Passive House Institute introduces new categories for building certification

Passive House Institute in Germany has established new categories for building certification that take into account a building’s primary energy system.

The established standard will be called Passive House Classic. The new categories are Passive House Plus and Passive House Premium.

With the introduction of the new categories, the overall demand for renewable primary energy will be used instead of the primary energy demand, which was previously used. The exact certification criteria and calculation details according to the renewable primary energy (PER) system are available on the online resource Passipedia.

The new evaluation procedure considers the building in an environment where only renewable energy is used. Sun and wind provide the primary electricity. Some of this electricity can be used directly; however, storage capacities are necessary for transferring surplus energy to time periods with lower energy gains.