Passive HouseDocumentation Paper

- A Certified Passive House in the French Riviera -

Architect and Designer:! ! Philippe Axmann! ! ! ! ! Vision Eco-Habitats sarl! ! ! ! ! 16 Parc d’Activité Raphèle,! ! ! ! ! 83520 Roquebrune sur Argens

Builder:! ! ! ! Vision Eco-Habitats! ! ! ! ! 16 Parc d’Activité Raphèle,! ! ! ! ! 83520 Roquebrune sur Argens

www.visionhabitats.fr

! This private family house, has been realized in 2008 in the city of Carros (06510 - France). It has been certified by La Maison Passive France in 2009. One of the major goal of the project was to collect data from a certified passive house in the French Riviera region. Those data will be made available public around the end of 2012.

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Project summary:

U-Wert Ground Slab: 0,13 W/(m2K)! ! Ventilation unit with heat-exchanger : 59.5%U-Wert Walls:! 0,12 W/(m2K)! ! PHPP Heat needs :! 9 kWh / (m2.year)U-Wert Flat Roof:! 0,11 W/(m2K)! ! Primary energy needs : 116 kWh(m2.year)U-Wert Terrace:! 0,11 W/(m2K)! ! Blower-door result n50 : 0,47 m3/(hm2)U-Wert Windows:! 1,3 W/(m2K)

1 - Brief Description of the Project

This project represent the first realization of the company Vision Eco-Habitats founded in 2004 with the goal of becoming a specialized passive house designer and builder in France. After four years of research and development aimed at acquiring the technics of passive house building, with respect to the French regulations and norms for constructions, this first construction marked the starting point of the company. Inaugurated with the mayer of the city of Carros and other elected representative in 2009, this house is the first new construction certified under passive house standard in the Provence Alps Cote d’Azur region, and the sixth passive house built in France, according to the French Association La Maison Passive France. Moreover of being a case study for the company Vision Eco-Habitats, it has been implemented on this 115,3m2 building occupied by two persons, a complete computerized measurement system aimed at recording data of the house behavior and its environment. A first bunch of those measures have been presented during the last Passi’Bat conference in Paris the 14th et 15th December 2011 with a focus on summer comfort. Finally, this first construction has allowed the company to establish the basics for the its future passive constructions (twelve so far, certified or in the process of certification) in which the company is 100% devoted.

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2 - Pictures of the project

South view of the villa taken in March 2012 at 9.30 am which allow to see the effect of the flat roof overhangs. (Picture : Axmann).

South-West picture of the house where we can perceive the thermal solar panels at the front of the to flat roof, and photovoltaic solar panels at the back of the flat roof. We can also see the overhangs on the ground floor (in concrete separated from the thermal envelope), and the overhangs on the first floor (in EPS). (Picture : Axmann).

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South-East view of the house and its summer kitchen witch helps to keep heats from cooking outside during the hot periods. (Picture : Axmann).

View of the windows solar protection in half closed position. (Picture : Axmann).

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Inside view of the open kitchen with the saloon at the back and the living room at the back left side. (Picture : Axmann).

View of the monitoring screen in the entrance area displaying the data measured (temperatures, humidity, energy consumptions and production ...). (Picture : Axmann).

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View of the ventilation control panel.

View of the saloon toward this entrance door.

View of the bathroom. (Picture : Axmann).

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3 - Section of the project

Section view of the passive house of Carros.

It is visible on this cut the continuous insulation surrounding the building by its exterior (triangle hatch). This insulation has not breaks from the floor to the roof. Also the external concrete structure forming a solar overhangs, is separated from the inside concrete of the house, and has its own foundations. (Drawing by structural engineers).

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4 - Floor plans of the project

Plan view of the passive house of Carros.

Visible on this plan view, the complete insulation by the exterior and the concrete walls for the structure of the building. It is also clearly visible that the external concrete structure (garage and solar overhangs) are totally separated from the thermal envelope. (Drawing by structural engineers).

After the realization of this first project, we decided to equip the company with a professional drawer to draw more detailed and adapted plans for our passive house projects. Drawings for more recent projects built are displayed in annexes as example. (Drawing from Vision Eco-Habitats).

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5 - Technical details of the construction

5.1 - Construction of the floor base, on earth, and links to the external walls

The ground slab is built upon a 25cm layer of Styrodur and is also encompassed by 10cm of Styrodur. This provide a thermal bridge-free ground slab. The exterior insulation of the walls starts directly above the surrounding insulation of the ground slab thus avoiding again a thermal bridge in the junction between the external walls and the ground slab.

The ground slab insulation which also serve as concrete formwork. (picture: Axmann).

Ground Slab : Uw = 0,13 W/(m2K)Composition : Styrodur 25cm / Concrete 20cm / Peripheral Styrodur 25cm.

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5.2 - Construction of the external walls

The external walls are built with Neopor that also serve as concrete formwork. On the passive house of Carros, they are composed with 23,5cm exterior insulation, 14,5cm of concrete and 6,25cm of interior insulation. The Neopor “stones” used to formwork the concrete are on this house from Wolf Thermo-modules, and are in our opinion a very good a safe way to build thermal bridge-free external walls. (picture: Axmann).

On this picture above we can see the exterior insulation of the walls starting right above the exterior insulation of the ground slab. (picture: Axmann).

External Walls : Uw = 0,11 W/(m2K)Composition : Neopor 23,5cm / Concrete 14,5cm / Neopor 6,25cm.

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5.3 - Construction of the Flat Roof

The flat roof has a very simple construction made with 8cm of Styropor, 20cm of concrete, and covered with 30cm of Styrodur directly linked to the external Neopor of the exterior walls to avoid any thermal bridge. The elements above the roof are built with Xella Ytong stones and are not linked with the concrete of the thermal envelope thus avoiding again any thermal bridges. Finally, the overhangs aimed at reducing sun entrance during hot periods if the orientable blinds are not closed, are made with Styropor reinforced with fiber layer.

Flat Roof : Uw = 0,12 W/(m2K)Composition : Styropor 8cm / Concrete 20cm / Styrodur 30cm.

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5.4 - Assembly of windows and doors

The windows and doors are assemble on the structure of the building at the same time in tunnel and applied against the exterior Neopor insulation. Thus the exterior insulation is covering the two thirds of the window frame, as displayed in the drawing above. (Drawing by Vision Eco-Habitats).

Pictured here above the preparation of the walls before receiving the windows. (picture: Axmann).

Windows (by Menuiserie David - Model Mixtherm Passiv) : Uw max = 0,8 W/(m2K)Uf = 1,4 W/(m2K) and Ug = 0,8 W/(m2K) and g = 0,50 and PSI = 0,033 W/(mK)Composition: ! ! Frame: Wood + Polyurethane + Aluminum external skin. ! ! ! ! Glass: 4-16argon gas-4-16argon gas-4 (Glass).

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6 - Technical details of airtightness

With the contemporary architecture of the Carros’ passive house, all elements from the ground slab to the flat roof are made of concrete. Thus in this particular case, the concrete already gives a really good base for the airtightness. The particular points to concentrate were the assembly of the window to the walls, and the pipes that go through the ground slab. Those have been treated with particular attention using proper air-tightness products such as the Pro-clima and Doerken tapes solutions.

Blowerdoor Test : n50 (1/h) = 0,47

Of course we do not only encounter flat roofs, and in the other projects we have made afterwards (11 so far, all passive houses), some are built with traditional roof where insulation and air-tightness are much more complex than on this first passive house of Carros. However, those complex (regarding air-tightness) and more recent projects, have also been certified passive houses.

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7 - Ventilation

Regarding ventilation system, the passive house of Carros is equipped with a Paul Novus 300DC assemble on insulated pipes, which gives a rather good solutions also for heating using the ventilation system. The pipes that brings the outside air and the exhaust air have been reduced to their strict minimum thus avoiding thermal losses. The efficiency of the installation reach 59.5%. The ventilation delivery points have been designed in order for the air to cover the maximum area before being extracted in humid rooms, as displayed on the ventilation layout plans below.

For the very small needs of complementary heating, it has been integrated on the ventilation system an electric heating box. This choice has been made taking into consideration the price of a more efficient heating system versus the very few heat energy needs of the house in its particular region. After three years, it has been observed that this complementary heating is seldom used, also thanks to the climate on the French Riviera, and the high performance of this passive house.

The system is coupled with a hydraulic Canadian shaft with a pipe of 100 linear meter integrated at a depth of 1.4 meter in the garden.

Ventilation efficiency : 70% and 1,4Wh/m3

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0,800

3,000

6,200 1,0003,999

3,997

2,501

3,695 2,296

Cuisine

Evier

Cuisson

WC

107.15

108.60

VMC

30m3h

30m3h

15m3h

60m3h

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4,0005,600

5,000

3,6002,500

SDB

WC

Douche

Lavabos

30m3h

30m3h

30m3h

15m3h

8 - Sanitarian Water Heating and Complementary Heating

On the passive house of Carros, sanitarian water heating is realized using solar panels. The system is composed with two solar collectors of 1.90 square meter each, place on the roof (as displayed in the picture below), with an angle of 45 degree. The hot water tank has a capacity of 250 L, and is placed in the thermal envelope. The system covers 76% of the hot water needs for the household. The complement is made using electric power. A choice made considering the rather small needs and the cost of this installation versus a more complex and more efficient system.

In addition to thermal solar panels, it has been integrated to this passive house 14.5 square meter of photovoltaic solar panels to cover the entire electric needs of the house.

Photovoltaic Solar Panels at the back of the roof. (picture: Axmann).

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Photovoltaic Solar Panels Hot Water Solar Collectors

9 - PHPP Calculus

For this first passive house of Carros, we have mandated the office Solares Bauen in Strasbourg to conduct the thermal study on PHPP.

PHPP verification sheet for the passive house of Carros base on certifier thermal study. However a couple of errors transmitted by our suppliers appear to have biased the certifier study. The PHPP verification sheet non-officially updated with the correct values is displayed below.

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The need for annual heating energy is really low due to the over-dimensioned insulation materials used and the climatic region that helps a lot. It was actually not useful to implement such amount of insulation material in this particular region. Under the annual method, the heating needs are 4.8 kWh/(m2a). Under the monthly method, those needs represent 3.4 kWh/(m2a). The primary energy needs remains however quite high. This is due to economic choices of simple (and not the most efficient) electric systems for the few complementary heating needs.

For the the projects that have followed this first realization, we decided to perform the PHPP studies internally, after receiving the appropriate training from the learning center “La Maison passive France”.

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10 - Costs of construction

The construction cost of this passive house of Carros realized in 2008/2009 is rather high. It is very close to 2000€ per square meter of exterior building surface, without VAT. To understand correctly this cost, several aspects aspect must be taken into consideration. First, some complex contemporary architectural designs increases drastically the cost of a passive house. Indeed, the architectural designs plays a much bigger role in a passive house that in conventional buildings. For example, the cantilevered balcony without post are really expensive to build due to the fact that they must be completely separated from the thermal envelope's concrete. Also, the flat roofs are much more expensive than traditional roofs. Those architectural choice have thereby increased substantially the construction cost of this passive house. Moreover this building was our first realization and required strong investment to make sure we were doing things right.

Today, we have manage to reduce construction cost however, building passive house in France remains expensive. To obtain the better price efficiency while making sure to achieve quality work satisfying passive house criterium, we have decided since the beginning to outsourced as few as possible. Thus, we have developed the company in order to be able to conduct a project since the architectural creation to the actual construction work while outsourcing only the important digging works, the plumbing and electricity works, the ceiling and interior painting works. All other works from thermal studies, execution plans, construction works, roofing, air-tightness, ventilation, exterior plater works, ... are performed by our employees without outsourcing. This choice allow for much better reactivity, precise preparation, and efficient construction costs. Consequently, we are now able to build passive house at prices per square meter of exterior building surface excluding VAT between 1750€ and 2150€ depending on complexity of architectural design and nature of the ground.

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11 - Measurement of the house in use

For this first newly built passive house in the Provence Alps Cote d’Azur region, we have made a partnership with Schneider Electric to implement a measure and management computerized system. This system is on one side aimed at measuring the behavior of the house in its environment, and on the other side at automatically controlling elements affecting the behavior of the house such as external orientable blinds.

On the measurement sides, the following information are continuously recorded:

Interior parameters:- Interior temperature per room- Interior humidity per room- CO2 concentration per room- Temperature of ventilation entrance air before / after canadian shaft- Temperature of ventilation entrance air after heat exchanger- Temperature of water of hydraulic canadian shaft- Temperature of hot water solar production

Exterior parameters:- Exterior temperature- Exterior humidity- Sun tracking position- Speed and direction of wind- Pressures- Photovoltaic solar production- Rain water quantity in tank- Ground humidity

These data are interpreted directly in the house with a computer, and displayed on a screen summing up the information right in front of the entrance door. (pictures below).

! Interface of Computerized monitoring system on KNX (picture : Axmann).

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CO2 KNX probe Meteorological KNX probe

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From these records, it is clearly evident that this passive house is keeping its promises. The interior environment is very stable and is hardly affected by exterior changes in temperature or humidity. The curves from interior data in green (left side of the screenshot) are really flat compared to the curves from exterior data in blue (left side of the screenshot). Moreover, the solar production for sanitarian water and electricity are strong against the energy consumption (top right side of the screenshot).

On the management side, the information collected are used by the automatic system to control parameters such as the opening or closing of the external orientable blinds and tuning their closing angle according to the sun’s position. Other parameters such as the ventilation debit or the use of the canadian shaft can be controlled by the system.

More practically, the feeling of the persons leaving in this passive house is unequivocal. The quality of life inside the house is unbelievable according to their sayings. There is a feeling of indescribable wellness. It is something you feel when you enter the house. One has to make the experience in order to understand. Moreover, the house is really easy to regulate with the computerized system. Almost no intervention are needed throughout the year for the residents.

The passive house of Carros which was our first realization surprised us even more than we would have thought. When the techniques are known, and the means are available, it is not that complicated to build passive house and the results are amazing. So with the drastic advantages of a passive house regarding economics, environmental issues, and well being, the only question that remains is why this standard is not yet mandatory for every new construction?

The passive house of Carros. (photo : Axmann / Vision Eco-Habitats).

Inauguration day of the passive house of Carros. (photo : Vision Eco-Habitats).

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