Renewable energy for passive house heating: Part I. Building description

Abstract A passive house is a cost-efficient building that can manage throughout the heating period, due to its specific construction design, with more than 10 times less heat energy than the same building designed to standards presently applicable across Europe. Its extended thermal insulation and enhanced air-tightness removes the need for temperatures higher than 50 °C. This makes renewable energy sources particularly suitable for heating, cooling and domestic hot water production. Modeling of renewable energy usage for space heating requires as a preliminary stage the detailed description of the building structure, of the HVAC equipment and of the internal heat sources. This paper shows the main data used to model the thermal behavior of a passive house. Details about Pirmasens Passive House (Rhineland Palatinate, Germany) are given, as for example, the internal heat sources, including electric appliances, heat and humidity released by human bodies, thermal internal facilities as hot and cold water pipes. All these are quantified by using statistically derived data. A detailed time schedule for a standard German family with two adults and two children was prepared. It takes into account the national celebrations, vacation and weekends among others.