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How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

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11–20 of 335 posts

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#11
It saddens me that construction quality is almost irrelevant when building a new building nowadays. The profit difference between a well-isolated passive building and one that merely meets the minimal standards, is often very small, so why bother building a passive building?

My personal interest in passive buildings generally revolve around maintenance. Passive houses seem to require far less maintenance.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#12
post #9
post #6

I'm in the middle of building a PassivHaus. The building itself is mostly done and we're working on the interior. There are still a few gaps that haven't been plugged and the heat exchangers have not yet been installed. I'm above 800m elevation, snowstorms every weekend. It's cold here. My house also actually faces West instead of South, so I'm not getting much heat from the sun. This was a surprise to use because th…

I'm looking into making a house sustainable right now and the windows are actually a point of contention. One side thinks super-high insulated (triple pane) windows are a waste of money, the other swears by them. Assuming the frame doesn't leak, does triple really make that much of a difference?

[deleted]

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#13
post #9
post #6

I'm in the middle of building a PassivHaus. The building itself is mostly done and we're working on the interior. There are still a few gaps that haven't been plugged and the heat exchangers have not yet been installed. I'm above 800m elevation, snowstorms every weekend. It's cold here. My house also actually faces West instead of South, so I'm not getting much heat from the sun. This was a surprise to use because th…

I'm looking into making a house sustainable right now and the windows are actually a point of contention. One side thinks super-high insulated (triple pane) windows are a waste of money, the other swears by them. Assuming the frame doesn't leak, does triple really make that much of a difference?

This depends on your house - heat tends to leak out through the lowest path of resistance so if you have a well-insulated house with leaky window, it would certainly be the case but without considering what the rest of the house is like, it would be impossible to tell how much they would help.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#14
post #9
post #6

I'm in the middle of building a PassivHaus. The building itself is mostly done and we're working on the interior. There are still a few gaps that haven't been plugged and the heat exchangers have not yet been installed. I'm above 800m elevation, snowstorms every weekend. It's cold here. My house also actually faces West instead of South, so I'm not getting much heat from the sun. This was a surprise to use because th…

I'm looking into making a house sustainable right now and the windows are actually a point of contention. One side thinks super-high insulated (triple pane) windows are a waste of money, the other swears by them. Assuming the frame doesn't leak, does triple really make that much of a difference?

For us it did. Estimated 2 degree Celsius on the inside during winter already make a big difference in comfort and how you will use the space in front of the windows.

Windows, walls, ceilings and so on have to match of course, our house is overall well insulated.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#15
I wish more municipalities would mandate tighter homes with good ventilation. Recently when searching for a new home it was so dishearting to see brand new developments where the homes had standard insulation, bad orientation for things like solar and passive heating and giant fossil fuel based heating systems instead of heat pumps. I decided to instead go the oppostie direction and buy a 1960’s split level that I am modernizing.

It’s been quite a challenge to retrofit, we really need to be building to a higher standard for new stock. While renewable energy is all the rage this rarely gets a mention.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#16
post #11

It saddens me that construction quality is almost irrelevant when building a new building nowadays. The profit difference between a well-isolated passive building and one that merely meets the minimal standards, is often very small, so why bother building a passive building? My personal interest in passive buildings generally revolve around maintenance. Passive houses seem to require far less maintenance.

>The profit difference between a well-isolated passive building and one that merely meets the minimal standards, is often very small, so why bother building a passive building?

People making decisions about which contractor to use (both for public and private projects) are often mandated to choose the absolute cheapest bidder, sometimes with the ability of choosing a different one if they file mountains of paperwork explaining why.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#17
post #9
post #6

I'm in the middle of building a PassivHaus. The building itself is mostly done and we're working on the interior. There are still a few gaps that haven't been plugged and the heat exchangers have not yet been installed. I'm above 800m elevation, snowstorms every weekend. It's cold here. My house also actually faces West instead of South, so I'm not getting much heat from the sun. This was a surprise to use because th…

I'm looking into making a house sustainable right now and the windows are actually a point of contention. One side thinks super-high insulated (triple pane) windows are a waste of money, the other swears by them. Assuming the frame doesn't leak, does triple really make that much of a difference?

Depends on your climate and the heat differential between inside and outside. Triple glazing is effectively double the R-value of double glazing, so in a cold climate yeah..

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#18
post #5

Its all very well using environmental energy sources to heat and cool a building, but very little attention is given over to clearing the air. Besides the pollutants from cleaning products and product breakdown, CO2 levels inside a building can have a stimulating effect on the body, which kind of destroys the purpose of a relaxation of a home.

The passive house standard requires mechnical ventilation using heat exchangers to minimize energy loss. http://tepperarchitects.com/?p=522

Yeah but what is a healthy Air Changes per Hour (ACH)?

The building regs here in the UK are a bit all over the place, I had to direct some questions to the local authority planning dept because their legislation was like a poorly written computer program and they couldnt answer the questions.

The legislation doesnt quantify the risks properly imo, at least here in the UK.

Re: How to build homes with virtually no heating (2020)

#19
post #9
post #6

I'm in the middle of building a PassivHaus. The building itself is mostly done and we're working on the interior. There are still a few gaps that haven't been plugged and the heat exchangers have not yet been installed. I'm above 800m elevation, snowstorms every weekend. It's cold here. My house also actually faces West instead of South, so I'm not getting much heat from the sun. This was a surprise to use because th…

I'm looking into making a house sustainable right now and the windows are actually a point of contention. One side thinks super-high insulated (triple pane) windows are a waste of money, the other swears by them. Assuming the frame doesn't leak, does triple really make that much of a difference?

Get yourself a FLIR (the phone attached ones are not that expensive) and check for yourself. It is a great tool.
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