Passive House movement finally reaches Canada
VANCOUVER, BC (July 6th 2009):
Marken Projects Inc., a sustainable development and green building consulting
firm based in Vancouver, BC, has finalized plans to construct the first Passive House in North America seeking LEED® Home Canada Platinum certification and using a European modular wood building system.
This 2,400 square feet, four bedroom single family home, will be consuming up to 90% less energy for heating, cooling and building operation than a standard house. Due to its superior insulation and air tightness, the compact design and by taking advantage of passive systems such as solar gains, this house is able to maintain a comfortable temperature in winter and summer without any active heating and cooling.
“Means, this house will keep you cosy
in winter without furnace and cool in summer without air conditioner,” according to Alexander Maurer director of Marken Projects.
The “Marken Passive LEED® Platinum Home” project is also participating in the LiveSmart BC Super Efficient New Construction program proposing to construct up to three demonstration homes in Ucluelet (Vancouver Island) and up to five in Vernon (Okanagan) within the next two years starting this fall.
While the Passive House idea is not new to Canada with a few houses already built, Marken Projects wants to bring it to a whole new level by introducing Passive technologies and expertise from Austria and Germany new to North America.
“We are actually already working on a Passive House prefab collection with different designs and
floorplans and are seeking a manufacturing partner here in Canada for this project.
This concept is already well established back in Austria where they call it
“Fix-house”, says Alexander Maurer.
The concept is easily adaptable for multi family projects.”
Inspired by the Modern Austrian Wood Design School, the open floor plan showcases a compact, sleek but simple rectangular design with 2 by 2 exterior slat larch siding, high ceilings and large south facing triple pane windows and doors commonly seen in European Passive House design.
The extensive list of Green Building features includes a highly energy efficient heat recovery ventilation and geothermal system, a flat roof mounted Solar Photovoltaic (Electricity) and Solar Thermal system (Hot Water), a rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling system, a green herb garden roof, south oriented triple glazed windows and sliding doors and last but not least the use of renewable, low-VOC materials throughout the design, making it a
super green home.
Marken Projects Inc. was founded by Austrian-born Alexander Maurer with the goal to bring a fresh and forward thinking approach to managing, developing and designing Green Building Projects in North America.
Marken Projects Inc.
400-21 Water Street
Vancouver, BC, V6B 1A1
Tel: 604 331 9996
Fax: 604 637 2253
maurer@markenprojects.com
www.markenprojects.com
Marken Projects Inc., 400-21 Water Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 1A1
What is a Passive House – The German Passive House Standard:
A Passive House is a building that uses little or no energy for heating and cooling. This is being achieved by using super insulation, thick walls, triple pane windows, south orientation for Solar heat gain, advanced modular wood construction and a heat recovery ventilation system with heat pump for heating and cooling peaks.
The name “Passive” refers to the building’s ability to heat and cool itself most of the time. It uses up to 90% less energy than a convention home and 50% less than a LEED® Platinum home. The necessary energy can easily be provided through renewable sources such as Solar Photovoltaic.
The German Passive House standard (certification) requires that the annual heating and cooling energy does not exceed 15 KWh/m2 per year with the primary energy consumption not exceeding 120 KWh/m2 per year.
In additional, the air-tightness pressurisation test result should be 0.6-1 or lower. Further, the house should be able to maintain a temperature of 20 C and above during the winter months.
Starting in the early 90’s, today over 15000 Passive Houses have been constructed in central Europe with the Passive House movement rapidly gaining popularity over the last 4-5 years especially because of attractive government incentives and increasing utility costs.
PeterTarshisRealtor@gmail.com
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