PHPP – How Thermal Modelling is Achieved to Guarantee Your Homes Performance?

What is PHPP?

It stands for ‘The Passive House Planning Package’.  This programme is an essential part of passive house design, both for passive house designers and for those who officially certify the building as a ‘certified passive house’.

 

 

This programme takes into account a huge amount of variables to assist modelling the thermal optimisation of a building design.

It includes the input of the specific climate where a building is to be situated, the building shape and size, building materials, the heating, cooling, ventilation,

lighting and all other energy uses within the building. In short it is a thorough and detailed building energy model providing reliable and important information.

eHaus undertake the Design and Certification for  the Passive Housing we construct at Chatterton Builders as part of the eHaus organisation.  Nationally, eHaus have  a large number of projects successfully completed or in progress around New Zealand.  They are incredibly experienced in the use of PHPP to ensure all houses built under the eHaus name perform at their best wherever they are located for each unique build.

NZ Climate zones

 

 

 

The programme also provides the majority of the quality assurance required for the international ‘Passivhaus Standard’, and is the tool used for certification of a ‘passive’ house/building.

 

PHPP is one of the most powerful design tools available for designing low energy buildings. It may look complex to the untrained eye but for those involved in passive house design and construction it is quite straightforward.

‘At it’s most basic, the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) is a collection of clearly defined building physics algorithms. When the required information is entered, accurate reliable results are produced. And it continues to be developed as the Passivhaus Standard evolves and the world transitions towards a renewable energy future’. – Elrond Burrell 2016

It is also a versatile and dynamic design tool. It allows for variations and for the testing of different values/materials etc before a peg goes into the ground. All the while, giving instant results from any change or tweak.

Further, it allows for the development and improvement of design through this testing and its findings. These results are shared in the passive house community to further improve and enhance the modelling, and continually improve on the designs that can be achieved in all climates and locations, with new and varied materials.

 

A house designed on physical principles and modelling will provide accurate thermal performance data for your house or build, so you are guaranteed the thermal comfort your house is designed to achieve.

 

Pretty cool, huh??

 

To find out more about about passive housing and other ways to improve the comfort of your new home download our free brochure here, ‘Your Essential Guide to a Higher Quality, Healthier, More Comfortable Home’

You can also check out eHaus and discover more about their proven design and certification process at www.ehaus.co.nz.