The Design of a Passive House

Abstract: About 25 % of the total buildings in the European Union have been categorized as ”old buildings”. Followed the recent strickt rules for carbon emissions reduction, each house has to approximetely cut 20 % of CO2 by 2020. Countries like England, have taken the issue very seriously and planning to reduce the carbon emissions by 30 % until the end of 2020 and by an extra 80 % by 2050 (Francis Moran, 2014). The aim of the report is to present how a traditional house can be retroffited into a passive house and also to identify the key points that every passive house should have. For the purpose of the project an avtual house, based in Gävle, was provided and all the simulations are based on actual data. The initial design of the house which was used for the simulation and the 3D design, was provided by the house owner. The building was built in 1953, information regarding the current insulation of the house was provided by the owner as well. For the simulations and the 3D design a software know as IDA ICE was used, license and access to the software were given by the University of Gävle. The report simulates the current house and compares the results with two possible scenarios that are reducing the energy demand of the house. Furthermore, the possible ways and tools that could be used to reduce the energy demand of the house and cost estimation for the retrofitting is available in the paper.The first simulations were occured on the actual house, the first retrofitting package introduces new simulations based on new insulation materials, like wood and cement, that are placed mainly on the roof and on the outer walls. Also, the thickness have changed, thus the new insulations are thicker.Moreover, the second and final retrofitting package, introduces an HVAC system, which is a standard system. The aim is to achieve further energy demand reductions and prove that simple and basic changes can improve the quality of living and reduce CO2 emissions.After the completition of the first analysis, a reduction equal to 60 % and after the addition of the HVAC a further 20 % reduction achieved.