Passive House Solar Orientation

Passive Solar Building Design

A passive house is similar in many ways to a balanced ecosystem. Each component affects the other, and working in harmony a perfect balance can be created. Any changes to the building design can drastically affect the performance and comfort of a passive house.

Intelligent system and building design is critical to maximize the passive features of every building project. By utilizing free energy provided by the sun and other passive strategies such as thermal massing, convective currents, and shading Passive Homes are designed to “float”. Floating refers to periods of time, during which the home requires no active heating or cooling.

Passive House projects are strategically oriented to take advantage of a buildings natural environment. Before construction, every Passive House is carefully modeled using a highly sophisticated dynamic software tool developed by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, known to the community as WUFI Passive.

WUFI Passive Software® Utilization

WUFI Passive, by utilizing site specific climate data sets and complex heat transfer simulations, acurately provides temperature and comfort data for any specific room at specific time of year.  Adjusting building orientation using this software allows the modeler to maximize solar heat gain during the heating season, and minimize heat gain during the cooling season through shading.  This balancing act is critical in all Passive House projects.