THE WORLDS FIRST PASSIVE HOUSE

DARMSTADT-KRANICHSTEIN, GERMANY
Location: Frankfurt, Germany (Central Europe)
Architects: Bo Adamson ,Robert Hastings
occupancy : 4 families (4 units)
Area :156m2 (for a single unit)

Southern view of the Passive House in Darmstadt-Kranichstein.

THE PASSIVE HOUSE IN KRANICHSTEIN

Passive Houses were defined as buildings which have an

extremely small heating energy demand even in the Central
European climate (extreme cold at winter)and therefore
need no active heating.

Such houses can be kept warm passively, solely by using

the existing internal heat sources and the solar energy
entering through the windows as well as by the minimal
heating of incoming fresh air.
The emphasis of these Passive House measures was on the conservation of heat: thermal protection
and heat recovery are the decisive components.

Besides these measures

solar collectors for the provision of domestic hot water
and a subsoil heat exchanger for preheating the fresh air were used.

The house has extremely good thermal insulation, which has functioned outstandingly since the house was
occupied in October 1991.

The hot water is heated using solar vacuum flat collectors (5.3 m per household or 1.4 m per person).

Natural gas is used for secondary heating. The flat-collector thermal system covers about 66% of the
consumption in the Passive House in Darmstadt-Kranichstein.

Because the provision of domestic hot water represents the greatest energy requirement of this house, an
efficient domestic hot water system is of great importance. The heat distribution and circulation pipes have
therefore been placed inside the thermal envelope and are well insulated.
Airtightness and air quality

The insulating materials are airtightly separated from the interior by continuous interior plaster or vapour
retarders without any gaps

Cross-section of the Passive House

in Darmstadt-Kranichstein.
Ventilation
WINDOWS:
Triple-pane low-e glazing with Krypton filling: Ug-value 0.7 W/(mK).
Wooden window with polyurethane foam insulated framework
(CO2-foamed, HCFC free, handcrafted)

Triple-glazed window consists of three panes of glass, two of which have

a low-e coating. The space between the panes is filled with krypton gas. If
you want to upgrade your old windows, be sure to check out the benefits
of triple-pane windows as well as double-pane.

Here is a calculation of the dependence of

the heating demand on the size of the glazed
south-facing window areas in a Passive House
with different glazing qualities. Its clear that
triple-pane low-e glazing is necessary for
favorable energy balances in Central Europe.
 ROOF
Grass roof: Humus, non-woven filter, root protective membrane,
50 mm formaldehyde-free chip board;
Wooden light-weight beam (I-beam of wood, stud link of hardboard),
counter lathing,
sealing with polyethylene sheeting bonded without jointing,
gypsum plasterboard 12.5 mm, wood-chip wallpaper,
emulsion paint coating,
entire cavity (445 mm) filled with blown-in mineral wool insulation.

BASEMENT CEILING
Surface finish on fibreglass fabric;
250 mm polystyrene insulation boards;
160 mm concrete;
40 mm polystyrene acoustic insulation;
50 mm cement floor finish;
8-15 mm of parquet, adhesive; sealing solvent-free
 EXTERIOR WALL

175mm brick masonry

Fabric reinforced render
275mm of EPS

250 mm polystyrene
insulation boards;

160 mm concrete;
40 mm polystyrene
acoustic insulation; Fabric reinforced mineral render;
50 mm cement floor 275 mm of expanded polystyrene
finish;
insulation (EPS) (installed in two layers
8-15 mm of parquet,
at that time, 150+125 mm);
adhesive; sealing
solvent-free 175 mm sand-lime brick masonry;
15 mm continuous interior gypsum
plastering; wood-chip wallpaper,
emulsion paint coating
Ventilation
Heat Recovery
Counter flow air-to-air heat exchanger

A Passive House in the Central European Climate can only function with a controlled ventilation system with highly-efficient
heat recovery, because the average annual ventilation heat losses are 35 kWh per square meter of floor space, this is more
than twice the Passive House heating demand.

Thus in Kranichstein a balanced supply air and exhaust air ventilation system with a highly efficient counterflow air-to-air heat
exchanger was used - but it had to be specially adapted for this purpose because at the time, the fans used had a very high
electricity consumption.
In this project, DC fans with electronic commutators were used for the first time (known as EC motors).
During operation, a heat recovery rate of over 80% was measured after optimisation of the flow geometry.

This continuously operating comfort ventilation system provides a constant supply of fresh air to each accommodation unit.
At the lowest setting, 100 m/h of fresh air is supplied to the living and sleeping areas in each unit. This means, that with a
four person household, the specific quantity of fresh air would amount to 25 m per person per hour. The unit then operates
constantly at this rate independent of the actual number of people in the building (for the best as shown by experiments with
complex ventilation controls that were not worth it). Users can, however, manually change the setting if the choose.
At the highest setting, between 160 and 185 m/h are supplied.
Extract air is drawn away from the humid rooms like the kitchen and bathrooms in corresponding quantities.

Today these units typically display the following characteristics:

heat recovery efficiency of more than 80%,
electricity consumption of less than 0.4 Wh/m transferred air
 DESIGN FEATURES OF THE PASSIVE HOUSE IN DARMSTADT-KRANICHSTEIN

Building Description Phototgraph of site U-value

component W/(mK)

Roof Grass roof: Humus, non-woven filter, root protective membrane, 50 mm 0.1
formaldehyde-free chip board;
Wooden light-weight beam (I-beam of wood, stud link of hardboard), counter
lathing, sealing with polyethylene sheeting bonded without jointing, gypsum
plasterboard 12.5 mm, wood-chip wallpaper, emulsion paint coating, entire cavity
(445 mm) filled with blown-in mineral wool insulation.
Exterior Fabric reinforced mineral render; 0.14
wall 275 mm of expanded polystyrene insulation (EPS) (installed in two layers at that
time, 150+125 mm);
175 mm sand-lime brick masonry;
15 mm continuous interior gypsum plastering; wood-chip wallpaper, emulsion
paint coating
Basement Surface finish on fibreglass fabric; 0.13
ceiling 250 mm polystyrene insulation boards;
160 mm concrete;
40 mm polystyrene acoustic insulation;
50 mm cement floor finish;
8-15 mm of parquet, adhesive; sealing solvent-free
Windows Triple-pane low-e glazing with Krypton filling: Ug-value 0.7 W/(mK). 0.7
Wooden window with polyurethane foam insulated framework
(CO2-foamed, HCFC free, handcrafted)

Heat Counter flow air-to-air heat exchanger; heat recovery

recovery Located in the cellar (approx. 9C in the winter), rate approx.
ventilation carefully sealed and thermally insulated, 80%
the first one to use electronically commutated DC fans.
 Grass roof

Triple-pane low-e glazing

Thermal mass

External wall
Basement ceiling

PASSIVE HOUSE IN DARMSTADT-KRANICHSTEIN MODEL

Results of the energy consumption measurements in the Passive House in
Darmstadt-Kranichstein; not only the heating energy is drastically reduced (by
over 90% compared to a normal new building of the same year), but also the
gas consumption for domestic hot water (due to good insulation and a solar thermal collector) and
household electricity consumption

Natural gas for heating measured values for 1991 - 2006.

Results of the energy consumption measurements in the Passive House in
Darmstadt-Kranichstein; not only the heating energy is drastically reduced (by
over 90% compared to a normal new building of the same year), but also the
gas consumption for domestic hot water (due to good insulation and a solar ther-
mal collector) and household electricity consumption
THANK YOU