OPINION
WE NEED PASSIVHAUS
The UK will fail to meet its low energy buildings targets if it does not adopt the Passivhaus standard
Nearly a third of all energy use in the country is for homes. Around two thirds of this energy is for heating alone. Yet we know how to build homes – to the Passivhaus standard – that are so energy-effi cient that they don’t need central heating. Sadly, this is neither standard today nor proposed by regulation for the UK. Earlier this year, we provided detailed evidence1
of the several major barriers
to low-energy construction – political and structural barriers, industry barriers, and social barriers – and how these could be overcome. We have now published an analysis for the UK of how low-energy buildings could be successfully delivered2
New Passivhaus homes at Wimbish Green in Essex by Hastoe Housing Association
. Sadly,
we conclude that unless design and construction improves quality radically, this ambition cannot be met. Politicians of all parties agree on
one thing: we’re not building enough houses. There’s a housing crisis. But new homes and buildings don’t perform as they should. Every thorough study of new UK buildings for the last 20 years has found that they use more energy – sometimes a lot more energy – for heating and cooling than their designs indicate. The implications are profound
and worrying. If we carry on building homes – and other buildings, too – in the way we do today, energy use and carbon emissions will be far higher than planned. There will be a disastrous legacy of higher bills and potentially poorer health, with the UK unable to meet its climate change targets. This problem of the energy performance gap is the second housing crisis. As we discuss in the Delivering
report, the endemic quality problems in construction are displayed, in miniature, in the installation and performance of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems which, as new homes become much more air-tight, is likely to become the
26 CIBSE Journal November 2012
Unless quality across the design and construction process radically improves... the low- energy buildings ambition cannot be met
dominant means of ventilation. Where Passivhaus quality is not present, however, problems are likely to appear in MVHR installation and operation, just as they appear elsewhere. Rather than providing excellent indoor air quality, poorly designed or installed MVHR systems can create noisy and potentially unhealthy environments3 There is a simple solution: build
.
homes to a high quality standard. Building to the Passivhaus standard is the route to better homes, lower bills and better returns, as well as a more competitive and innovative construction industry. A major Passivhaus building programme over the next several years would help solve both the housing crises and create the skills required to undertake quality refurbishment of the existing building stock. Indeed, far-sighted developers
now realise that building passive can be more cost-effective because maintenance will cost less, prices will be stronger and rental streams better protected. Broadland Housing Group, of Norwich, is using private investment to embark on the UK’s largest Passivhaus project to build more than 200 apartments close to the Carrow Road football stadium. Andrew Savage, executive director for business growth,
has said: ‘All housing associations, private rental developers and savvy investors should now be thinking passive, as Broadland is.’
References 1
Refurbishing Europe: an EU strategy for energy effi ciency and climate action led by building refurbishment, Bruce Tofi eld and Martin Ingham, February 2012; see www.
buildwithcare.eu/news/231-refurbishing- europe for background, which has a link to the report at
www.buildwithcare.eu/images/pdfs/ refurbishing_europe_full.pdf
2 Delivering a low-energy building: making quality commonplace, Bruce Tofi eld, 17 October 2012; see
www.buildwithcare.eu/news/244- delivering-a-low-energy-building; report at
www.adaptcbe.co.uk/CBE/downloads/ reports/delivering_a_low-energy_building_ oct_2012.pdf; press release at
www.uea.ac.uk/ mac/comm/media/press/2012/October/ Passivhaus-bruce-tofi eld
3 A recent Zero Carbon Hub report notes that: ‘The Task Group considers that examples of failures in typical design, installation and commissioning practice are all too common. ... Badly performing systems may not deliver the anticipated carbon savings and may result in degraded IAQ (indoor air quality) with related consequences for health.’ (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery in New Homes, interim report, ventilation and indoor air quality task group, Zero Carbon Hub, January 2012, www.
zerocarbonhub.org/resourcefi les/ViaqReport_ web.pdf)
● BRUCE TOFIELD led the University of East Anglia’s activity in the international Build with CaRe project (2008-2012; www.buildwithcare. eu), which has stimulated innovation and learning about Passivhaus construction in the East of England.
www.cibsejournal.com
MARK BAIGENT
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