[OKC] No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in Passive Houses

[Shauna Struby]

December 27, 2008

The Energy Challenge


No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in 'Passive Houses' 


By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
<http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=ELISABETH%20ROSENTHAL&fd
q=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=ELISABETH%20ROSENTHAL&inline=nyt-per> 

DARMSTADT, Germany - From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the
stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with
wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing
drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There
are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the
furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace. 

In Berthold Kaufmann's home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for
emergency backup in the living room - but it is not in use. Even on the
coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann's new "passive house" and
others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the
amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer. 

 

"You don't think about temperature - the house just adjusts," said Mr.
Kaufmann, watching his 2-year-old daughter, dressed in a T-shirt, tuck into
her sausage in the spacious living room, whose glass doors open to a patio.
His new home uses about one-twentieth the heating energy of his parents'
home of roughly the same size, he said. 

 

Architects in many countries, in attempts to meet new energy efficiency
standards like the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard in
the United States, are designing homes with better insulation and
high-efficiency appliances, as well as tapping into alternative sources of
power, like solar panels and wind turbines. 

 

The concept of the passive house, pioneered in this city of 140,000 outside
Frankfurt, approaches the challenge from a different angle. Using ultrathick
insulation and complex doors and windows, the architect engineers a home
encased in an airtight shell, so that barely any heat escapes and barely any
cold seeps in. That means a passive house can be warmed not only by the sun,
but also by the heat from appliances and even from occupants' bodies. 

And in Germany, passive houses cost only about 5 to 7 percent more to build
than conventional houses. 

 

Decades ago, attempts at creating sealed solar-heated homes failed, because
of stagnant air and mold. But new passive houses use an ingenious central
ventilation system. The warm air going out passes side by side with clean,
cold air coming in, exchanging heat with 90 percent efficiency. 

 

More here :::
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?em=
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?em=&pagewanted=
all> &pagewanted=all 

 

 

::: shauna lawyer struby

 

 

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