What is a Passive House and how is it Built?

The construction of passive houses, or passivhaus, originated in Germany in the early nineties. These types of buildings are a benchmark for energy efficiency, as they are designed to minimize energy consumption. They use resources from bioclimatic and efficient architecture, ensuring that their energy consumption is practically zero.

What is a Passive House?

Passive houses are homes designed to maintain a stable interior temperature throughout the year, ranging between 20 °C in winter and 25 °C in summer, without the need to use conventional heating or cooling systems. Thanks to their design, they offer minimal energy consumption, guaranteeing comfort and efficiency in any season.

Passive Houses and Their Energy Efficiency

Passive houses stand out for the multiple benefits they offer:

• Energy efficiency: Thanks to their design, they maintain a pleasant temperature all year round, significantly reducing energy consumption.
• Sustainability: They take advantage of indirect solar energy to reach the desired temperature, minimizing CO₂ emissions and environmental impact.
• Profitability: Although their initial construction may be more expensive, long-term energy savings quickly compensate for the investment.
• Health and well-being: These homes are quiet, free of dust and humidity, and provide clean indoor air, ideal for a healthy environment.

What Does a Passive House Need to Have?

To achieve all the benefits that passive houses provide, below we tell you what a passive house needs to have:

Insulation is one of the most important points. A passive house must have insulating materials for heat and also for cold. With quality thermal insulation and sufficient quantity, heat losses are very limited.

Airtightness

Any air leakage should be avoided. Gaps, holes… must be monitored. When building a passive house, these weak points must be taken into account so that there are no air infiltrations. There are tests to check the level of airtightness of a home.

We are referring to detecting points where heat is filtered and repairing them. In traditional buildings and houses, it is common to find different leakage points, as they are not taken into account in the construction. This problem is solved with continuous insulation, without interruptions or weakening. The most problematic points are doors, windows, balconies and roofs.

To ensure that we achieve maximum efficiency, they must have at least two or three panes of glass. The quality of the materials of the doors and windows is as important as their installation.

Ensuring that the air inside the home is healthy without any variation in temperature.

The energy consumption of a passive house is significantly lower than that of a traditional home. These houses are designed to maintain an almost zero energy consumption, efficiently using natural resources such as sunlight and cross ventilation.

Thanks to its thermal insulation and airtightness, spending on heating and cooling is drastically reduced, representing up to 90% less compared to conventional constructions. For example, the annual energy consumption of a passive house can be around 15 kWh/m², a figure well below traditional homes, which usually exceed 100 kWh/m².

In addition, by depending on mechanical ventilation systems with heat recovery and renewable energy sources, these houses not only reduce the environmental impact, but also optimize the family budget in the long term.

Build your Passive House with Espígul

At Espígul, we are passionate about making unique and sustainable projects a reality. We know that passive houses are the future of construction due to their energy efficiency, sustainability and comfort. If you are interested in building your passive house in Girona, our team of experts is here to accompany you every step of the process.

From the initial design to the final delivery, we take care of all the details so you can enjoy a home adapted to your needs, whether it is a passive house or a more traditional project. Contact us and discover how together we can build the house of your dreams.

If you are interested in sustainable homes, you can take a look at our previous post: Discover sustainable homes in Girona, Costa Brava and Sant Cugat.