Inside Our Passive House – Part One

Published on by Grace

As promised, here is my first post regarding our experiences living in a passive house. I’m sure most of you are more curious about the technical aspect of the house rather than the interior design, so this post is solely dedicated for that.

Our initial expectation of decreased heater usage was indeed met during our first 2 weeks here.
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A sunny winter day like this is enough to raise the interior temperature to 1C to 2C.  Because of the thick insulation and air tightness, the house has the ability to keep the temperature stable.

Give us 7 sunny days like this and we may not need the heater at all.

But for days when it’s gloomy and Mr. Sun is hidden behind the thick clouds, the house’s integrated heaters are programmed to keep the temperature stable.  Potential “cold spots” within the house are equipped with heaters that look like this.

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This is the biggest one  for the living room, but the smaller ones in the bedroom almost look the same.

The external blinds of the house has a central control unit that can be programmed to open and close at certain times of the day.  In winter, it is useful to open everything during the day to let the sunshine in and heat up the house.  But in summer, there will be a need to keep it closed.  Remote control switches are also available to adjust the amount of opening or amount of light that one would like to have.

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With its air-tight feature, you may be curious about how the house breaths.  Well, this equipment makes it all possible.

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Air vents are strategically located around the house to exchange the air.  There is no need to open the windows.  You are guaranteed to breathe in fresh air.

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We still haven’t done much about the exteriors of the house, so this is pretty much how it looks like from the outside.  Come spring and the landscaping is another major project.

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Anyhow, we are happy with our first few weeks in this house although it is not completely decorated yet.

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Call it crazy, but we are probably one of very few people who are very eager to receive their energy bill.

25 thoughts on “Inside Our Passive House – Part One”

  1. Congratulation to your new house Grace. I love the outside building and much more the inside. And that equipment you have to help breathing fresh is the most I would love to have in this winter season inside the house. As sometimes the dry heater air inside the house gives me head pain.

    Have fun on your new house,

    Yen-Yen

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  2. Here in SA, and in my house, I depend on being able to open windows on hot days. Even on cold days, just to get a bit of airflow going through the house.
    Glad you guys are settled in, well almost 😉
    I’m sure you’ll have fun decoration the whole thing 🙂

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  3. I’m looking forward to read more about your house. I find the technical aspects interesting as well as the interior design of course!

    That big machine for the air conditioning/circulation, where in the house is it located?

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  5. I know exactly how you feel about anticipating the energy bill. I felt the same after installing solar panels, though my house isn’t as advanced as yours by half. Great job! The house looks wonderful.

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  11. Sounds like a lot of thought went into the engineering of this house. Nice to see young couples who want to live reducing energy costs as well as preserving our natural resources while doing it. Thanks for sharing.

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