this home is the first certified
Passive House in the state of Wisconsin. The building
lot provides stunning views and prime passive solar
exposure. With its renewable energy systems, it is
projected to make more energy than it consumes and
pursue carbon-neutral operation with two people. More
information can be found at Eian et al. (2018).
The building envelope is very uniform. The below
and above grade walls are made from the same insulated
concrete form (ICF) assembly with EIFS. The basement
slab rests on foam insulation, and the roof deck is topped
with foam insulation. Both the garage as well as the
exterior steel stair and deck structure are self-supporting
and do not interrupt the building envelope.
The north side of the home is largely sheltered by the
garage. There aren’t any windows on the north side at
all. The south side opens up for maximum solar heat
Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
gains. The windows are shaded with an exterior shading
system.
The ventilation system is augmented by a subsoil
heat exchanger that can prewarm the incoming ventila-
tion air in the winter and precool and dehumidify it in
the summer. It is buried at a minimum depth of 1.8 m
and individual pipes are spaced 50 cm apart to maximise
thermal transfer. The subsoil heat exchanger is brought
into the building through the floor and connects directly
to a manifold and heat exchanger. It is designed to
deliver approximately 1 kW of heating or cooling ener-
gy to the incoming airstream.
The duct system inside the home supplies outside air
to living spaces and bedrooms, and exhaust air is
returned from the kitchen, baths, and mechanical spaces.
Adjustable diffusors were used to control air volumes. A
common wall alongside the main staircase was used for
vertical runs, keeping overall duct lengths extremely
short. The ventilation machine is installed in a space
below the stair landing on the walkout level. Air intake
and exhaust pipes connect straight through the wall,
keeping them extremely short. The HRV offers a sum-
mer bypass to maximise passive cooling when available.
The controls respond to air quality measurements and
automatically adjust the rate of ventilation accordingly.
The heating load for the home of approx. 3 kW was
originally delivered by electric in-floor heating mats in
seven zones throughout the home. Individual thermo-
stats control each zone and can be programmed for
comfort. The heating system is oversized by a factor of
2 (approx. 6 kW) to provide reasonable recovery time
should the building ever be below design temperature in
the winter. In 2014, the homeowner decided to install
two mini-split heat pumps, which can heat and cool.
Since 2014, the heat pumps were used for the majority
Fig. 3 Hudson, WI, USA. Photos: Chad Holder Photography
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1567
of heating, as well as active cooling and dehumidifica-
tion as needed.
Results and experiences
The home has been occupied by one person with occa-
sional or seasonal guests since 2010, averaging 82.5 to
165 m2 per person during most of its use. During the first
4 years of occupancy, the in-floor heating mats were used
for heating; since 2014, two mini-split heat pumps have
been used for heating, cooling and dehumidification.
The building was fitted with very high solar heat gain
glazing. Therefore, the majority of the heat demand is
provided by passive solar heat gains. An estimated 64%
of the heat load during the first year of operation was
provided by passive solar heat gains. Internal heat gains
accounted for 16%, and active heating covered the
remaining 20%.
The building was outfitted with an energy monitoring
system which captures all electric consumption. In
2012, the data provided by the monitoring system, as
well as feedback provided by the owner/occupant, were
evaluated.
Figure 5 shows the measured heating consumptions of
two consecutive winters in comparison to the PHPP pre-
dictions. The ‘normalised’ values were recalculated with
the measured boundary conditions (weather, occupancy,
etc.). The first winter was much cooler than average (polar
vortex), resulting in an increased heat load (which was
also due to the well-known ‘first year effect’), while the
second winter was much more average.
In addition, homeowner behaviour resulted in a higher-
than-expected heating consumption. Thermostats were
not programmed to provide a night setback, and the
ventilation system was effectively running at a higher-
1568 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Fig. 4 Hudson, WI, USA: floor

plan of walkout level. Drawing:
TE Studio, Ltd.

Table 3 Hudson, WI, USA: building properties

Database ID* 1770

Building type/use Residential, detached single-family house
Location Town of Hudson, WI, USA
Year of construction 2009/2010
Architect Tim Delhey Eian
Useful floor area (PHPP) 165 m2
Exterior walls U-value = 0.08 W/(m2 K)
280 mm insulated concrete form (ICF) + 280 mm exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS) (035)
Roof U-value = 0.06 W/(m2 K)
305 to 445 mm tapered polyisocyanurate foam insulation boards (023), rubber membrane
Floor slab U-value = 0.10 W/(m2 K)
102 mm concrete slab on top of 304 mm EPS insulation boards (030)
Windows UW = 0.82 W/(m2 K) (average, incl. thermal bridges)
Ug (EN 673) = 0.64 W/(m2 K), g (EN 410) = 64%
Wooden frame with aluminium cladding, triple low-e glazing with argon filling
Ventilation MVHR, 82% efficient, 0.38 Wh/m3, connected to approx. 183 m subsoil heat exchanger at 1.8 m
below grade with liquid-to-air heat exchanger: Efficiency boost to up to 95%
n50 0.25 ACH
Heating/DHW/cooling systems In-floor electric heating mats: 3 kW heating load
2014 update: installation of 2 split heat pump systems (main floor and upper level) for heating and
cooling
DHW: 3.48 m2 solar thermal panel with drainback system on 200 l storage tank with on-demand
electric booster heater
Heating demand (PHPP) 12 kWh/(m2 year)
Cooling and dehumidification 1 kWh/(m2 year)
demand (PHPP)
Primary energy demand (PHPP) PE = 66 kWh/(m2 year)

*ID in the Passive House Database (Passive House Institute 2018)

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1569

than-needed rate, as the levels of ventilation had been

commissioned at more throughput than intended. Further-
more, dirty filters caused an increase in operating energy
for the ventilator itself. All issues were uncovered with the
help of the monitoring system, and in response, the ven-
tilation system was recommissioned, and the thermostats
reprogrammed. Such issues are typical for first year oper-
ation and have been experienced in other projects that are
not passive houses as well. As can be seen in Fig. 5, the
measured heating consumption was well below the cal-
culated values in the second winter.
Summer comfort was acceptable with passive
cooling. For example, on June 7, 2011, with an ambient
high of 35 °C and 19 °C dewpoint, the owner reported: Fig. 6 Site energy review and outlook. Diagram: TE Studio, Ltd.
“Yesterday, despite the heat, my house was quite com-
fortable. This AM it was 76 degrees {24.4 °C} on the system. The corresponding consumption was not
main floor, a bit warm, but very tolerable.” However, accounted for in the original PHPP as manufacturers
during later heat waves, the owner decided to install two did not provide any energy consumption figures.
mini-split heat pumps to provide active cooling, as well While great care was taken to provide energy-
as boost the efficiency of the heating system. efficient lighting (a mix of CFL, dimmed halogen and
According to the PHPP, the home’s total site energy LED), as well as the installation of a lighting control
consumption was predicted at 4.075 kWh per year. The system and full-home shut-off to eliminate standby
monitoring system reported 6.425 kWh during the first loads, lights in particular registered higher than antici-
year of use. The photovoltaic system can nominally pated. The same is true for plugloads.
produce 7.600 kWh per year and produced 6.700 kWh An outlook scenario was developed based on the re-
during the same time period. A detailed evaluation of view in 2012, where heating, plugloads and ventilation
the monitoring data in comparison with the PHPP pre- were adjusted for average weather, recommissioning and
dictions is shown in Fig. 6. user behaviour. The results in Fig. 6 illustrate that the
The solar thermal panels were more efficient than home will consume more energy than the original PHPP
expected, resulting in reduced booster heater predicted, while at the same time still achieving site
consumption. energy neutrality. Most of the shortcomings of the calcu-
The home draws freshwater from a well via a pump lation from the design phase are explained with lack of
station. The well water is then filtered via a sophisticated information at the time of modelling.

Cold: Canada, Smithers, BC

Climate and location

Smithers, BC, has a heating-dominated climate in the

cold climate zone, with its annual heating degree days
amounting to 5040 Kd. Average temperatures in Janu-
ary are about − 8 °C. Summers are moderately warm
and dry (Fig. 7).

Building description

Fig. 5 Heating demand and consumption in the first and second Harding Heights (Figs. 8 and 9, Table 4) is a 19-unit
winter. Diagram: TE Studio, Ltd. apartment building designed for seniors and adults with

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1570
Fig. 7 Climate data for Smithers, BC, Canada, 55° N. Diagrams: Passive House Institute
disabilities. The building provides a mix of small studio
apartments and one-bedroom suites. Harding Heights was
developed through a partnership between the Province of
British Columbia, the Town of Smithers, and the Dik Tiy
Housing Society.
The three-story building was designed by Scott Ken-
nedy and Gwill Symons of Cornerstone Architects to
serve as a prototype for affordable Passive House social
housing in British Columbia. The outer walls and struc-
tural framing are constructed using the common ‘plat-
form framing’ technique employed in the vast majority
of small apartment buildings in Western Canada. The
intermediate floors bear on the outer 2 × 6 (38 mm ×
140 mm) frame wall. This wood-frame structure is
familiar to carpenters in this part of the world, and as a
result, the project was less intimidating to contractors
bidding on the project.
Passive House levels of insulation were achieved by
adding two layers of insulation inside the conventional
2 × 6 insulated cavity wall. Immediately behind the exte-
rior frame wall stands a 152-mm layer of expanded poly-
styrene (EPS type II) foam with foil facing in the inside.
This foil is taped at the seams and to all adjacent compo-
nents, to comprise the primary air barrier. The innermost
layer is a nonstructural 2 × 4 (38 mm × 89 mm) insulated
cavity wall into which electrical, plumbing and other
services were installed. Another common insulation prod-
uct, polyurethane foam, was sprayed into the cavities
between the joist bays in order to maintain insulation
continuity on the exterior wall.
The summer construction season is relatively short in
Smithers. Because this additional insulation and air sealing
was installed from the interior, it was possible for most of
the additional labour associated with Passive House con-
struction to be completed during the winter months.
The result—a thick layer of white foam sandwiched
between two layers of batt-and-timber—has been
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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
affectionately dubbed the ‘ice cream sandwich wall’
and has been used on other projects in Vancouver.
Achieving the PHI comfort criteria for window surface
temperatures is difficult in the Smithers climate. The
Klearwall PassiV PVC window frames are covered with
insulation on the exterior, but the resulting frames were
still too cool to meet the comfort criteria. In order to
maintain the interior surface temperature required for
PHI certification, the electric resistance heating appliances
were installed directly above or below each window.
Windows with lower U-values would have solved the
issue as well.
Continuous ventilation is provided by six heat
recovery ventilators from two manufacturers, with
each unit serving three or four suites. The units
installed were the only PHI-certified ventilators
available in the B.C. market at the time the build-
ing was designed. Larger PHI-certified units have
subsequently entered the market.
Heat was initially planned to be provided by local
electric resistance heaters. However, after some
overheating in the summer of 2018, BC Housing decid-
ed to install a multi-split air-source heat pump providing
heating and cooling to each apartment via wall-mounted
heads.
Domestic hot water is provided by three CO2 heat
pumps. The client was concerned that the CO2 heat
pumps might not serve the building’s DHW require-
ments during extended cold snaps, so three storage
tanks were added to the three stratified Sanden
tanks. The storage tanks contain electric resistance
coils programmed to a low setpoint; these heating
elements only engage if the CO2 heat pumps are
unable to meet the DHW demand. The six tanks
are distributed across the three floors of the build-
ing, in order to reduce DHW piping runs from the
tanks to the suites.
Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
Achieving the PER criteria was a significant chal-
lenge for this project. The building squeezes 20
kitchens, 20 bathrooms, a common room and an
elevator into a floor area not significantly larger than
a luxury home. The provincial housing authority,
BC Housing, maintains strict guidelines for the du-
rability of appliances in social housing; identifying
energy-efficient appliances that were locally avail-
able and met the BC Housing durability standards
was a challenge.
Results and experiences
The Harding Heights building performed well dur-
ing the winter it was under construction. The outer
two layers of insulation were complete and win-
dows were installed by late fall 2017. In order to
continue working through the winter, contractors in
Northern Canada typically heat unfinished build-
ings with large propane-fire heaters. The site man-
ager was surprised to discover that a single small
electric resistance heater was able to keep the
unfinished Smithers project at between 15 and
20 °C inside, even when it was − 15 °C or colder
outside.
The first residents moved into Harding Heights in
July of 2018. A heat wave settled over Northern British
Columbia the following week, with peak ambient tem-
peratures of 35 °C, and residents reported uncomfort-
ably high interior temperatures ranging between 25 and
30 °C for more than 2 weeks. While the overheating was
on par with overheating experienced in non-Passive
House buildings, it nonetheless posed a problem for
the elderly residents of Harding Heights.
Fig. 8 Smithers, BC, Canada: photos
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1571
Monitors were installed in several units in August
2018 to gain further insight into the mechanisms in-
volved. The design team determined that the effects of
the unseasonable heat wave were magnified by several
factors:
& A large deciduous tree immediately to the south of
the building that the architect planned to preserve
was removed during construction.
& The windows that were installed had a higher g-
value than those initially specified.
& The insect screens for the windows had not been
installed in time; as a result, the residents were
keeping the windows closed during the cool night-
time, with outdoor lows below 13 °C, in an effort to
keep mosquitoes and blackflies out of the building.
& As usual, the building was designed by means of
average climate data, in this case for the 1980 to
2010 period. The average temperature in August
2018 was 3 K higher than the corresponding tem-
perature in the climate data set (with a systematic
increase over the 30-year period). If, in turn, the
indoor temperatures were 3 K lower than measured,
the first and second floor suites would not have
exceeded 25 °C in August 2018, and the third floor
suites would have peaked closer to 27 °C.
Out of concern for the future well-being of Harding
Heights’ elderly residents, and in recognition of the fact
that Canada’s northern climate is warming rapidly, BC
Housing decided in September of 2018 to install the
multi-split cooling and heating system.
The above experience shows that summer comfort is
an important part of Passive House design, even in far-
north climates.
1572 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Fig. 9 Smithers, BC, Canada: floor plan of ground floor and section S–N

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1573

Table 4 Smithers, BC, Canada: building properties

Database ID* –
Building type/use Multi-unit residential (seniors housing)
Location Smithers, British Columbia, Canada
Year of construction 2017–2018
Architect Scott Kennedy and Gwill Symons, Cornerstone Architecture
Useful floor area (PHPP) 964.8 m2
Exterior walls U-value = 0.10 W/(m2 K)
16 mm gypsum wall board, 89 mm fibre batt in service cavity with 2 × 4 studs, foil air barrier, 152 mm
EPS foam insulation, 140 mm fibre batt insulation in cavity with 2 × 6 studs, 13 mm plywood
sheathing, weather barrier membrane, rainscreen gap, cementituous board siding
Roof U-value = 0.07 W/(m2 K)
16 mm gypsum wall board, 140 mm fibre batt insulation in cavity with studs, 19 mm plywood
sheathing, 610 mm of blown cellulose insulation between wood rafters
Floor slab U-value = 0.11 W/(m2 K)
Flooring, subflooring, 13 mm plywood sheathing, 305 mm EPS foam board, 127 mm concrete
Windows UW = 0.77 W/(m2 K) (average, incl. thermal bridges)
Ug (EN 673) = 0.6 W/(m2 K), g (EN 410) = 61%
PVC window frames, triple low-e glazing
Ventilation Several MVHR units, 84% efficiency (PHI certificate)
n50 0.44 ACH
Heating/DHW/cooling systems Electric resistance baseboards, CO2 heat pump for DHW, small mini-split in common room
Heating demand (PHPP) 11.8 kWh/(m2 year)
Cooling and dehumidification 2 kWh/(m2 year)
demand (PHPP)
Primary energy demand (PHPP) PE = 136 kWh/(m2 year)
PER = 60 kWh/(m2 year) fulfils PER criterion of 60 kWh/(m2 year)

*ID in the Passive House Database (Passive House Institute 2018)

Cool–temperate: Germany, Darmstadt
Climate and location
Germany has a heating-dominated climate in the cold
temperate climate zone. Average temperatures in
January are about 0 °C. Summers are moderately warm
and dry, so that active cooling for residential buildings is
uncommon.
Darmstadt is one of the warmest locations in Germa-
ny. Located at 50° North, little solar radiation is avail-
able during the winter months (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10 Climate data for Darmstadt, Germany, 50° N. Diagrams: Passive House Institute

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1574
Building description
The end-of-terrace house in Darmstadt (Figs. 11 and 12,
Table 5) has three above-ground storeys and a basement
within the thermal envelope. It is a limestone masonry
construction, the basement and the intermediate ceilings
are made from concrete and the roof is lightweight and
covered with rear-ventilated roof tiles. An EIFS with
EPS insulation was applied to the exterior walls. So far,
the construction type is a standard, low-cost solution for
new buildings in Germany.
The building is located in a suburban district. Restric-
tions applied concerning the shape and colour of the roof,
ridge height, colour of the walls, shape of the windows, etc.
The main façades are oriented to the east and west, with
similar rows of buildings at a distance of approximately
30 m in both directions. The building forms the northern
end of its terrace. Thus, solar gains are limited due to the
total lack of south-facing windows and relatively strong
shading (shading reduction factors per orientation, accord-
ing to PHPP, 0.61 to 0.69). In this unfavourable situation,
the components used had a higher efficiency than is usually
required to fulfil the Passive House criteria in this climate.
Windows were installed in the insulation layer in
order to minimise thermal bridges (cf. photo); 300 mm
of exterior insulation nevertheless allowed for the exte-
rior blinds to be hidden in the insulation layer.
The basement, which is usually required in German
building practice, was fully integrated into the thermal
envelope. The basement slab is placed on 24 cm of load-
bearing XPS, without any additional foundations, and
the insulation of the walls runs down to the floor slab,
with slightly reduced thickness on the basement walls.
Fig. 11 Darmstadt, Germany.
Photos: Schnieders
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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
At the time of design, the neighbouring plot towards
the south was not yet sold, so that there was a risk of the
party wall to the south being exposed to ambient air for
several years. To provide sufficient heating capacity
even for this case, the client decided to install a conven-
tional hydronic heating system with radiators (installed
on the interior walls, not, as customary, below the win-
dows), supplied by a condensing gas boiler that also
provides domestic hot water. A recirculation line for
DHW is common in Germany. It was installed but is
only running on demand. The small, east/west facing
pitched roof surfaces discouraged the use of renewable
energy. Instead, a drain water heat recovery (DWHR)
was installed to reduce the energy demand for domestic
hot water. Gas is also used for cooking.
The highly efficient MVHR distributes the air via a
central shaft and above a suspended ceiling in the up-
stairs corridor. No ventilation ducts are visible in the
living rooms. Frost protection for the heat recovery is
realised via reduction of the ambient air flow at low
ambient temperatures.
Results and experiences
In the following, all data relate to the period from 1
January 2011 to 1 January 2018. The home was
inhabited by a family of five, resulting in 32 m2 of
above-ground living area per person. This is less than
the German 2011 average living area per person of
42.7 m2, but more than the average for this type of
family of 25.7 m2 given by Statistisches Bundesamt
(2011).
Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1575

Fig. 12 Darmstadt, Germany: floor plan of ground floor and section E–W. Drawings: Georg Zielke

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1576 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Table 5 Darmstadt, Germany: building properties

Database ID* 1888

Building type/use Residential, end-of-terrace house
Location Darmstadt, Germany
Year of construction 2010
Architect Georg Zielke
Useful floor area (PHPP) 196 m2
Exterior walls U-value = 0.10 W/(m2 K)
Gypsum plaster, 175 mm limestone masonry, 300 mm Neopor (033), exterior plaster
Roof U-value = 0.11 W/(m2 K)
Gypsum board, 140 mm EPS (040), 240 mm mineral wool (035) between wooden rafters, roof
tiles
Floor slab U-value = 0.16 W/(m2 K)
Concrete slab on top of 240 mm XPS (041)
Windows UW = 0.70 W/(m2 K) (average, incl. thermal bridges)
Ug (EN 673) = 0.53 W/(m2 K), g (EN 410) = 52%
Wooden windows with insulation layer and exterior cladding from glass-fibre–reinforced plastic
Ventilation MVHR, 92% efficiency (PHI certificate)
n50 0.22 ACH
Heating/DHW/cooling systems Condensing gas boiler, buffer storage for DHW, hydronic heating system with radiators, drain
water heat recovery
Heating demand (PHPP) 12 kWh/(m2 year)
Cooling and dehumidification demand –
(PHPP)
Primary energy demand (PHPP) PE = 92 kWh/(m2 year)

*ID in the Passive House Database (Passive House Institute 2018)

Although hydronic radiators were installed in all
living rooms, the inhabitants mostly use only the radia-
tor in the living room on the ground floor. With the open
staircase and interior doors usually being left open, they
report the whole building to be comfortably warm in
winter.
The air quality is subjectively evaluated to be good,
and the average relative humidity in winter is approxi-
mately 40%.
The total gas consumption for heating, DHW and
cooking was 27.2 kWh/(m2 year) (reference: higher
heating value). The heat consumption for space heating
is approximately 10 kWh/(m2 year), including storage
losses in winter. It was calculated from the heat provided
by the boiler, the useful heat for DHW, and an estimate
for gas consumption for cooking.
There was a special solution in the project: The
DWHR resulted in a reduction of the total DHW
energy consumption drawn from the storage by
22%, although it is connected to the hot water
storage only, not to the shower’s cold water con-
nection (cf. also Schnieders 2014). The remaining
useful DHW energy consumption is a mere
5.4 kWh/(m2 year), as compared to a standard
value according to Feist (2015) of 13.3 kWh/
(m2 year). This is also caused by a combination
of low-flow showerheads, reduced circulation
losses, mixers with separate handles for hot and
cold water, and a general energy-conscious behav-
iour of the inhabitants. In Germany, washing ma-
chines and dishwashers are usually not connected
to the hot water system.
Summer comfort is achieved by the high thermal
mass of the building structure in combination with ex-
terior shading devices (Venetian blinds) on the east and
west façades. The occupants report that the interior
temperatures can be maintained comfortable (at approx.
25 °C) even during the hottest summer days, with typ-
ical annual maximum outdoor temperatures of 35 °C.
Mostly, it is sufficient to open the bathroom windows,
with 1 m2 opening area and located at 4.1 and 6.9 m
above ground, respectively, for removal of excess heat
during the night. Interior doors are left open in these
periods to make use of the stack effect.

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
Warm–temperate: China, Zhuozhou
Climate and location
Zhuozhou is located in the Beijing region in China. The
climate has cold winters and warm summers with
2 months of significantly high outside air humidity
(Fig. 13).
Building description
The Passive House office building and guest house in
Zhuozhou (Figs. 14 and 15, Table 6) was completed in
July 2015. The building was planned and realised by
Chinese companies with consulting provided by an Aus-
trian Passive House expert team; for more details, see
(Schöberl and Michulec, 2015). Monitoring data collected
during the first 2 years after construction were first pub-
lished by Kaufmann (2017).
As the construction had already started when the
decision to make the building a Passive House was
taken, some details in the design could not be fully
optimised. This includes thermal bridges at the founda-
tions and long duct runs between the ventilation heat
recovery and the entry into the thermal envelope.
The client required a radiant heating and cooling
system which was complemented by preconditioning
of the supply air, mainly for dehumidification purposes.
Results and experiences
A monitoring campaign of the building started in Ju-
ly 2015. As usual in new buildings, during the first year
of operation, the building services’ devices and setup
parameters were adjusted. In the following, the
Fig. 13 Climate data for Zhuozhou, China, 40° N. Diagrams: Passive House Institute
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
1577
monitoring results are discussed for the second year of
operation.
Temperatures and humidity in a typical room can be
seen in Fig. 16. Average temperatures in the building
during the winter 2016/2017 are approximately 23 °C.
The average temperatures in summer 2016 were about
25 °C and never exceeded 26 °C.
Similarly, the humidity ratio in summer was 11 g/kg
on average and rarely exceeded 14 g/kg, and the relative
humidity was usually below 70%. In winter, the average
relative humidity was 30%. Consequently, the users
reported satisfaction with the indoor conditions.
The results of the energy monitoring can be
summarised as follows: The overall energy consump-
tion in the office building was 22 kWh/(m2 year) for
heating during both winters and about 26 kWh/
(m2 year) for cooling during summer 2016.
In the PHPP calculation, the respective limits for Pas-
sive House buildings are 15 kWh/(m2 year) for heating
and 17 kWh/(m2 year) for cooling energy demand. As per
the building design, these requirements were met.
The increased heating energy consumption can be
explained by the following reasons:
& With only 11 kWh/(m2 year), the electricity use for
office appliances was significantly lower than for
typical office use. This was the case because many
office rooms in the building were not occupied at the
time of these measurements. In consequence, the
overall average internal heat gains including heat
from occupants and electricity were only 1.5 W/m2
and, thus, significantly lower than assumed during
the design process.
& The average indoor temperature in winter was
higher than 20 °C.
1578
Fig. 14 Zhuozhou, China. Photos: Kaufmann
& The main influence on heating energy consumption
is a longer daily and weekly operation of the venti-
lation system: the average air flow in/out was sig-
nificantly higher than planned, and the operation
time of the ventilation system (6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on
7 days a week) was significantly longer than as-
sumed previously.
& The overall performance of the ventilation system
was not as good as expected during the planning
phase.
& The monthly average outside temperatures at
Zhuozhou from September 2015 to September
2016 were about 1 to 2 K higher than previously
assumed in all months, but the measured solar radi-
ation from November to February was only 50% of
the original assumption.
Combining all these factors, the heating energy con-
sumption of the building in real operation is within the
error margins of an updated calculation.
Some of these issues, like the performance of the
ventilation system, are due to planning constraints in
this particular building and can be improved in future
projects. On the other hand, most of the deviations result
from operation, which could be improved implementing
better building management.
The difference in cooling energy consumption prob-
ably has similar reasons. A quantitative explanation is
difficult due to lack of important data, but less applica-
tion of the shading device, the higher ambient tempera-
tures, possible differences in solar radiation and internal
heat gains are expected to give rise to different boundary
conditions.
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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
To summarise, the extra consumption for heating and
cooling as compared to the PHPP calculation is moder-
ate, and the total consumption, compared to convention-
al buildings, is still extraordinarily low. The heat pumps
had a measured total electricity consumption of 23 kWh/
(m2 year) for heating and cooling, including standby
losses in the shoulder seasons.
Apart from heating and cooling energy, the con-
sumption of electricity for the central ventilation
systems shows a specific electric efficiency of
0.76 Wh/m3 for an average air flow of 5000 m3/
h (assuming an operation 7 days a week from
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.). Better results can be achieved
if the ventilation system is developed in conjunc-
tion with the building envelope design, in order to
achieve shorter and wider air ducts and wider air
outlets and thus lower overall pressure losses.
Some optimisations as reduction of air flow in
normal operation were carried out already, so that
the specific electricity consumption could be re-
duced during the first year.
Another important result of the monitoring is
shown in Fig. 17: The heating and cooling seasons
for both heat pumps are well separated from each
other by a ‘neutral’ period with no heating and
cooling at all. This validates other findings about
thermal behaviour of Passive House buildings: as
these are very well insulated, air-tight, and venti-
lation is done with heat recovery, they will only
slowly heat up or cool down, so there will never
be heating and cooling during the same day.
Therefore, in spring and autumn, when the daily
average outside temperature is within a
Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1579

Fig. 15 Zhuozhou, China: floor plan of first floor and section N–S. Drawings: Jianxue Architecture

comfortable range, a Passive House building will
not need any heating or cooling.
The general conclusion from the monitoring
campaign can be summarised as follows: The
building service equipment for cooling and dehu-
midification in summer and for heating in winter
is performing as designed. The users are satisfied
with the indoor comfort and the consumption of
energy for heating and cooling is slightly higher
than calculated, but within reasonable limits.
Warm: Greece, Papagou (Athens)
Climate and location
Athens has a Mediterranean climate that is mild but
requires both heating and cooling. Solar radiation on a
south façade in winter is approximately 100 kWh/m2 per
month, so that passive solar strategies can significantly
reduce the heating demand. Humidity levels in summer
can get close to the limits of the comfort zone.

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1580 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Table 6 Zhuozhou, China: building properties

Database ID* 4489

Building type/use Office building and adjacent guest house
Location Zhuozhou, China
Latitude 39.5° N
Year of construction 2015
Architect Jianxue Architecture
Useful floor area (PHPP) 2870 m2 (office)
Exterior walls U-value = 0.10/0.07 W/(m2 K)
5 mm outside rendering, 300 or 400 mm EPS layer, 250 mm porous concrete, inside plaster
Roof U-value = 0.07 W/(m2 K)
180 mm concrete, diffusion barrier, 450 mm EPS (032)
Floor slab U-value = 0.09 W/(m2 K)
100 mm concrete slab, stripe and point foundations, diffusion barrier, 350 mm EPS (032)
Windows UW = 0.82 W/(m2 K) (average, incl. thermal bridges)
Ug (EN 673) = 0.62 W/(m2 K), g (EN 410) = 54%
PVC frame with insulation layer, triple low-e glazing
Ventilation Central ventilation unit, 66% heat recovery including losses of cold pipes
n50 0.60 ACH
Heating/DHW/cooling systems Heat pump systems for heating, cooling, dehumidification and DHW using radiant heating/cooling
areas and air conditioning
Heating demand (PHPP) 11 kWh/(m2 year)
Cooling and dehumidification 12 kWh/(m2 year) sensible cooling + 5 kWh/(m2 year) latent cooling
demand (PHPP)
Primary energy demand (PHPP) PE = 74 kWh/(m2 year)

*ID in the Passive House Database (Passive House Institute 2018)

Athens is located in the warm climate zone, and it is
among the warmest locations of Europe (Fig. 18).
Building description
The project “Passivistas:theHouseProject” (Figs. 19 and
20, Table 7) is an energy upgrade and retrofit of a typical
single-family house of the 1960s in Athens according to
the Passivhaus (EnerPHit Plus) standard. The goal was
to minimise the need for conventional heating or air
conditioning.
The building is located at the municipality of Papagou
and was built back in 1964 on a 520-m2 corner plot, the
two façades looking northeast and southeast. It consisted

Fig. 16 Temperature, relative

humidity and humidity ratio of
indoor air in a typical office room,
March 2016 to February 2017.
Diagram: Passive House Institute

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
Fig. 17 Moving daily average of
electricity consumption of the
central heat pump for heating and
cooling. Heating and cooling
seasons are well separated, and
there is no overlap. Diagram:
Passive House Institute
of two units; a two-bedroom private residence on the
ground floor with 98.8 m2 gross floor area, and a separate
semi-basement storage/boiler room with 43.6 m2 gross
floor area; the latter was converted into an office.
The building’s useful floor area is 114.6 m2. For the
existing building, the following figures were calculated
in the PHPP, with an estimated airtightness n50 = 5
ACH, heating demand = 301 kWh/(m2 year), heating
load = 129 W/m 2 , cooling demand = 77 kWh/
(m2 year), and cooling load = 68 W/m2.
The existing high mass building (reinforced concrete
slabs and perforated brick walls) was completely unin-
sulated, with major thermal bridges all around its perim-
eter due to balconies and projecting structural elements.
It had wooden frame windows with single glazing.
All existing thermal bridges were designed in order
to have a minimum impact on the heating and cooling
demand; their new Ψ values were calculated according-
ly. The dimensions of the southern windows in the
kitchen and the bathroom were increased and all
Fig. 18 Climate data for Athens, Greece. Diagrams: Passive House Institute
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1581
windows were converted to single opening in order to
increase the glazing area.
All south–east, south–west and north–west windows
have automatically controlled roller blinds for tempo-
rary shading in summer. All windows—except for one
in the kitchen—can be opened or tilted for natural night
cross-ventilation in summer and have mosquito nets on
the outside.
Night ventilation with tilted windows to the north and
southeast is used for passive cooling. The subsoil heat
exchanger reduces the incoming air temperature down
to 25–27° in summer. A 2.5-kW inverter split unit,
installed in the living room, and another one in the office
actively cover the cooling demand.
The existing building was heated with oil and radia-
tors and a traditional fireplace and had three 2.5 kW split
units for cooling. All of these were demolished. New
HRV systems were installed, one for each unit (resi-
dence and office). For the residence, the normal air flow
is 100 m3/h. For the office, a bigger unit with 250 m3/h
1582
capacity was installed to account for the presence of
approximately 10 persons, e.g. during courses. The
residence unit is also coupled with a 30-m-long, 1.50-
m-deep subsoil heat exchanger.
Further details about the Passivistas building are
available from Buildup (2016), Pallantzas and Roditi
(2016) and Pallantzas and Pappas (2017).
Results and experiences
The cooling period
The proposed solution for cooling the building was to
install mini-splits, one on each level. The mini-split for
the residence was a 2-kW unit, the smallest unit that
could be found in the market, and was installed in the
living room (Fig. 21). The rated SEER of the unit is
8.53.
The results of the first cooling period showed that this
single unit was sufficient to cool the whole residence
without any problem. As shown in Fig. 22, the inside
temperature in both living room and bedroom was clear-
ly under 26 °C. The temperature in the bedroom was just
0.5 °C higher than in the living room.
During the first cooling period, a lot of experiments
were carried out in order to identify the best operation
mode and the optimum energy consumption. The resi-
dents often used the ‘silent mode’ of the unit, which
reduces its SEER; sometimes the ‘standard mode’ was
used. From the operation mode, the electricity consump-
tion and manufacturer data the useful cooling demand
was estimated and compared to the PHPP calculation
(Fig. 23).
When in silent mode, the unit had only half of its
nominal capacity, but this was still sufficient for the
Fig. 19 Papagou, Greece. Photos: Stefanos Pallantzas
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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
house. This point should be considered when sizing
the unit: The system should be able to cool the building
without unwanted noise, i.e. its capacity should be high
enough to cover the cooling load even in silent mode.
The heating period
In the first winter after the renovation, direct electric
heating elements were used for space heating. During
the second winter, the residents decided to also heat the
house using only the mini-split in the living room. The
idea was simple: if we could cool with one unit, then why
can we not heat with the same unit and reduce the electri-
cal consumption by at least 50%? Although this second
winter was clearly colder, the average temperature in the
living room was over 20.5 °C and never under 20 °C.
Comparing January 2016 with January 2017, Fig. 24
shows that, although it was colder, the indoor thermal
comfort, using the mini-split, was much better. The daily
average electricity consumption was more than 35%
reduced, from 14.8 to 9.4 kWh/day. Note that the mea-
sured consumption after refurbishment is reduced by
more than 95% compared with the original
unrefurbished building.
Warm: Spain, Barcelona
Climate and location
The Mediterranean coast of Spain is in the warm climate
zone. Figure 25 shows data based on a Barcelona cli-
mate data set used in the design period, where average
temperatures in July and August are about 26 °C. Recent
results indicate that summer temperatures may be 3 to
Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1583

Fig. 20 Papagou, Greece: floor plan of ground floor after retrofit and original section NE–SW. Source: Stefanos Pallantzas

4 K lower. Winters are moderately cold and humid, so Building description

active heating is still necessary for residential buildings.
The weather in Palau Plegamans (province of Barce-
lona) is similar to Barcelona, but the daily temperature
oscillation in summer is more pronounced, with typical
temperatures of 14 °C in the early morning hours. Lo-
cated at 41° North, high solar radiation is available
during the winter months.
The detached family house “Casa Pineda” in Palau
Plegamans (Figs. 26 and 27, Table 8) has one storey
and no basement floor. It is a lightweight building with a
wooden beam structure; the roof is covered with rear-
ventilated roof tiles. An EIFS with EPS insulation was
applied to the exterior walls on the northern and eastern

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1584 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Table 7 Papagou, Greece: building properties

Database ID* 4539

Building type/use Mixed (residence + office), detached single-family house
Location Papagou, Athens, Greece
Year of construction First construction 1964, retrofit 2015–2016
Architect Athanasia Roditi, Aggeliki Stathopoulou
Useful floor area (PHPP) 114.6 m2
Exterior walls U-value = 0.18 W/(m2 K)
Concrete load-bearing structure, infill with gypsum plaster, 200 mm perforated brick with 80 mm air
gap in the middle, 150 mm EPS (030), exterior plaster
Roof U-value = 0.10 W/(m2 K)
Interior plaster, 130 mm concrete slab, asphalt membrane, 300 mm EPS (031), asphalt membrane
Floor slab U-value = 0.48 W/(m2 K)
Concrete slab, old mosaic, 50 mm EPS (030)
Windows UW = 0.92 W/(m2 K) (average, incl. thermal bridges)
Ug (EN 673) = 0.55 W/(m2 K), g (EN 410) = 54%
Aluminium and PVC windows, triple glazing with argon filling
Ventilation MVHR, 93% efficiency (PHI certificate), for the residence; MVHR, 90% efficiency (PHI certificate),
for the office
n50 0.56 ACH
Heating/DHW/cooling systems 2 mini-split units (1 for the residence, 1 for the office) for heating/cooling, external buffer storage for
DHW covers 92% of the needs; 3.5 kW PV system on average covers the total consumption of the
building
Heating demand (PHPP) 12 kWh/(m2 year)
Cooling and dehumidification 12 kWh/(m2 year) sensible cooling + 0.5 kWh/(m2 year) latent cooling
demand (PHPP)
Primary energy demand (PHPP) PE = 93 kWh/(m2 year)

*ID in the Passive House Database (Passive House Institute 2018)

side; the other façades are finished with a wooden wood structure, not more expensive than the ‘tradition-
ventilated structure. The construction type is not very al’ construction system, based on burnt bricks.
usual in the Mediterranean region, even though, in Cat- The building is located in a suburban district. The L-
alonia, it is common to combine passive houses with shaped building is oriented towards the south, defining a

Fig. 21 Location of the split unit on the residential floor of the building. Source: Stefanos Pallantzas

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
Fig. 22 Measured temperatures during summer 2016. Diagram: Stefanos Pallantzas
homely open space in the garden (see photos). The main
openings are towards the south (50% of all windows), so
in winter, the solar gains due to windows are about 40%
higher than the transmission losses of the windows. For
the summer season, the PHPP has been set up with a
careful estimation of non-ideal use of the outside roller
blinds (see photos). In summer, therefore, the PHPP
calculates with 20–35% as a total solar reduction factor.
The users of the building, a couple of two persons, are
highly aware of energy-saving measures and probably
perform better than the calculation hypothesis.
Windows were installed on the inner side of the
walls. This solution has a high thermal bridge effect,
but in Mediterranean climate, it can be of interest when
lower solar gains in summer are desired. Moreover, this
solution has been constructively necessary to integrate
the traditional wooden roller blinds in the wall section.
Fig. 23 Measured useful cooling
consumption vs. PHPP
calculation (with adapted indoor
and ambient boundary
conditions), summer 2016.
Diagram: Passive House Institute
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1585
A special finite element calculation has been carried out
to ensure that there are no problems with respect to
thermal comfort or moisture in this detail.
The ground floor insulation (cellulose) is installed
above the concrete floor slab. This ensures a continuity
of the insulation layer, as the wall is a lightweight
wooden structure.
The client was very keen on simplifying the active
heating and cooling system. Therefore, a small wooden
stove has been installed in the living room, with one
additional, small electrical radiator for the bedroom
(only for the coldest days of the year). For summer
comfort, an active cooling system was required accord-
ing to the PHPP calculation (with Barcelona climate
set), but finally has not been used.
The DHW production is ensured by an air-to-water
heat pump using exterior air as a heat source, very
1586 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Fig. 24 Indoor and outdoor temperatures in January 2016 and 2017. Diagram: Stefanos Pallantzas

common in this kind of buildings in the Catalonian
coastal climate. Still, 40% of the real annual energy
consumption of the building has to be assigned to the
hot water production. Solar thermal panels are not
installed, so as to avoid higher maintenance costs.
Gas is not used for the building. Cooking is per-
formed with electricity.
The highly efficient MVHR distributes the air via the
suspended ceiling in the corridor. In the living room, the
ducts are installed in the wooden floor system (and

Fig. 25 Climate data for Barcelona, Spain, 42° N. Diagrams: Passive House Institute

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
partially in the walls). Frost protection for the heat
recovery is not needed.
Results and experiences
The main focus of the analysis of this case has been put
on the summer behaviour, as winter performance of
passive houses has largely been studied and proved to
be excellent. This building is run mainly by a wooden
stove and is consuming about 130 kg/year of firewood
for space heating (20 €/year for heating to 20 °C average
temperature).
The temperature in the building is being monitored
since 2014, reflecting very good summer behaviour. As
an example, Fig. 28 shows how interior temperatures
remain stable in a 2-week summer heat period, when the
outside temperature reaches 36°. The circles mark the
users’ natural ventilation behaviour in early morning
hours. The gap between the two rows of circles is the
night from Saturday to Sunday, where the users went out
for a weekend trip.
Summer comfort is achieved by appropriate user
behaviour: during daytime: closing exterior blinds re-
ducing mechanical ventilation; during nighttimes: tilting
windows and wide opening in the early morning hours.
It should be noted that, during the 2 days at the weekend
(in the centre of the graph), the building could maintain
comfortable temperatures (below 26 °C) inside, in spite
of the users being out of home and having all windows
closed. This was achieved although the building is a
lightweight construction with low thermal inertia and
there is no active cooling system.
The main problem for summer comfort in a coastal
Mediterranean climate is the high level of humidity. In
the case of “Casa Pineda”, as shown in Fig. 29, almost
Fig. 26 Barcelona, Spain. Photos: Micheel Wassouf
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1587
100% of the summer period relative humidity and inte-
rior temperatures are inside the comfort limits, meaning
that with an adequate user behaviour, it is possible to get
through summer with moderate discomfort even with-
out air conditioning. This good result has to be linked
with the location of the building, about 16 km away
from the coastline. The same building would have had
higher temperature and humidity if it had been located
directly in Barcelona City.
Warm: Taiwan (R.O.C.), Taipei
Climate and location
Taiwan has a cooling-dominated climate in a warm
climate zone. Average temperatures in January are
around 16 °C, while temperatures in summer are above
30 °C with high humidity, so active cooling and dehu-
midification for residential apartment buildings is very
common.
Taipei is in northern Taiwan, located in the centre of a
basin topography. The local microclimate is affected by
heat island effects (Fig. 30).
Building description
In this community, there are three apartment buildings.
The three apartment buildings are all 30-year-old
existing buildings with five above-ground storeys and
basements outside of the thermal envelope for parking.
The whole structure is made from concrete and the
internal partition walls are made from brick. In the
renovated Taipei EnerPHit project (Figs. 31 and 32,
Table 9), there are 20 dwelling units. Each unit has
two balconies which are facing south and north.
1588 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Fig. 27 Barcelona, Spain: floor plan of ground floor and section E–W. Drawings: Micheel Wassouf

Concrete construction and tile façade is the typical
building style in Taipei.
It is common to install insulation outside so as to
ensure insulation continuity and to have less thermal
bridges. However, due to the community committee
building rule of harmonious cladding, it is not allowed
to install the insulation on the external side of the ther-
mal envelope. So, on this demonstration unit model of
the Taipei EnerPHit project, 100 mm thermolock insu-
lation was applied to the inner side of the external wall.
The recycled newspaper-based insulation has a 0.038-
W/(m K) thermal conductivity performance. This is one
of the economic solutions for applying insulation for
this renovated project in a warm and humid climate
while also preventing the mould growth that otherwise
commonly occurs. From analysis with the PHPP, 100-
mm-thick insulation was suggested.
The building is located in an urban district, so there
are several surrounding buildings providing shading on
the eastern and southern sides. However, the western
side faces the open space of an elementary school;
therefore, there is a high level of solar radiation through
the window glazing on the west. The portion of glazing
in the thermal envelope is 18%. To reduce cooling
demands, there were the options to lower the g-value
or install fixed shading to reduce solar load; however,
while considering the budget and payback period, the
designers instead reduced the portion of glazing in the
thermal envelope to 15%. For the warm climate of
Taipei, a frame with a U-value between 1.2 and 1.5 W/

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1589

Table 8 Barcelona, Spain: building properties

Database ID* 4462

Building type/use Residential, detached family house “Casa Pineda”
Location Palau Plegamans/Barcelona, Spain
Year of construction 2013
Architect Eva Jordan & Energiehaus Arquitectos
Useful floor area (PHPP) 106 m2
Exterior walls U-value = 0.14 W/(m2 K)
Gypsum plaster, 125 mm wood beams with cellulose insulation, OSB (airtightness), 145 mm wood
beams with cellulose insulation, outer OSB panel, ventilated façade
Roof U-value = 0.12 W/(m2 K)
Gypsum board, OSB (airtightness), 185 mm cellulose insulation between wood rafters, outer OSB
panel, 140 mm EPS insulation, waterproof membrane, ventilated roof tiles
Floor slab U-value = 0.37 W/(m2 K)
Concrete slab, 94 mm cellulose insulation, OSB panel, wooden floor
Windows UW = 1.46 W/(m2 K) (average, incl. thermal bridges)
Ug (EN 673) = 1.10 W/(m2 K), g (EN 410) = 53%
Wooden window frames 88 mm, double low-e glazing with argon filling
Ventilation MVHR, 84% efficiency (PHI certificate)
n50 0.24 ACH
Heating/DHW/cooling systems Wood stove, air-to-water heat pump with exterior air for DHW
Heating demand (PHPP) 9 kWh/(m2 year)
Cooling and dehumidification 12 kWh/(m2 year) sensible cooling + 2 kWh/(m2 year) latent cooling
demand (PHPP)
Primary energy demand (PHPP) PE = 117 kWh/(m2 year)

*ID in the Passive House Database (Passive House Institute 2018)

(m2 K) with air-filled double low-e glazing was chosen
due to reasons such as cost effectiveness.
The MVHR system plays another key role in
this project because it offers very good air quality
indoors to make sure the carbon dioxide concen-
tration is always below 1000 ppm. For the hot and
humid climate, an ERV system is suitable. A
MVHR with 64% humidity recovery was chosen
as the main ventilation system, which could reduce
the dehumidification demand by 9 kWh/(m2 year).
Moreover, in the Taipei EnerPHit project, the ERV,
heat pump, fan coil and dehumidifier system were

Fig. 28 Measured temperatures from 12 to 26 July 2014. Diagram: Micheel Wassouf

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1590 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Fig. 29 Relation between indoor 85

temperatures (horizontal) and in-
door relative humidity during 80
summer 2014 (21st of June till
21st of September, excluding 75
3 weeks in August, where the user

Relative humidity [%]

has been out for vacation). The 70
black lines relate to the comfort
range defined by Schnieders 65
(2009), with good comfort condi-
tions below the continuous line 60
and acceptable comfort below the
dashed line. Diagram: Micheel 55
Wassouf
50

45

40
18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Temperature [°C]

combined so as to make the piping system simpler Results and experiences

and more compact. More importantly, the installa-
tion of a dehumidifier here can avoid overcooling
in the summer time as people usually turn on air
conditioning to control the humidity level.
To ensure the ventilation system works properly,
the airtightness requirement is crucial. Concrete is
a good airtightness material. An airtightness collar
and plaster were used to seal the gaps where there
is penetration from the water pipes, electricity
pipes and ventilation pipe. For the windows and
doors, a membrane strip is placed over the frame.
Finally, high-energy efficiency appliances and
lightbulbs are suggested to the client because it
further reduces internal heat gain. Even placing
washing machines in the balcony area can also
significantly lower down the cooling demand.
In the following, all data relates to the period from 1
January 2017 to 1 January 2018. The home was occu-
pied by three people, resulting in 28 m2 of living area
per person. This is above the average living area of
19.86 m2 per person in Taipei.
Although, in 2017, temperatures were extremely
high—daily maxima of 38.5 °C in Taipei for a couple
of weeks—the indoor temperature was always around
25–26 °C. Compared to the previous HVAC which is
based on supplying an air cooling system in each room,
the MVHR is combined with a heat pump to achieve the
target of having every room temperature differ no more
than 1 K from the setpoint.
The users report that the additional dehumidifier
successfully avoids overcooling in summer yet keeps

Fig. 30 Climate data for Taipei, Taiwan, 25° N. Diagrams: Passive House Institute

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
Fig. 31 Taipei, Taiwan: photo and location of building in the city. Source: BWK Green Architecture
the indoor humidity at an acceptable level. The air
quality is subjectively evaluated to be good.
However, the inhabitants did mention an acous-
tic issue, when the cooling system boosts the
recirculated air volume up to 200 or 300 m3/h
for cooling purposes. In that case, the ductwork
and the silencers, that are sufficient for the MVHR
in standard operation, appear to create noise that is
transmitted into the target rooms like the bedroom
and study room. As a consequence, the design of
such a system with respect to noise should take
the maximum designed air flow into account.
The total gas consumption for DHW and cooking
was 15 kWh/(m2 year). The heat consumption for space
heating is quite small as the internal temperature is set
up to 20 °C. The total electricity consumption, including
heating, cooling, dehumidification and all other electric-
ity, was 27 kWh/(m2 year).
Very hot: Mexico, Veracruz
Climate and location
Veracruz is classified as a very hot climate zone in
PHPP, a cooling-dominated climate. With average
monthly temperatures above 20 °C year round, there
are no heating requirements in this location, but cooling
and dehumidification are required throughout the year:
monthly average temperatures are above 24 °C from
March to November, and the monthly average humidity
ratio is above 12 g/kg for all months. Temperatures
above 30 °C can be reached in summer, together with
a relative humidity of 75% (Fig. 33).
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1591
Building description
The ARA Passive House project in Veracruz (Figs. 34
and 35, Table 10) is being developed as part of a pro-
gram by the Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal (2018) to
incentivise energy efficiency in the housing sector in
Mexico. As part of the program, existing house proto-
types were optimised to the Passive House standard.
The energy efficiency measures had to be implemented
without major changes to the original design, including
floor plan distribution, orientation, height and colours
and materials in the façades. Since the idea would be to
take this prototype and replicate it a number of times
within the housing complex, the calculation was made
with the worst case: the end-of-terrace house.
Each house has two storeys and no basement. Floor and
roof slabs are made of concrete with exterior insulation. The
concrete blocks, commonly used in Mexico for masonry
walls, were replaced with lightweight clay bricks with an
EIFS with XPS to achieve the U-values recommended for a
Passive House. Given the high humidity in the location, the
exterior plaster is meant to act as the airtight layer, with a
minimum thickness of 2.5 cm. At the same time, the XPS
layer in walls and roof acts as a vapour retarder.
The main façades are oriented to the west and east.
There are rows of similar houses at a distance of 32 m to
the west and in the adjacent plots for the other orienta-
tions. These adjacent existing houses are built to the
edges of their own plot, providing protection from direct
solar radiation. But, because the regulations in Mexico
call for a minimum separation between structures in
different plots to allow for deformations during earth-
quakes, the passive houses constitute a completely sep-
arate thermal envelope. Because of this situation, the
insulation in the walls located right beside already
1592 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Fig. 32 Taipei, Taiwan: floor plan of second floor and section with ventilation system. Drawings: BWK Green Architecture

existing houses had to be changed to the inside, causing
some additional thermal bridges.
Given the high cooling requirements, the main focus
was to decrease solar heat gains. This was achieved
through the use of reflective painting in walls and roof,
glazing with very high solar control (g-value of 28%),
reduction of the window surface and additional interior
shading during summer. Also, in such a small unit, the
use of the average household appliances available in the
Mexican market as described by the Passive House
Institute (2012) would have a great impact on the
cooling demand due to the high internal heat gains. By
installing a highly efficient refrigerator (average con-
sumption 0.86 kWh/day), the internal heat gains are
reduced by approximately 1 W/m2 and the cooling
demand by 6.8 kWh/(m2 year).
The sensible cooling demand is further reduced
by the use of a highly efficient ventilation unit with
heat recovery. The unit is located in one of the
bathrooms to reduce the exhaust and outdoor air

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1593

Table 9 Taipei, Taiwan: building properties

Database ID* 5265

Building type/use Residential, apartment building/Taipei EnerPHit project
Location Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Year of construction 2016
Architect Shih-Chieh Yeh
Useful floor area (PHPP) Total 1861 m2/1 dwelling unit 84 m2
Exterior walls U-value = 0.40 W/(m2 K)
Gypsum plasterboard, 100 mm thermolock insulation (recycled paper), 200 mm concrete, cement
screed, clay tiles
Roof U-value = 0.38 W/(m2 K)
200 mm concrete, 100 mm XPS insulation, cement screed, clay tiles
Ground U-value = 0.35 W/(m2 K)
Clay tiles, cement screed, 200 mm concrete, 100 mm XPS insulation
Windows UW = 1.34 W/(m2 K) (average, incl. thermal bridges)
Ug (EN 673) = 1.1 W/(m2 K), g (EN 410) = 30%
Aluminium frame with polyamide bar as thermal break, double solar protective glazing with argon
filling
Ventilation MVHR (92% heat recovery, 64% humidity recovery) combined with fan coil, heat pump and
dehumidifier
n50 0.95 ACH
Heating/DHW/cooling systems Tankless and individual pipe distribution DHW with condensing gas boiler. Heat pump for heating
and cooling
Heating demand (PHPP) 0 kWh/(m2 year)
Cooling and dehumidification demand 26 kWh/(m2 year) sensible cooling + 18 kWh/(m2 year) latent cooling
(PHPP)
Primary energy demand (PHPP) PE = 97 kWh/(m2 year)

*ID in the Passive House Database (Passive House Institute 2018)

ducts to the minimum length possible. The distrib-
uting ducts run through a false ceiling in the upper
floor, with no need of ducts in the ground floors.
But despite a 65% energy recovery from the MVHR
unit, latent cooling almost doubles the final cooling
demand of the house. Additional to the two mini-
split units, a small dehumidifier will be installed to
cover the dehumidification demand.
Gas is used for cooking and hot water production.
The DHW installation is based on individual pipes
connected to the (tankless) gas boiler, which in turn is
connected to a hot water tank heated by a solar collector.
This is a typical setup in the country to take advantage of
the high radiation available throughout the year and use
the gas boiler as a backup in the coldest months
(PROFECO 2016).

Fig. 33 Climate data for Veracruz, Mexico, 19° N. Diagrams: Passive House Institute

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1594 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

& The construction costs of the existing prototype

were around 300 EUR/m2 of useful floor area. Be-
cause it included no energy efficiency measures, and
components such as the MVHR unit and airtightness
products had to be imported, the additional invest-
ment costs will more than double the final cost of the
house; they are currently estimated at 400 EUR/m2.
Nevertheless, the calculations show that the addi-
tional investment would still be compensated by the
savings throughout the life cycle of the house.

The question of the applicability (and replicability) of

the Passive House standard in countries such as Mexico
Fig. 34 Veracruz, Mexico. Rendering courtesy of Consorcio is not whether the technical solutions for the different
ARA climates exist. Rather, the issue is whether these tech-
nologies can become readily available in the market and
whether the end user can afford the additional upfront
Results and experiences costs that such products entail.

At the time the paper was written, no results or user

experiences were available since the project is still in the
design stage. However, some expected results based on Very hot: United Arab Emirates, Dubai
the information available at present can be mentioned:
Climate and location
& When compared to the original prototype, the design
achieves a reduction of 84 and 85% in cooling and Dubai has a cooling-dominated climate in the very hot
primary energy demand, respectively. climate zone. Average temperatures in January are about

Fig. 35 Veracruz, Mexico: floor plan of ground floor and section E–W. Drawings courtesy of Consorcio ARA

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Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1595

Table 10 Veracruz, Mexico: building properties

Database ID* –
Building type/use Residential, terraced house
Location Veracruz, Mexico
Year of construction 2018
Architect Consorcio ARA
Useful floor area (PHPP) 69.6 m2
Exterior walls U-value = 0.25 W/(m2 K)
Interior plaster, 115 mm clay brick, 150 mm XPS, exterior plaster
Roof U-value = 0.28 W/(m2 K)
Gypsum plaster, 230 mm concrete slab with EPS blocks between prefabricated concrete joists,
50 mm XPS, waterproof layer
Floor slab U-value = 0.28 W/(m2 K)
120 mm concrete slab, 100 mm XPS
Windows UW = 1.73 W/(m2 K) (average, incl. thermal bridges)
Ug (EN 673) = 1.24 W/(m2 K), g (EN 410) = 28%
PVC window frames, double solar protective glazing with argon filling
Ventilation MVHR, 79% heat recovery, 64% energy recovery
n50 0.60 ACH (design value)
Heating/DHW/cooling systems No heating/condensing gas boiler for DHW/2 mini-split units for cooling
Heating demand (PHPP) 0 kWh/(m2 year)
Cooling and dehumidification 42 kWh/(m2 year) sensible cooling + 34 kWh/(m2 year) latent cooling
demand (PHPP)
Primary energy demand (PHPP) PE = 120 kWh/(m2 year)

*ID in the Passive House Database (Passive House Institute 2018)

20 °C. Traditional houses may sometimes need a little
heating in winter, while it is not uncommon to have
cooling systems operating all year long (Fig. 36).
Building description
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai
(Figs. 37 and 38, Table 11) is composed by two above-
ground floors, with a usable surface (as per PHPP calcu-
lation) of 411 m2 and a form factor (surface to volume
ratio) of 0.58. The site location is within the city of Dubai.
The location is not heavily affected by the heat island
effect, as it would be in downtown Dubai, since it is close
to unbuilt areas (Mushrif Park on one side and the desert
on the other side). The humidity content of the air is quite
important (up to 25 g/kg), but the relative distance from
the sea allows for some reduction from what could be
expected for a seafront building.
From an architectural point of view, the building
stands as a monolith, with its east and west views having

Fig. 36 Climate data for Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 25° N. Diagrams: Passive House Institute

Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

1596
almost no openings, a north view characterised by an
added external volume serving as vestibule room and a
south view that recalls the concept of the inner court,
typical of hot climate architectures. Almost all the win-
dows concentrate in the inner courtyard (roughly 65% of
the whole glazed area), that is protected from direct
sunlight by means of an external concrete wall and by
means of the photovoltaic (PV) field over the flat roof
which effectively acts as a shading device in the central
hours of the day. This permits to minimise solar gains
and this solar architecture design (or rather anti-solar
design) allows for low direct radiation loads with at the
same time the possibility to use natural diffuse light.
The building is realised with a timber structure, follow-
ing what is a well-known construction technology in cen-
tral Europe: the platform-frame technology. This choice
represents, however, a unicum in Dubai, and at first sight,
it could be seen as unusual, because a lightweight building
is not the first thing one thinks about in a hot climate.
Dubai’s climate is, however, different from a typical Med-
iterranean climate, in which day/night temperature excur-
sion makes it possible to ‘passively’ exploit load/unload
cycles of the internal thermal masses, thus reducing the
cooling energy consumption. On the contrary, in Dubai,
very often external thermo-hygrometrical conditions are
unfavourable all day long; in this case, internal thermal
masses cannot be passively unloaded: they need to be
actively kept under control in order to avoid surcharges.
A lightweight structure is thus not inappropriate.
Moreover, timber technology allowed for a huge part
of the building to be prefabricated, thus reducing site
activities and site times, which is very important for
workers in such an extreme climate. The client MBRSC
explicitly asked for a fast site: for this building, the site
time span was 100 days, from foundations to
commissioning.
The mechanical system is obviously focused on
cooling. Cold is generated by a water/water heat pump,
with an external dry cooler. The produced chilled water
has a design flow temperature of 7 °C, which guarantees
air condensation and thus allows to completely cover
latent load (being latent load often the higher portion of
the total cooling load). Latent load is treated in air/water
coils which are placed in the supply air ducts of the HRV
units. There are three, PH-certified, HRVs with static
sensible heat recovery (latent heat recovery was an
option but at that time no complete performance data
were available for such devices); flow rates have been
designed to fulfil PH requirements together with
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
ASHRAE 62.1 requirements. These coils are coupled
with a second, hot water–operated, coil—in case pure
dehumidification service is required.
The internal heat gains were analytically calculated,
using PHPP dedicated sheets, to a value of 2.8 W/m2,
which is lower than the standard office value of 3.5 W/
m2. For sufficient cooling capacity, additional fan coils
operating at 7 °C were installed.
At last, a radiant floor system was installed with a
design flow temperature of 20 °C, which is higher than
the usual design temperature of 15 °C. In fact, the
radiant floor is used to keep the screed cool enough
(roughly 23 °C). Radiant floor is thus a way to keep
masses under control rather than a real cooling system.
Having the floor at a controlled temperature, lower than
the setpoint temperature, allows for a lower mean radi-
ant temperature, thus enhancing the thermal comfort.
One important feature, though independent of Pas-
sive House requirements, is the recovery of the conden-
sate. Water drained from coils and HRVs is collected in
a 1000-l storage tank and then repumped inside the
building to feed toilet flushes. It is also used to period-
ically wash the sand away from the dry cooler. This is a
very important feature considering that there is no soft
water in Dubai, so that the use of mains water would
result in calcification; in the first 2 months of systems’
operation, 7000 l of water was recovered and reused.
The electrical system is based on a building au-
tomation architecture with HDL protocol. Other than
usual building automation functions, some distinc-
tive features have been designed in order to help
minimise internal heat gains pertaining to equipment
and lighting. In addition to the exclusive use of high
efficiency LED lighting, every working room is
equipped with a lux meter to adjust the intensity of
artificial lighting, based on the actual value of natu-
ral lighting. Moreover, venetian blinds are automat-
ically operated and are programmed to completely
shut down after working hours. In the same way,
after working hours, the building automation system
cuts off the power supply of electronic devices to
avoid any standby losses.
Looking at the electricity production, the building is
provided with a PV field composed by polycrystalline
silicon modules for a total power of 40 kW, coupled
with a 25-kWh electrical storage. The combination of
these two systems should allow for energy independen-
cy; this design result will be verified by the monitoring
system (Figs. 37 and 38, Table 11).
Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604
Fig. 37 United Arab Emirates,
Dubai. Photos: Casetta & Partners
Results and experiences
The building was commissioned in September/October
2016 and it has been used since then. There is a moni-
toring system that allows to verify a number of impor-
tant parameters, such as energy consumption, indoor
thermal behaviour and air quality (temperature, humid-
ity, CO2), PV field production and others. One result is
that the indoor temperature setpoint of 25 °C, as sug-
gested by the PHPP, is perceived as ‘too hot’ by the
occupants. Preliminary results show that the building is
operated at a temperature lower than 25 °C—usually
down to 22 °C (Fig. 39).
The typical day saw tooth profile is due to the inter-
mittent operation (systems are switched off after work-
ing hours) (Fig. 40).
The HRV system actively guarantees a good indoor
air quality, as it is capable of diluting the carbon dioxide
content below the limit for a good air quality, as can be
seen from Fig. 41.
Based on the results shown above and on the feed-
back from occupants, it can be said that the comfort is
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
1597
guaranteed in this pilot Passive House. At the time of
writing, no evaluations of the energy consumption were
available.
Conclusions
The Passive House is an ambitious, performance-based
energy efficiency standard with validity for all climates
of the world. Tools are available to do a thorough design
of any type of building in order to achieve the standard.
The paper presents nine examples of Passive House
realisations from the cold to the very hot climate zone. It
became clear that the Passive House standard was
realised by strongly differing means, depending on the
type of building, legal boundary conditions, the building
site, locally common construction types, design ideas of
the architects and the clients’ priorities. It can also be
concluded that building components of the desired ther-
mal qualities are not available everywhere in the world
yet. Particularly, highly insulating windows for cold
climates and MVHR systems are hard to find in some
1598 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Fig. 38 United Arab Emirates, Dubai: floor plan of ground floor and section S–N. Source: Casetta & Partners

places. In some of the examples shown, increased insu-
lation levels were used to compensate for unfavourable
access to solar radiation, moderate window quality or
adverse layout requirements. The task will be much
easier in the future, when all appropriate components
are available on all markets in a significant number, as it
is already the case for most European countries.
The airtightness criterion of n50 ≤ 0.6 ACH was sig-
nificantly over-achieved in most cases, showing that
such levels of airtightness can be realised in different
countries and with different construction type—even in
the very first building built by a construction team.
For many projects, practical post-occupancy experi-
ences were available: Typically, user satisfaction is high.
The energy consumptions are close to what would be
expected from the PHPP predictions, provided that ad-
justments to actual weather conditions and utilisation
patterns are made. Like in conventional construction,
the energy consumption tends to become stable only
after commissioning has been finished, so that data from

Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604 1599

Table 11 United Arab Emirates, Dubai: building properties

Database ID* 5065

Building type/use Non-residential, offices
Location Dubai, UAE
Year of construction 2016
Architect Casetta & Partners
Useful floor area (PHPP) 411 m2
Exterior walls U-value = 0.08 W/(m2 K)
Gypsum plaster, 150 mm stone wool (044), 200 mm stone wool (036) within timber frame, 180 mm
EPS (040), exterior plaster
Roof U-value = 0.08 W/(m2 K)
High SRI membrane, 200 mm XPS (034), 280 mm mineral wool (036) between wooden rafters,
gypsum plaster
Floor slab U-value = 0.108 W/(m2 K)
Concrete slab, 225 mm XPS (034), 155 mm perlite screed (090), screed and tiles
Windows UW = 0.89 W/(m2 K) (average, incl. thermal bridges)
Ug (EN 673) = 0.50 W/(m2 K), g (EN 410) = 28%
PVC and aluminium frames, triple solar protective glazing with krypton filling
Ventilation MVHR, 89% efficiency (PHI certificate)
n50 0.48 ACH
Heating/DHW/cooling systems Heat pump for cooling with recovery of the rejected heat for DHW and reheating coil (to be used for
dehumidification)
Heating demand (PHPP) 0 kWh/(m2 year)
Cooling and dehumidification 40 kWh/(m2 year) sensible cooling + 10 kWh/(m2 year) latent cooling
demand (PHPP)
Primary energy demand (PHPP) PE = 143 kWh/(m2 year)
PER = 73 kWh/(m2 year) fulfils PER criterion of 73 kWh/(m2 year)

*ID in the Passive House Database (Passive House Institute 2018)

Fig. 39 Room temperature of the work space on the ground floor during the year 2017. Diagram: Marco Filippi

Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

1600 Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Fig. 40 Daily temperature profile due to intermittent use (20 September 2017). Diagram: Marco Filippi

the second year of operation better represent the long-
term performance.
Comparing the energy consumption of the passive
houses with conventional buildings is of great interest.
For central Europe, as already mentioned in the “Intro-
duction”, savings of 80 to 90% heating energy have
been confirmed by field measurements. For other cli-
mates, this comparison is difficult because there are still
very few accurate monitoring results for passive houses
outside central Europe; a large number of dwelling units
are needed to average out variations due to user behav-
iour; consumption data of conventional buildings are
scarce; and factors such as the definition of floor areas,
building shape and orientation, and type of energy
carriers add further inaccuracy. Nevertheless, Table 12
attempts such a comparison. As a reference, data from

Fig. 41 CO2 content in an office room during the year 2017. Diagram: Marco Filippi

Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

 Table 12 Annual final energy consumption of standard buildings compared to the results of the passive houses, where available
Energy Efficiency (2020) 13:1561–1604

Location Region* Climate zone* Building type* Final energy Final energy Savings by Final energy Savings by
consumption consumption Passive consumption Passive
Passive existing House new House
House buildings* (%) buildings* (%)

USA, Hudson, WI NAM 2: only heating, high heating demand Rural residential single 10** 191 95 84 88
family
Germany, Darmstadt WEU 2: only heating, high heating demand Urban residential single 12*** 138 91 131 91
family
China, Zhuozhou CPA 17: heating and cooling and dehumidification Urban offices 23** 74 69 54 57
Greece, Papagou WEU 17: heating and cooling and dehumidification Urban residential single 13*** 101 87 73 82
family
Spain, Barcelona WEU 3: only heating, low and moderate heating Rural residential single 8*** 253 97 62 87
demand family
Taiwan (R.O.C.), PAS 16: cooling and dehumidification, low Urban residential 10**** 65 85 54 81
Taipei and moderate cooling demand multi-family

*Following GBPN (2019)

**Fairly accurate (± 1)
***Good estimate (± 3)
****Rough estimate (± 5)

Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

1601
1602
the GBPN (2019) that were collected by Ürge-Vorsatz
et al. (2012) were used. This data source contains spe-
cific final energy consumptions for heating and cooling
as a function of the building type, socio-economic re-
gion and climate for the whole world. The data are
compared to measured or estimated results that are
available for six of the passive houses presented in this
paper. The table shows that the passive houses achieved
energy savings of 60 to 90% as compared to conven-
tional new construction with the same utilisation, and
even more in comparison to the building stock.
In many cases, the desired temperature bandwidth
seems to be smaller than the 20–25 °C standard values
of the PHPP, which are based on ISO 7730. Adaptive
comfort standards, on the other hand, would accept an
even higher bandwidth for free-running buildings. Thus,
the PHPP values offer a good compromise for the as-
sessment of building designs.
Where passive cooling strategies were realised, the
buildings performed well, as they allow for minimised
external heat loads also in summer. The highly insulated
buildings seem to provide better summer comfort than
conventional counterparts. In hot climates, passive
houses also require an energy-efficient active air
conditioning.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no con-
flict of interest.
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