The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) is an innovative and highly efficient tool designed for architects, engineers, and designers in the field of energy-efficient building planning. Originating in Germany, this tool has gained significant traction globally for its remarkable precision and effectiveness in ensuring buildings meet the Passive House standard. This is a rigorous voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building. Moreover, it leads directly to a reduced ecological footprint.

Passive House Concept

The Passive House concept is a revolutionary approach to building design, aiming to achieve ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling. This concept, initially developed in Germany in the early 1990s, has now become a global benchmark for energy efficiency in buildings.

The Passive House concept is significant because it represents a comprehensive approach to sustainable building design. By drastically reducing the energy demand for heating and cooling, these buildings play a crucial role in mitigating climate change. Moreover, the emphasis on comfort and indoor air quality ensures that these are not just sustainable, but also livable and healthy spaces. The Passive House design is a testament to how innovative engineering and thoughtful design can harmoniously create buildings that are both eco-friendly and comfortable for their occupants.

Concepts

1. Super Insulation: Heavily insulated buildings maintain a stable interior temperature. This significantly reduces the need for additional heating or cooling.
2. Airtight Construction: This means meticulously sealing every nook and cranny to prevent uncontrolled air leakage, thereby maintaining a consistent internal environment and reducing energy losses.
3. High-Performance Windows and Doors: Triple-glazed windows with insulated frames are common, as they play a key role in minimising heat loss.
4. Ventilation with Heat Recovery: These buildings employ mechanical ventilation systems with heat recovery. This system ensures a constant supply of fresh air. The heat recovery aspect then recycles the heat from the exhaust air to warm the incoming fresh air. Consequently, a comfortable indoor temperature with minimal energy use is maintained.
5. Thermal Bridge-Free Construction: Thermal bridging occurs when materials that are poor insulators come in contact, allowing heat to flow through the path of least resistance. Passive Houses minimise these thermal bridges, thereby reducing heat loss.
6. Optimised Solar Gains and Shading: During colder months, they capture and store solar heat, while in warmer months, shading techniques are used to prevent overheating.
7. Energy Efficiency in Appliances and Lighting: In addition to the building shell, Passive Houses also focus on energy efficiency in appliances and lighting.
8. Comfort: Despite the focus on energy efficiency, comfort is not compromised in a Passive House. The indoor climate is comfortable year-round, with consistent temperatures and high indoor air quality.

PHPP in building design

The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) is a pivotal tool in the realm of energy-efficient building design. Its comprehensive nature allows for detailed planning and analysis, ensuring that buildings not only achieve exceptional energy efficiency but also provide superior comfort and indoor air quality.

PHPP contains detailed input sheets that cover every aspect of building design. These sheets include information on thermal insulation, windows, ventilation, shading, building geometry, and internal and external heat gains. The granularity of these sheets allows for precise modelling of the building’s energy performance. Verification sheets are essential for ensuring that the design meets Passive House criteria, the verification sheets in PHPP are crucial for the certification process. They check whether the project complies with the specific energy targets and quality standards required for Passive House certification.

Detailed energy modelling

PHPP is an intricate modelling platform where every aspect of a building’s design is taken into account. This includes thermal insulation values, window and door specifications, ventilation strategies, and even thermal bridges. Such detailed modelling helps in predicting the building’s energy performance with high accuracy.

Climate-specific data application

Recognising that buildings react differently in varied climatic conditions, PHPP incorporates climate-specific data. This means designers can input regional weather data to ensure that the building’s design is optimally aligned with its environmental context.

Thermal comfort assessment

Beyond energy efficiency, PHPP assesses the thermal comfort levels within the building. It evaluates factors like temperature fluctuations, and the risk of overheating in summer, and ensures that the indoor environment remains comfortable throughout the year.

Thermal bridge calculation

PHPP includes a thermal bridge calculation tool, allowing designers to quantify and minimise thermal bridges, which are critical for reducing heat losses and avoiding condensation issues in the building envelope.

Ventilation design

PHPP plays a crucial role in designing the ventilation system. It helps in calculating the required airflow rates for adequate indoor air quality and determines how the ventilation system can contribute to heating and cooling efficiency through heat recovery.

Feasibility and cost-effectiveness analysis

By allowing designers to experiment with different design variations, materials, and technologies, PHPP helps in assessing the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of achieving the Passive House standard. It can guide critical decision-making in the early stages of design.

Optimisation of solar gains

PHPP assists in optimising the use of solar energy. It helps in determining the right size and placement of windows, as well as shading devices, to maximise solar gains in winter and minimise overheating during summer.

Certification facilitation

For a building to be certified as a Passive House, it must meet specific criteria. PHPP provides a structured and recognised framework for this certification process, ensuring that all necessary parameters are met and properly documented.

User-friendly interface for professionals

Despite its complex calculations and detailed analysis capabilities, PHPP is user-friendly for architects, engineers, and designers. This accessibility encourages wider adoption and integration into various projects.

Integrates renewable energy sources

In modern sustainable building designs, the integration of renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly important. PHPP includes functionalities to assess and integrate these sources. This includes solar photovoltaic and thermal systems.

Why use the Passive House Planning Package

The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) stands as a pivotal tool in sustainable building design, revered for its unmatched precision and accuracy. It excels in forecasting a building’s energy performance with meticulous detail, considering every facet of design and environment. This precision is crucial not just for adhering to Passive House standards. It is also for ensuring the long-term sustainability and efficiency of buildings.

PHPP empowers designers with the flexibility to experiment and optimise various design aspects like insulation, window placement, and ventilation. This flexibility is key in balancing energy efficiency with occupant comfort. Designers can tweak elements and immediately gauge the impact on energy performance, aiding in crafting effective and practical solutions.

A significant feature of PHPP is the integration of comprehensive climate data. This aligns building performance with geographical location and local climate. This ensures that designs are tailored to their specific environments, optimising performance year-round.

For projects targeting Passive House certification, PHPP is nearly indispensable. It provides a structured approach to meet stringent energy efficiency standards, essential for international certification.

Beyond energy metrics, PHPP prioritises the comfort and health of occupants. It accurately models internal temperatures and ventilation to maintain a comfortable and healthy indoor environment. PHPP also facilitates cost-effective decision-making. Precise energy modelling and optimisation, enable informed choices in material and system selection, potentially reducing both initial and operational costs.

Lastly, the sustainability and environmental impact of PHPP cannot be overstated. Its capability to predict and minimise energy consumption significantly reduces a building’s ecological footprint. This aspect is crucial in global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change, making buildings designed with PHPP a positive contribution to environmental sustainability.