Designing a Passive House
Hi all, my company has been chosen to design and build a certified Passive House in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. We have pretty much been given carte blanche for the design so long as it hits our target as cost-efficiently as possible. With that in mind, I thought I would see if any of you had any thoughts or ideas on how best to proceed. It could be floorplan suggestions, window options, appliances, wall stack up…anything really.
Some background: -32c design temperature and 5800HDD; 66’x130′ lot in the village where the 66′ runs east-west; ~1824sf on 912sf slab on grade, probably 24’x38′ true rectangle; Zehnder HRV; Mitsubishi ASHP ductless mini split. Oh, and hoping to use a pre-fab panelized structure. We are also considering using the Legalett foam system for the slab.
Thanks in advance
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Replies
Does your firm employ architects? You will need to have a qualified architect work with a certified Passive House consultant to get the design down. Running WUFI will be mandatory to get everything where it should be design wise.
Architect working with PH consultant who is well-versed in WUFI is where I would start.
Erik,
According to your comments, you will be the designer of the home. If you plan to design a Passivhaus building, the first step is to be trained in the use of PHPP. The training generally takes 4 or 5 days.
Are you entertaining using the Legalett floors for the suspended deck also ? Maybe you'd like to ask them about their heated slab option , it is done with air and release about 1* per 12 hour period . Depending upon floor plan this may allow the use of a single ASHP used for cooling only and a bit of redundancy . That unit could be placed on the upper level , since the home will be passive it should work quite well to cool the space if needed at all with average high temps throughout the region in the mid 70s . Then again the Zehnder fitted with the Enthalpy recovery may be all you require . Quite the design feature when folks don't have to worry about ugly grilles , evaporators in multiple locations and you can't beat radiant comfort .
Erik, Serious post?
On the lighter side of Life, how many passive house consultants does it take to screw in a light bulb?
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