Certified Passive House – Criteria for Non-Residential Passive House Buildings, 13.09.2013 1/7
© Passive House Institute 2013; excerpts and use only permitted in an unchanged form with complete citing of the source
Passive House Institute
Dr. Wolfgang Feist
Rheinstraße 44/46
64283 Darmstadt
Germany
www.passivehouse.com
Certified Passive House
Criteria for non-residential Passive House buildings
Passive Houses are buildings in which comfortable indoor conditions can be achieved throughout the year
with minimum energy input. Passive Houses must meet very stringent requirements regarding both their
design and construction. Passive Houses are certified based on a thorough quality check of their design. The
certification criteria that apply for non-residential buildings are described below (criteria for residential
buildings can be found at www.passivehouse.com):
1. Certification criteria *)
Heating
Specific space heating demand ≤ 15 kWh/(m
2
a)
or alternatively: heating load ≤ 10 W/m²
Cooling
Specific useful cooling demand **) ≤ 15 kWh/(m²a)
Primary energy
Total specific primary energy demand **) ≤ 120 kWh/(m²a)
Airtightness
Pressure test result, n
50
≤ 0.6 h
-1
*) These criteria are specially adapted to conditions prevailing in cool, temperate climates (e.g. Central Europe) and may
need to be reviewed for starkly different climates. The Passive House definition [www.passivehouse.com] remains
unaffected.
**) The primary energy demand includes the energy demand for heating, cooling, hot water, ventilation, auxiliary
electricity, lighting and all other uses of electricity. The limits set above for the specific useful cooling demand and the
primary energy demand apply for schools and buildings with similar utilisation patterns. These values are to be used as a
basis but may need to be adjusted according to building use. In individual cases where very high internal heat loads
occur, these values may also be exceeded after consultation with the Passive House Institute. Proof of efficient electrical
energy use is necessary in such cases.
Calculation of specific values may take into account the entire volume enclosed by the building envelope for
an overall calculation, for example, an office building with several thermally connected units. If all zones have
the same set temperature, then a weighted average based on the TFA from individual PHPP calculations of
several sub-zones may be used. Combination of thermally separated buildings is not permissible. For the
certification of refurbishments or extensions, the area considered must contain at least one external wall, a
roof surface and a floor slab or basement ceiling. Single units inside a multi-storey building cannot be
certified.
The criteria must be verified using the latest version of the Passive House Planning Package. However,
transfer of data to a newer PHPP version published when the project is already under way is not necessary.
The monthly method is used for the specific heating demand. The reference value for all the above criteria is
the treated floor area (TFA) which is calculated as described in the latest version of the Passive House
