Passive houses

[Bright_Glow]

Is anybody here lives in a passive house? I wonder because I would like to hear some experiances. I wish I will be able to live in one sometimes in the future because all what I read on the internet are sounds good and all but I haven't read or heared any experiences from people who lives/lived in a passive house.

[Loa]

What is a passive house?

[Bright_Glow]

Sorry I forgot to link here from a defention of the passive house from wikia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house

[kaoskat]

That sounds really neat! I hadn't heard of those before!

[Bright_Glow]

That sounds really neat! I hadn't heard of those before!

Really? Anyway there were even building laws were made here in hungary about afther 2020 only passive houses will be allowed to built.

[Hervoyel]

I love the idea of them, but I get the impression that they're still quite expensive to build.  My brother-in-law (an architect) worked on something similar a about a year ago, and the project was extremely costly.  Although to be fair, it was in Calgary (Alberta, Canada), where all housing is very expensive relative to the rest of the country.  And I don't know how much of that was because the client wanted to spend a lot of money.

Still, the concept is brilliant, and I'd think the prices must go down as it becomes more popular.

[melodys_angel]

Ok, a 'green' home.

Ive heard of those (though not the term passive--maybe its country dependent?), and there are steps in modern house building to put all new homes towards that direction, but I don't think theres anything completely like that close to here.

Its an interesting concept

[Aflame]

thought you were talking about houses with passive spirits haunting them !

[Whippycorn]

Not yet! One day I will though. Obviously they are quite common in Scandinavia, but there is now a growth in passive housing here in the UK, with several affordable passive housing projects underway.

I like Earthships, they use old tyres in the external walls to provide thermal mass. http://earthship.com/Systems/comfort-in-any-climate. Couple that with an air source heat pump and triple glazing etc. The initial costs may be a bit more but then you don't pay any bills. If you're producing your own energy on top of that, often you can sell that back to the grid. They are definitely the homes of the future. 

[Bright_Glow]

You know maybe our children will be living in active houses which are producting more energy than they use. But yet the passive houses are the next level we need to reach yet.

[PinkRosedust]

Wow that sounds incredible! I'm amazed there aren't more of these popping up. Hopefully they will become more common soon.

[SunPony]

I don't know how close this is, but my parents have a straw bale garage that they built (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw-bale_house).  It stays warmish in the winter and cool in the summer, but no one lives in it (this is in Ohio, USA).   I think maybe straw bale construction could be used to make a passive house.   I might like to live in a passive house someday, but like you I would want to test one out or talk to someone who has one.

[lunapony]

thought you were talking about houses with passive spirits haunting them !

I thought you meant like "passive-aggressive" houses, with passive aggressive colors or shapes. I'm such a weirdo.

[Eviecorn]

Ooh, interesting!

[tikibirds]

As of August 2010, there were approximately 25,000 such certified structures of all types in Europe, while in the United States there were only 13, with a few dozens more under construction.[1] The vast majority of passive structures have been built in German-speaking countries and Scandinavia.[6]

I dont think its the same as a "green" house since there are only 13 in the USA. Sounds like its more intensive then that.