Scottish Passivhaus
(Image from Passivhaus Los Angeles)
In mid-December, Scotland’s government announced that within two years it will set new minimum environmental design standards for all Scottish new-build housing. New houses in Scotland will have to meet a standard approximately equal to Passivhaus. The aim is to have updated laws in in place by the middle of December 2024.
Articles tell us that Passivhaus standards improve energy efficiency and thermal performance of housing. Ho hum.
Let me put it to you differently. The UK’s housing has some of the poorest energy efficiency in Europe. In 2017-18 I was in charge of developing an economic model for a better way of doing property development. There’s more to that model than the energy efficiency of the buildings, but that’s part of it.
Looking just at heating, which is a large portion of energy usage in the UK, a typical modern British house consumes 150 kilowatt hours per square meter. A British new build gets that down to 100 kWh/sq mtr. Few houses are built to low energy standards, but that gets it down to 50.
Passivhaus gets it down to 15. That’s one tenth of the heating energy needed by a typical modern house in the UK. It’s oddly named. Passivhaus typically includes some elements that aren’t passive, such as small quiet ventilation units that constantly exchange indoor and outdoor air through a heat exchanger. This keeps the air inside fresh and exhausts excess moisture indoors without exhausting heat with it. But I digress…
Scotland is the northernmost part of the UK. It’s cold up there. They don’t simply aim to make moderate improvements to their energy consumption. They aim to cut the energy demand for heating by about 90% in new housing. Scotland isn’t waiting for Westminster to get around to such decisions. They’re doing what they can.
These are the types of moves we need.
Postscript: I hasten to add that this is only a small piece of the economic model. If you’re a local government or utility company interested in it, contact me and we can discuss it under NDA.
After a few years hoping home owners would recognise the threat from increasing energy cost and the sheer complacency of doing nothing in the face of climate change, I reset up my next generation technology business to deliver a wide range of interventions with heat recovery, sometimes better glazing and refitting doors and frames or new ones, as part of insulation, then sealing the building are completed. Two ads in a 16,000 circulation magazine. One inquiry. Just one.
Look in a mirror after you reread Bonnie's article then make the resolution to stop buying energy from oil and gas once and for all. Most of the insulation is DIY. Then you have to get imaginative and ventilate or you create humidity. Need help? You can ask Bonnie where to find me. Before you say you can't afford it, take energy readings weekly for the next three or four weeks. That'll tell you you that you can't afford not to. Happy New Year