passive house

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a rigorous, performance-based building standard developed in Germany in the early 1990s by physicist Wolfgang Feist that achieves extreme energy efficiency through a combination of super-insulation, airtight construction, thermal bridge elimination, high-performance windows, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery; a certified passive house requires no conventional heating or cooling system, relying instead on passive solar gain, internal heat gains from occupants and appliances, and the heat exchanger in the ventilation unit; the standard reduces space heating demand by up to 90 percent compared to conventional buildings and is increasingly adopted worldwide as a response to climate change and energy costs