Passivhaus is Coming

31 October 2019

On Tuesday our Associate Chris Swinburn who is a certified Passivhaus consultant attended the UK Passivhaus Conference 2019. The annual conference, this year held in Manchester, was put on by the Passivhaus Trust and hosted a wide range of speakers with significant experience of delivering Passivhaus buildings; from single house dwellings to skyscrapers.

 

His key takeaways from the event were:

• – The UK government has committed to net zero carbon by 2050, but many in the construction industry are proposing this needs to happen by 2030

 

• – There is increasing understanding at policy level that our current approach to building performance is failing

 

• – Currently Passivhaus is the only standard delivering buildings that can get close to zero carbon. This is based on measured data from a range of Passivhaus buildings (see here)

 

• – We could therefore expect to that over the next few years Passivhaus will become mainstream, and even the norm

 

• – Renewables including heat pumps and solar PV are also crucial to meeting demands with low carbon energy. Gas boilers must become a thing of the past ASAP

 

Key considerations for QODA and our clients:

• – Consider Passivhaus as a key way of delivering low-carbon buildings

 

• – Heat Pumps and Solar PV will need consideration on most projects

 

• – Analysis of Whole Life Carbon to address embodied carbon of buildings and systems