Passive Housing
Passive Housing is a building standard. It is essentially a house with an extremely low level of energy consumption. A passive house uses resources such as solar energy and insulation to power your home. This means that your home will use hardly any energy and your heating bills will be extremely low compared to non-passive homes. Contrary to popular belief, building a passive home is not as expensive as you might think, on average about 10% – 15% more than a typical standard home. When you compare this against the cost of your energy bills, this makes sense financially.
Enda Linnane Construction have attended courses and are fully qualified to design and implement the passive house systems. We deal with clients at the initial stages of planning to set out the passive home requirements. There are certain levels of efficiency that must be achieved before it can be certified as a passive home. We can upgrade older properties, however, this is much more common on older buildings. We can also work on extensions to achieve this level of energy efficiency. There are now parts of Dublin where you must build a passive home in order to achieve planning permission. This will inevitably mean that more and more areas and counties will follow suit.
SAVE HUGE MONEY ON YOUR ENERGY BILLS WITH A PASSIVE HOME
What is different in a Passive Home?
Insulation / Superinsulation
Passive Homes have a much higher level of insulation (often called superinsulation) than traditional housing. Insulation is included in floors, walls & attic to reduce the loss of heat. This can mean that walls are very thick, so this would be factored into the overall design of the home.
Windows
We achieve passive home standards with exceptional A rated triple glazed windows. Window frames are also very well insulated, so that you lose as little heat as is possible.
Ventilation
Adequate ventilation is extremely important. A passive home will use a heat exchanger to ensure that warm air is not wasted. We really do make use of every bit of energy possible, with a view to using as little as possible. This system is not only efficient, but is also allows for comfortable temperatures in summer and winter.
Heating
Heating can be got from solar panels, however in a passive home, it is also used from things like lighting and appliance like fridges and so on. This eliminates the need to have a normal or conventional heating system in the home, however this can be accommodated if requested by the client.
Lighting
All lighting and appliances are energy efficient, using power from the sun and renewable energy sources. Low voltage systems keeps energy consumption down and saves you on your energy bills.
