Happy Birthday, Passive House!

Published 1 June 2021

The passive house turns 30 - pioneering work paves the way for energy efficiency worldwide

The passive house celebrates its 30th birthday! The pioneering project of building physicist Prof. Wolfgang Feist, which started as an experiment, can take great credit: When climate protection was only on the agenda of very few, it paved the way for energy efficiency in buildings. Today, the Passive House Standard is being implemented around the globe, including in impressive lighthouse projects. Other reasons to celebrate: the 25th anniversary of the Passive House Institute and the anniversary edition of the International Passive House Conference.

"I am of course happy about this development: from the first experimental residential building to the worldwide projects and quarters in the Passive House Standard," explains Passive House pioneer Prof. Wolfgang Feist. However, he makes it clear: "Without a much greater commitment from governments, however, progress in the better energy design of buildings will be slow." Yet the physicist has demonstrated a viable solution for high energy efficiency with the construction of the world's first passive house.

Priority Climate protection
It was already clear in the 1970s, says Feist in the interview, that fossil energy resources are limited. In addition, the extraction and use of this energy caused excessively high CO₂ emissions. Together with the Swedish engineer Bo Adamson, he searched for solutions that would allow houses without conventional heating systems to be built in the Central European climate. The biggest motivation: climate protection.

Stop heat loss
One thing was clear: the typical but unnecessary heat loss in buildings must be greatly reduced. Among other things, through good thermal insulation on the walls, the roof and the ground. And an additional, third pane in the windows. If the building is also built to be almost airtight and thermal bridges are avoided, then the interior rooms will automatically remain pleasantly warm for a long time with the support of passive heat sources such as solar radiation. In summer, passive houses are pleasantly cool.

Smiled at by many
Finally, Prof. Wolfgang Feist determined characteristic values for better building: This is how the Passive House Standard came into being. Feist determined that this should be freely available to all interested parties. The Feist family built the pilot project "Passive House" in a community with three other families, as a complex of four identical terraced houses. The state of Hesse supported the research project. Nevertheless, it was smiled at by many.

Research since day 1
On a site that the city of Darmstadt had designated for "experimental building", the excavators rolled in in autumn 1990. In the spring of 1991, exactly 30 years ago, the building families celebrated the topping-out ceremony together with the public. And in autumn 1991 they moved into their new home. Since day one, intensive research has been carried out on the world's first passive house; among other things, a measurement project of the International Energy Agency (IEA) is currently underway.

Social justice
30 years after the first passive house was built, schools, daycare centres, gymnasiums, supermarkets, indoor swimming pools, museums, hotels and entire neighbourhoods are now built to the passive house standard as a matter of course. Today it is well known that Passive Houses require very little energy for heating and cooling. This makes them an important building block for effective climate protection. And for social justice. The high living comfort is a big plus. Increasingly, municipalities and states are stipulating consistent energy efficiency in the Passive House Standard in their building regulations. (Passive House resolutions).

Energy efficiency a must
In view of the climate crisis, it is clear that energy-efficient construction is needed. The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe has just declared the German Climate Protection Act unconstitutional in parts: the government must regulate more clearly how emissions are to be effectively reduced after 2030, according to the ruling.

approach tipping points
Energy-efficient buildings are fundamental to a widespread renewable energy supply and therefore an important part of the solution. "When tipping points are reached, there is no vaccine to stop the horror. We must act now to keep the future on this planet livable. The building sector must do more to mitigate climate change. Many national building standards still allow too much energy consumption," warns Feist.

25 years of the Passive House Institute
Manufacturers and tradesmen have also grasped the potential of energy-efficient construction and renovation as an opportunity. The Passive House Institute's component database now counts over 1200 certified components. The Technical University of Innsbruck recognised its importance for research and teaching at an early stage: Building physicist Wolfgang Feist taught energy-efficient construction there for over ten years. As a result, the number of experts is also growing. Every year many of them meet at the International Passive House Conference. This is also an anniversary, taking place for the 25th time this year. Shortly before the first conference in 1996 Wolfgang Feist had founded the Passive House Institute. That celebrates now its 25-year old existence. Another reason to celebrate.

Passive houses
The passive house concept drastically reduces the heat loss through walls, windows and roof that is typical for buildings. Thanks to the five principles - good insulation, triple-glazed windows, avoidance of thermal bridges, an airtight building envelope and a ventilation system with heat recovery - a passive house requires very little energy. Passive houses can therefore do without a classic heating system. The houses are called "passive" because most of the heat requirement is covered by "passive" sources such as solar radiation and waste heat from people and technical equipment.

In a passive house, the heat is retained for a very long time because it escapes only very slowly. Therefore, active heating is only required on very cold days. Overall, only little energy is needed to provide this residual heat. In summer (as well as in warm climates), a passive house also has an advantage: then, among other things, the good insulation keeps the heat out. Active cooling is therefore not usually necessary in residential buildings. Due to the low energy costs, the ancillary costs are calculable - a basis for affordable living and social housing. A passive house consumes around 90 percent less heating than an existing building and 75 percent less than an average new building.

Passive House and NZEB
The Passive House Standard meets the European Union's requirements for Nearly Zero Energy Buildings. According to the European Buildings Directive EPBD, member states must specify the requirements for so-called Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) in their national building regulations. The EU directive has been in force for public and private buildings since January 2021.

Pioneering project
The world's first passive house was built more than 28 years ago in Darmstadt-Kranichstein by four private builders, including Dr. Wolfgang Feist. Since the families moved in in 1991, the terraced houses have been regarded as a pioneering project for the passive house standard. The pioneer passive house now uses renewable energy with its new photovoltaic system and was awarded the Passive House Plus certificate.

Passive house and renewable energy
The passive house standard can be combined well with the generation of renewable energy directly on the building. Since April 2015, the new building classes "Plus" and "Premium" have been available for this supply concept.

Passive House Institute
The Passive House Institute, based in Darmstadt, is an independent research institute for the highly efficient use of energy in buildings. Founded by Wolfgang Feist, the institute occupies a leading international position in research and development on energy-efficient construction. Prof. Wolfgang Feist received, among others, the DBU Environmental Prize in 2001 for the development of the passive house concept.

Source: PM of the Passive House Institute from 27.5.2021

Keywords: DE-News, Climate protection

Published 12 November 2019

Northern countries launch joint hydrogen strategy

By 2025, 150,000 passenger cars could already be running on green hydrogen

The five northern German coastal states have joined forces to build a green hydrogen economy as a pillar of the energy and transport transition: At their autumn meeting in Lübeck, the ministers, senators and senators responsible for the economy and transport today (7 November 2019) adopted a joint "North German Hydrogen Strategy". At the same time, the heads of department called on the Federal Government to support their initiative and incorporate it into the national hydrogen strategy announced by the Federal Government for the end of the year. "With our strategy, we show a way how the hydrogen potentials can be raised, especially in the field of industry and mobility. Our wind-rich coastal states are particularly well-suited for this industrial policy project, which can also be used to achieve climate protection goals," said conference host Dr Bernd Buchholz (FDP), Minister of Economics in Schleswig-Holstein. A first important step is to build up sufficient capacities for electrolysis. With this technical process, electricity can be converted into hydrogen. The strategy is to realise at least 500 megawatts of electrolysis capacity in northern Germany by 2025 and at least five gigawatts by 2030.

According to Buchholz, the 500 megawatts alone could theoretically supply around 151,000 passenger cars with green hydrogen if green electricity from onshore wind farms were used. With an increase to five gigawatts, that would be 1.5 million passenger cars, which corresponds to the current registration of all passenger cars in Schleswig-Holstein. In addition, parallel to the current construction of e-charging stations, a hydrogen filling station network must be built. For this, the heads of department consider an order of magnitude of around 250 filling stations in northern Germany to be necessary.

Hamburg's non-party Senator for Economics and Transport, Michael Westhagemann, also made it clear: "Hydrogen is a matter close to my heart, and I think the time is finally ripe for us to set off together - no longer just with general resolutions, but very practically and hand in hand. The North German Hydrogen Strategy should express our political commitment to this and set the guidelines. This is what the actors from industry are waiting for, because they are ready to make their contribution. Together we now want to start the process of building a hydrogen economy. The necessary tailwind for this must be provided by the federal government. That is why we will approach the federal government with this strategy paper in a timely manner, make our determination clear here in northern Germany and call on the federal government to quickly set the course towards the future - towards hydrogen."

Lower Saxony's Minister of Economics and Transport, Dr Bernd Althusmann (CDU), also pointed to the good preconditions of Northern Germany to become the leading region of a green hydrogen economy: "Renewable hydrogen will be the globally strategic energy carrier of the future. That is why we want to build a strong hydrogen economy together. Our goal of fully supplying all interested consumers with sufficient green hydrogen by 2035 is ambitious. It is important that the federal government creates the right framework conditions now. Only in this way can companies remain internationally competitive despite ambitious climate protection goals and rising energy costs."

In detail, the ministers and senators pointed to the following locational advantages of the North in building a hydrogen economy:

high generation capacities for onshore and offshore wind power with further expansion potential,
underground formations for the storage of hydrogen,
Seaports, which will play an essential role in the future in the import and distribution of green hydrogen and synthetic energy carriers as well as in the use of hydrogen and the export of hydrogen technologies and components,
maritime companies and scientific expertise as well as
Industries with considerable experience in dealing with hydrogen
additional know-how is being built up in the six northern German "real laboratories of the energy transition".

Bremen's first Senator for Economic Affairs, Kristina Vogt, said: "Together with the other coastal states, the state of Bremen will also take a close look at the technology for using surplus wind power, thus advancing an important field of expertise in the energy transition. The use of hydrogen as an energy storage medium is an important pillar of sector coupling and opens up promising future markets for the Bremen and Bremerhaven locations."

Senator Dr Claudia Schilling, who is responsible for Bremen's ports and science, adds: "Research and development and driving innovation are essential for the success of a hydrogen-based economy. We want to make northern Germany a hotspot for hydrogen research."

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Dr Stefan Rudolph (CDU), made it clear that the energy transition could only succeed with comprehensive sector coupling: "The development of a green hydrogen economy is an economic and structural policy opportunity for the coastal federal states. After all, green hydrogen is a key energy carrier for the energy transition. It is crucial that the electricity produced onshore and offshore from sustainable energy sources can be stored and made usable for other sectors - such as industry and transport. There is potential here for more value creation and also for sustainable jobs. That's why we need to work together to drive forward and implement the hydrogen strategy quickly."

Other topics of the conference:

Mobile phone coverage: The conferees agreed that a much faster pace must be set in the expansion of mobile radio coverage in the coastal region. Against this backdrop, the ministers and the senator once again appealed emphatically to the federal government to ensure, in dialogue with the Länder, that coverage in line with demand would be ensured as quickly as possible.

Planning acceleration: Lower Saxony's Minister of Economic Affairs, Dr Bernd Althusmann, informed his state colleagues about the first results of the Interministerial Working Group on Planning Acceleration in Lower Saxony. He pointed to effective acceleration potentials in the environmental sector, especially through restrictions on the right of associations to sue, and called on his state colleagues to support the federal government in planned changes.

Northern German cooperation with China: In view of considerable political upheaval in China, the ministers, senators and senators consulted with Federal State Secretary Niels Annen (Federal Foreign Office) and Prof. Dr. Rolf Langhammer of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) on future trade relations with the world power. Both experts pointed out that investments in China still offered huge opportunities. At the same time, however, the world's second largest economy is currently experiencing a centralisation of political power that has not been seen for decades.

At the same time, debt is rising with growing imports and falling exports. A current account deficit is expected for the first time in two years. "Against this backdrop, the construction of the Silk Road, among other things, is likely to be reassessed and the project will probably lose its appeal in the future," said Langhammer. Both Langhammer and Annen described it as elementary for Germany and Europe to take a much more unified stance towards China in future than in the past. "Otherwise, China will continue to coolly exploit any weakness we show in Germany or Europe," said Annen.

German Maritime Centre: The German Maritime Centre (DMZ), founded two years ago and based in Hamburg, was presented to the conference participants by Managing Director Dr Wolfgang Sichermann. From the point of view of the ministers, senators, it is important to network the DMZ well with the other institutions in the maritime sector in order to jointly strengthen the clout of this area.

In this context, Sichermann referred to current studies commissioned by the DMZ. For example, funding opportunities for the sustainable modernisation of inland and coastal vessels are currently being explored. In addition, the experts are examining new financing options in the maritime sector at the international level.

Hamburg's Economics Senator Westhagemann and Schleswig-Holstein's Economics Minister Buchholz made it clear that the DMZ might have to place its focus even more clearly on research, development and innovation in the future. This would include the topic of hydrogen as well as future projects around the topics of safety and autonomous driving. In this context, Buchholz recalled the "CAPTin Kiel" project, a pilot project to develop an autonomous integrated mobility chain by combining clean bus and ferry transport in Kiel.

Download North German Hydrogen Strategy (PDF, 1.3 MB)
www.hamburg.de/...wasserstoff-strategie.pdf

Keywords:
100% EEs, Procurement, Fuel cell, CO2-neutral, DE-News, Climate protection, Sustainable management, New books and studies, News Blog Hamburg, News Blog Schleswig-Holstein, Transition Town, Environmental policy, Hydrogen