Passive House Standard

Passive House Standard Concept

Originating from Germany under the term Passivhaus, Passive House Standard has been synonymous with energy-efficient and energy-conservation buildings. Its focus is on using minimal energy without compromising the functionality of your home. Of prime importance in achieving this is the quality of construction materials and engineering principles such as airtightness and superinsulation that finds a way from the planning process.

With the help of our MEP engineers, you can optimize your building and realize the benefits of a Passive House Standard. Passive House Standard is characterized by comfort, energy-efficiency, eco-friendliness, and quality. This quality includes indoor air quality and durability of passive house components. Our engineers have mastered the art of passive house design principles.

Why Consider the Passive House Standard?

Notably, conventional houses incur exorbitant energy costs which increase yearly. This can be a burden to most homeowners, particularly the low-income earners. Passive House Standard helps keep your costs down from the design to the operations and maintenance.

Passive House Standard advocates for low-energy consumption. You will achieve this through superinsulation of your house, properly-designed windows and doors, and meticulous selection of low-energy-consuming appliances.

There is no much of the difference in the functionality between conventional houses and passive buildings. Passive buildings, on the other hand, are built with the aim of optimizing energy usage.

If you want to reduce your carbon footprint that is attributable to conventional heating, cooking, and cooling, among others, then this standard is an important consideration for you. Buildings contribute enormously to the emission of greenhouse gases while various stakeholders are holding hands to curb these emissions. To join the initiatives, you will notice that concepts such as passive buildings play an integral role.

Passive House Standard is in the same room as other green building strategies such as net-zero energy and LEED. They can significantly save you lots of money in the long run. It may be quite expensive at the start but, down the line, you will reap more benefits.

If you consider reselling your home, you may attract a higher property value if the house conforms to the standard. Potential buyers will know that the house is characterized by quality indoor air, comfort and energy efficiency. Who would inherit costly buildings anyway? Of course no one. Let our engineers help you ready your property for possible resale in the future.

Even more, responsible tenants would like to assess the indoor air quality and overall energy consumption. If you are looking forward to leasing the property, then the Passive House Standard could be the best consideration for you. It gives aspiring tenants about the comfort, quality and ecological potential of your building.

In some instances, you may enjoy tax incentives when you engage in energy conservation methods. Passive house buildings meet the criteria of energy conservation methods. Nearby Engineers New York Engineers can help you achieve that.

What really distinguishes a house that meets the Passive House Standard from other ordinary buildings? A passive house is not a brand name but rather a construction concept that promotes comfort, energy efficiency, and quality among others. The standard promotes environmental health and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

A Passive House is characterized by the following:

Quality ventilation system: the quality of the ventilation system is gauged by its ability to constantly supply fresh air thus giving tenants a great deal of respiration. Such a constant supply of pure air prevents unpleasant draughts and improves health conditions. It will make your house livable and enjoyable.
A higher level of comfort: heat is well regulated and the house is well insulated to enhance comfort. If you have renewable energy sources such as solar panels, a passive building will optimize that. You will then enjoy all sorts of climatic conditions.
Energy savings up to 90%: perhaps the single most important feature of the Passive House Standard is energy saving up to 90%. Surveys and tests were done to verify energy savings with current owners of passive buildings. Indeed they enjoy massive energy savings. You can’t miss out on this benefit. Our engineers can show you how to save significantly with the standard.
Great insulation: we do not use ordinary windows and doors in passive buildings. Instead, we ensure that we select proper windows renowned for their excellence in insulation. The idea is to achieve the best airtightness in your building envelopes. This ensures that no heat loss or air entry that can prompt the use of supplementary heat sources.
Environmental health and sustainability: because Passive House promotes the use of renewable energies while cutting the reliance on conventional energy sources, it is environmentally friendly. No damages to the environment nor are there greenhouse gas emissions. It is therefore eco-friendly and sustainable. Anyone caring for the environment would certainly consider this standard. Our engineers are always at reach to help you realize your dreams of energy efficiency.
Affordability: Passive House buildings are remarkably affordable. Although you might have to pop out more to invest in high quality components at first, the elimination of conventional cooling, cooking and heating systems will save you lots of dollars over a long term. Investing in a Passive House Standard is a decision worth taking.

Proof of Passive House Standard Compliance

How do you show investors or tenants that your building is Passive House compliant? That is where we come in as MEP Engineers to help you obtain the certification. Complying with the standard is a process that you might found cumbersome, especially if you have no experience. We can walk with you every step of the way to obtain the certification.

To comply with the standard, you have to start with the design. From the planning, we can ensure that you meet all the technical criteria required by the standard. For instance, there are limitations on the amount of primary energy that your building should use. The demand for cooling and heating also has limitations. Our engineers are well-versed with such limitations. We can therefore help you reach them.

The design has to be integrative of design principles promoted by the Passive House Standard. From the windows (double or triple panes), doors, ceilings, floors, and other components have to conform to the construction principles. Unless you meet the criteria completely, your building will not qualify for certification.

The process becomes an absolute breeze when you receive technical expertise from professional engineers. Nearby Engineers New York Engineers professionals have been in the industry for a long time. For this reason, we assure you the best technical expertise to help you achieve the standard in a short period of time.

Although the preparation for the certification starts early, you can only apply you have completed the construction. Passive House Institute will then review your building and all its components to check if it meets the criteria. With our engineers, you don’t have to worry because our technical expertise has been put to a test in our previous clients. We’ve helped many obtain the certification.

Is the Passive House Standard too costly?

If many homeowners knew how cost-effective a Passive House Building is, they would surely opt for it over traditional buildings that consume an enormous amount of energy. The first cost consideration is a building design that conforms to Passive House criteria. Nearby Engineers New York Engineers architects and engineers can design an unmatched building design in accordance with the set criteria at affordable costs. Our motto is to always eliminate unnecessary costs and never over-engineer your design.

Offering designs at affordable costs does not compromise their quality or any of the components. In fact, we perform much better than our competitors. We complete designs at a quick turnaround.

Other costs include the purchase of quality components. If need be, consider solar panels, triple pane windows, doors, and ceilings. These may be costly at first but will save you lots of costs in the long run. We can help you select relevant materials suitable to meet the standard as it is characterized by comfort, quality, and energy-efficiency.

Our engineers will help remodel energy and make the necessary calculations in choosing ideal appliances. We are guided by the maximum energy consumption required by the standard for cooling and heating. Owing to extensive experience in the industry, our engineers are always accurate in these calculations in a quest to save you money.

Unlike traditional houses that demand higher operation and maintenance costs, Passive Buildings are affordable. That is where you will receive substantially in the long term hence our reiteration that these buildings are fairly affordable.

If your building has not been built according to Passive House Criteria you can still achieve that. Our engineers can help retrofit it accordingly. Passive building benefits are great not to consider for new and existing buildings.

Although existing buildings may not be as effective or easy as new constructions that have the principles integrated from the planning process, they can still help you reap great benefits compared to conventional buildings. We will have to remodel your energy consumption and redesign the building components. With our engineers, the refurbishment process will be an absolute breeze.

In a quest to meet the standard criteria, we keep in mind the fundamentals of Passive House Standard: comfort, quality, and energy-efficiency. That said, we may have to re-purchase appliances and get rid of old appliances that have cost you lots of money. You will then enjoy significantly reduced energy bills and operation and maintenance costs.

Is Passive House Standard Compulsory?

Given the benefits of the Passive House Standard, you would think it is enforceable by governments. Well, it is not mandatory to employ the principles of Passive House Criteria. However, you would lose a lot to overlook the benefits of this standard.

Passive Buildings are recommended for homeowners to save massively. Conventional buildings that rely on fossil-fuel energies tend to consume huge amounts of energy. As a result, you suffer from energy bills plus operation and maintenance costs.

When climates change, you have to adjust accordingly and use more energy for cooling or heating. Oftentimes, buildings are seldom airtight and this leads to more energy used to compensate for massive air sneaking into the building during cold climates. A Passive House Building promotes airtightness and so you are less likely to encounter such problems. As a result, you save energy costs.

Although it is not mandatory to conform to the standard, Nearby Engineers New York Engineers encourages homeowners to consider the standard. It will help enhance the comfort, quality, and energy-efficiency of their buildings. Moreover, it will help increase their property value for prospective buyers. Our MEP designs certainly meet the criteria prescribed for this standard. That being said, our technical expertise can help you obtain passive house certification in a short period of time.

Why Choose NY Engineers?

Need we emphasize more our capabilities? Being in the industry for a long time has equipped our engineers with rare skills to meet Passive House criteria in our designs. Our engineers outdo themselves in the designs as revered by plenty of homeowners.

Our designs are unmatched. We integrate all the principles to ensure maximum comfort, indoor air quality, and energy efficiency. This has gifted us with repeat customers owing to our expertise in the designs.

Furthermore, our designs are characterized by low costs without compromising their quality. We are 50% faster than our competitors. Many clients in Chicago can attest to that.

Choosing us is the best decision to take because we can help you meet this standard in a short period of time. Whether you have a new building or an existing building, our engineers are the best in all applications. For new constructions, we will help you from the planning process to design and construction. Passive House Standard requires technical expertise because you will not be awarded the certification if any of the criteria is missing.