A building standard that is truly energy efficient, comfortable, affordable and ecological at the same time. 

Passive House is not a brand name, but a construction concept that can be applied by anyone and that has stood the test of practice. Yet, a Passive House is more than just a low-energy building. 

• Passive Houses allow for heating and cooling related energy savings of up to 90% compared with typical building stock and over 75% compared with average new builds. In terms of heating oil, Passive Houses use less than 1.5 litres per square meter of living space per year – far less than typical low-energy buildings. Similar energy savings have been demonstrated in warm climates where buildings require more energy for cooling than for heating.  

• Passive Houses are also praised for their high level of comfort. They use energy sources inside the building such as the body heat from the residents or solar heat entering the building – making heating a lot easier.  
• Special windows and a building shell consisting of highly insulated exterior walls, roof and floor slab keep the desired warmth in the house – or undesirable heat out.  
• A ventilation system consistently supplies fresh air making for superior air quality without causing any unpleasant draughts. A highly efficient heat recovery unit allows for the heat contained in the exhaust air to be re-used.
  

The vast energy savings in Passive Houses are achieved by using especially energy efficient building components and a quality ventilation system: There is absolutely no cutting back on comfort; instead, the level of comfort is considerably increased 

Save up to 25% from heating costs: install „Warm windows”! Approximately 50% of total heat loss from buildings occurs through the windows. Our company, Wooden Windows Latvia Ltd., has developed a new windows design- Warm Windows in thickness of 92 mm and Warm facades in thickness of 130 mm. These windows and facades can reduce heat loss up to 50%, compared to 3-camera PVC Windows, for example. In this way, by installing Warm Windows and facades, total heat loss of the building is reduced by 25%. In addition to this, our windows look great, have outstanding sound insulation capabilities, are made from a renewable resource- wood, and finally- are offered for a very attractive price!  

Increase comfort level in your house- while developing design and doing the construction works, don’t forget to include special absorbing rubber strips (Sylomer).

By installing absorbing rubber strips between the construction elements, under floors etc., you shall make the house quieter, improve the isolation of vibrations, and provide the construction elements with necessary space to move after the house is finished. 

Save even more on heating costs by installing a warm air recuperation system (heat recovery ventilation system). Ventilation means supply of fresh air from outside and outflow of air from the room. A recuperation system allows to warm up the fresh air supplied from outside by using the heat of air which is exhausted out of the room. It is possible to collect up to 84% of the heat from exhausted air; it means that only 16% of the supplied fresh air has to be heated. It is possible to recover costs spent on recuperation system in 3-4 years. The system includes inflow and outflow fans, filters and air heaters. 

If you are planning to build a fireplace, provide the necessary air flow from outside. Fresh air is necessary for burning process. If the fireplace does not have air supply from outside, it consumes the warm air from the room and sucks in the cold outside air through ventilation channels. If a direct supply of air is installed for fireplace, then it does not affect the air circulation of the room. Also, if the supply of air is insufficient, the air traction in chimney can turn to opposite direction, allowing the chimney to work as air supplier. In that case, smoke and smut can get in the room. This problem can also be solved, by providing fresh air flow from outside right to the fireplace.  

Save heating costs and increase comfort by smart placement of windows, construction of roof overhangs, and choosing correct thickness of walls! Installing the windows towards south will allow the building to collect maximum amount of solar energy, thus reducing the heating costs. Construction of roof overhangs above the windows shall help to shade the windows during hot summer days, when the sun is at zenith. However, they shall not prevent the light from getting into room during winter, when the sun is low at the horizon.  

Use the Earth heat to warm up the air for ventilation system. It is possible to use Earth heat to warm up the air, which is supplied to the ventilation system. The air supply duct is buried under ground, leaving just the intake and outlet above the ground. During winter, the temperature of soil is higher that temperature of outside air. Thus, the air gets warmed up, while going through the duct. During the summer, an opposite process takes place- the air gets cooled down, because the temperature of the soil is lower than temperature of outside air.  

Collect the energy from the sun- install solar energy collectors. The use of renewable resources is getting more and more popular in the world. One of them is solar energy. It is possible to collect the solar energy, by installing the collectors on the buildings, thus reducing heating costs.

Consider construction of thicker walls on northern side of the building.

Building receives the smallest amount of solar heat energy from northern side. Additional economy of heating costs can be achieved by building thicker walls on Northern side of the building. Rooms, which do not need many windows (technical rooms, bathrooms etc.), are also suggested to be built on northern side of the building. 

Links for more information about passive houses