Airtight Building

Airtight Building

The term Passive House refers to a rigorous and voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building to reduce its ecological footprint. Adapting the Passive House Standards results in buildings that require little or no energy for cooling and heating the interior of that building. The term Passive House was developed in Germany, and the first Passive Houses were built in Darmstadt, Germany in 1990. A similar standard, MINERGIE-P, is used in Switzerland. Den Braven is also member of the Swiss MINERGIE-P platform and our products also fulfil the requirements of this standard.

Passive House Standards
Passive design is not an attachment or supplement to architectural design, but a design process that is integrated with architectural design. Although it is mostly applied to new buildings, it has also been used for refurbishments. The Passivhaus Standard requires that the building fulfils the following requirements:
1. The building must not leak more air than 0,6 times the house volume per hour (n50 ≤ 0.6 / hour) at 50 Pa (N/m²) as tested by a blower door;
2. Total primary energy (source energy for electricity, etc.) consumption (primary energy for heating, hot water and electricity) must not be more than 120 kWh/m² per year;
3. The building must be designed to have an annual heating and cooling demand as calculated with the Passivhaus Planning Package of no more than 15 kWh/m² per year in heating and 15 kWh/m² per year cooling energy OR to be designed with a peak heat load of 10W/m²;
4. Passive solar design;
5. Correct use of landscape;
6. Super insulation;
7. Advanced window technology;
8. Ventilation;
9. Space heating;
10. Lighting and electrical appliances.

Den Braven ‘s Value Proposition for Air Tightness
If we highlight the first aspect of the Passive House Standard, Den Braven is able to explain everything about this topic. Den Braven is able to offer a full portfolio of products to reduce the air loss in your building. These products are tested and certified according to the air loss requirements of the Passive House Standards. Once these products are applied correctly they will contribute to increase the insulation value, reduce noise and keep the rain out. The Den Braven products in this portfolio have the ability to contribute a 90% saving on energy costs to heat or cool the interior of the building.
All of these products are meant to contribute to durable building, saving energy consumption, saving money and protecting the environment.

Den Braven is able to not only present the concept but fully demonstrate the products at our Centre of Excellence. Part of the presentation is the building itself. The Centre of Excellence fulfills all requirements of the Passive House Standard and even generates its own energy needs. The Centre of Excellence requires so little energy that the excess energy it produces is transferred to the Den Braven Headquarters parking lot, where charging stations for hybrid and electric cars have been installed.