{"id":965,"date":"2010-04-08T00:41:44","date_gmt":"2010-04-08T00:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chocobeam.me\/playground\/2010\/04\/passive-dream\/"},"modified":"2010-04-08T00:41:44","modified_gmt":"2010-04-08T00:41:44","slug":"passive-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/har0ld.com\/playground\/2010\/04\/passive-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"Passive Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><font face=\"Arial\">   <\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s not a day without thinking about building a passive house. The number of benefits from having a passive house (PH) is just the key and the answer to a shitload of problems, like global warming. It\u2019s available right now.<\/p>\n<p>The principle is simple: best insulation possible so that you don\u2019t need classic heating system because machines and humans are enough to heat a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Superinsulation\" target=\"_blank\">superinsulated<\/a> room. Also, trying to get the maximum <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Passive_solar_design\" target=\"_blank\">out of the sun with big and wide exposure to the south<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Passive House Scheme\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/18828270@N00\/4498416692\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Passive House Scheme\" src=\"http:\/\/static.flickr.com\/4062\/4498416692_18830a61f9.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"443\" \/><\/a>       <br \/><em>Get the point?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Numbers? Well Wikipedia says it all:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>This is between 75 and 95% less energy for space heating and cooling than current new buildings that meet today&#8217;s US energy efficiency codes. The Passivhaus in the German-language camp of <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Waldsee_(camp)\"><em>Waldsee<\/em><\/a><em>, Minnesota uses 85% less energy than a house built to Minnesota building codes.<sup><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/#cite_note-24\">[25]<\/a><\/sup><\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>In the <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/United_Kingdom\"><em>United Kingdom<\/em><\/a><em>, an average new house built to the Passive House standard would use 77% less energy for space heating, compared to the <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Energy_efficiency_in_British_housing\"><em>Building Regulations<\/em><\/a><em>.<sup><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/#cite_note-25\">[26]<\/a><\/sup><\/em> <\/li>\n<li><em>In <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ireland\"><em>Ireland<\/em><\/a><em>, it is calculated that a typical house built to the Passive House standard instead of the 2002 Building Regulations would consume 85% less energy for space heating and cut space-heating related <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carbon_emissions\"><em>carbon emissions<\/em><\/a><em> by 94%.<\/em> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When you think that the majority of carbon emissions come from housing more than anything else, you understand how much this PH is important to the world. <\/p>\n<p>We just need to be effing efficient and Planet Earth will be fine.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Seifert House by Michael Shamiyeh Architect\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/18828270@N00\/4498352275\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Seifert House by Michael Shamiyeh Architect\" src=\"http:\/\/static.flickr.com\/4027\/4498352275_dfd3ddfa35.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"451\" \/><\/a>       <br \/><em>More at <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.archdaily.com\/1182\/seifert-house-bau-kultur\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>ArchDaily<\/em><\/a><em>. (photos by <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.paul-ott.at\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Paul Ott<\/em><\/a><em>)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Anyway, the important thing in PH is insulation. Insulation is complex and you must think <em>\u201cwait, it costs a lot and it\u2019s full of chemical stuff so PH being 100% clean, my ass\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You are wrong. Introducing to you the best insulation product ever. It\u2019s 100% natural. It grows anywhere with no need of pesticides or fertilizers. After a natural treatment (mixed with lime), it doesn\u2019t burn, nor can be eat by animals or bugs. Oh, and it\u2019s water-resistant of course. Did I say that it was also an excellent acoustic protection?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s call HEMP. <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hemp#Countries_that_produce_hemp\" target=\"_blank\">Which is illegal<\/a> in the US of course, it would destroy so many businesses. Also, Monsanto doesn\u2019t have the patent on that shit and never will so they\u2019d rather ban it. US people, time to wake up.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, what are the benefits of the PH in terms of Quality of Life? They are numerous:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Inside temperature is homogeneous; it is impossible to have single rooms (e.g. the sleeping rooms) at a different temperature from the rest of the house. <\/li>\n<li>Since there are no radiators, there is more space on the rooms&#8217; walls. <\/li>\n<li>The air is fresh, and very clean. <\/li>\n<li>A 100\u20ac\/year of heating bill, even with bad ass winter is totally achievable. <\/li>\n<li>You need a third of the time you need to build a classic house. It\u2019s 66% faster to live in the house you are building if you want: a PH for 4 people can be build in 4 months. <\/li>\n<li>Construction cost used to be around 14% more expensive upfront than conventional buildings but in Germany the cost is already equivalent. And if you\u2019re aiming for a lot of wood instead of cement and choose hemp insulation over the conventional polyurethane and chemical ones, it gets dirt cheap (Paris price is around 7 000\u20ac\/m\u00b2 when you can build a PH for less than 2 000\/m\u00b2). <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The bad things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It doesn\u2019t work well in a tropical climate. <\/li>\n<li>The house becomes a system. Therefore you need to tweak it from time to time (having plants so the air doesn\u2019t get too dry, verifying ventilation systems and make them efficient all along the year, etc). <\/li>\n<li>Because you need to minimize the number of surface exposed to the outside, PH are by design meant to be as square and tight as possible. The more the house is spread out, the harder it gets to regulate heat\/cool. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a title=\"Seifert House by Michael Shamiyeh Architect\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/18828270@N00\/4498352645\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Seifert House by Michael Shamiyeh Architect\" src=\"http:\/\/static.flickr.com\/2804\/4498352645_0c7a6c3cb7.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"470\" \/><\/a>       <br \/><em>Do. Want.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t know what to aim for if I was thinking building a home. Now I do.<\/p>\n<p> <\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s not a day without thinking about building a passive house. The number of benefits from having a passive house (PH) is just the key and the answer to a shitload of problems, like global warming. It\u2019s available right now. The principle is simple: best insulation possible so that you don\u2019t need classic heating system [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/har0ld.com\/playground\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/har0ld.com\/playground\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/har0ld.com\/playground\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/har0ld.com\/playground\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/har0ld.com\/playground\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/har0ld.com\/playground\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/har0ld.com\/playground\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/har0ld.com\/playground\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/har0ld.com\/playground\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}