Should Passivhaus become the UK’s industry standard?

’Yes’

The Passivhaus standard and methodology delivers not only consistently low-energy buildings in the most robust and cost-effective way, but also buildings that are reliably comfortable. There are now more than 15,000 Passivhaus buildings worldwide, and we know that they perform.

Contrast this with current UK approaches to low-energy buildings. The government’s Zero Carbon Hub recently admitted: “SAP [standard assessment procedure] is not adequate in its current form to meet the challenges of delivering low-energy/zero-carbon homes”. There is very little monitoring of low-energy buildings in the UK, and those that are monitored are often found lacking.

We need Passivhaus in the UK, but it is being held back by many myths and misunderstandings.

It is suitable for a wide range of climates, including the UK’s. Buildings can be thermally massive or lightweight. Mechanical ventilation offers the best route to excellent indoor air quality and to energy efficiency. It works and the urgency of climate change means we don’t have time to reinvent the wheel: we have to start building genuinely low-energy buildings now.

Passivhaus should be a beacon for our industry. “Fabric first” is recognised as the primary approach to addressing carbon emissions from our buildings. Passivhaus is the most robust approach to fabric first, and must in time become the standard the UK works to or should, at least, fundamentally inform those standards.

’No’

While I support many aspects of the excellent Passivhaus initiative for producing highly energy-efficient building fabric, it is important that the industry realises that this is all it really achieves.

The UK has gone to great trouble to develop its own Code for Sustainable Homes, which carefully dovetails with existing building regulations. It ramps up standards at regular intervals so that the industry will emerge in 2016 with similar levels of energy efficiency to Passivhaus, while considering a more wholistic context that includes transport, home offices, the environmental impact of building materials and, above all, renewable energy generation.

It is a great idea to share the continental triple-glazed window supply chain, but not so clever to insist on expensive levels of airtightness in the temperate South. It is even stranger to demand electricity-hungry, fan-driven, heat-recovery ventilation when passive techniques work fine.

The UK has to combine Mediterranean passive cooling techniques with the northern European need to conserve heat – and, with 70% of its housing under 50 homes per ha, the carbon footprint of lifestyles must be integrated into the design of low- and zero-carbon communities.

Why can’t everyone rally behind our very own world-beating Code level 6, invest in the tools to deliver economies of scale fast, and welcome buyers from all over the world to purchase UK products, technologies and expertise?

What do you think?