What is Passive Housing?

First off, what is a passive house?

Passive housing is

It is a construction concept that involves building a truly energy efficient, comfortable, affordable and ecological home. More than that, passive house buildings allow for heating and cooling related energy savings of up to 90% compared with typical builds and over 75% more than typical new builds.

Passive House buildings are also well-known for their high level of comfort. They use energy sources inside the building such as the body heat from the residents or solar heat entering the building – making heating a lot easier.

By choosing appropriate windows with good insulation and building the shell of the house with good insulation, it will keep the floor warmer during winter and keep the heat out during summer. With good insulation it’s important to also include an appropriate ventilation system that won’t retract from all that insulation you’ve just invested in. A ventilation system will consistently supply fresh air making for superior air quality without causing any unpleasant draughts. 

How much more will it cost?

When it comes to passive house construction, Australia is still in its baby shoes. Even though there have been quite a few homes certified or built according to the passive house principles, there isn’t much data yet available about the build cost. On top of that, everyone is still trying to figure out the most effective building methods. There is still a lot of trial and error happening. 

In many of the passive houses we’ve built/seen that extra features have only increased the building costs by about 14 per cent. This puts the energy saving features well within reach of most home builders.

However, there are a few select things that will impact the total cost.

• Size of home
  Actual house area, size of driveway, outdoor living, decking, paving etc.

• Site access
  Easy or difficult site, sloped or flat site, inner city – tight sites

• Complexity of the design
  This has nothing to do with the size of the home, but whether the design and layout is straightforward or has intricate / complex build elements e.g. large windows or tall ceilings.

• Level of finishes and materials
  Using off the shelf products, standard colours and materials versus custom made

• Construction materials
  Off the shelf products rather than custom made. Some builders might also charge more if they are not familiar with a product

All-in-all a passive house is a sustainable construction concept that provides for affordable, high-quality buildings as well as comfortable, healthy living conditions. If you’ve been considering passive design for your home, get in touch with our team at Above Building, we'll be happy to include passive solutions in our quote.