Positive Energy Homes: Creating Passive Houses for Better Living

Positive energy homes enable people to live healthy and comfortable lives with energy left over to share. Creating a house you love that produces surplus energy is surprisingly easy with a thorough understanding of how buildings work and careful attention to detail in construction. Positive Energy Homes provides home owners, architects, and builders with an understanding of the principles and technical details of building these houses.

The Passive House standard, with its well-proven track record, forms the basis for creating positive energy homes. This book explores the Passive House "fabric first" approach as well as the science and practicalities of effective ventilation strategies, smart options for heating and cooling, daylight harvesting, and efficient lighting and appliances. Positive Energy Homes offers a guide and inspiration for how positive energy living can be achieved through homes that power themselves and empower their occupants.

Features:

* Provides a guide to the elements of a building that influence energy consumption and empowers readers to make informed decisions in economically retrofitting or building a positive energy home

* Delivers an inspirational and achievable vision of the future of sustainable buildings with a holistic understanding of the elements that influence comfort, health and enjoyment in buildings

* Introduces the biology and physics behind great buildings with theory and easy-to-understand examples.

Robin Brimblecombe is a practicing building scientist and manages the Engineering and Sustainability team at Monash University, overseeing the design and delivery of energy efficiency retrofits and super-efficient solar-powered buildings. He lectures in energy efficiency and renewables and supervises applied research projects in sustainable development. He is a certified Passive House Consultant, Green Star Accredited Professional and holds a PhD in Solar Energy.

Kara Rosemeier is the chair of the Passive House Institute New Zealand, leads the Passive House Academy New Zealand and teaches building science in Auckland. Previously, she has been the director of an engineering consultancy, advised federal state government in Germany on matters of building energy efficiency, supported private clients on Passive House design, and supervised hundreds of retrofit projects. She holds a PhD in domestic air quality and ventilation, a Masters in Planning Practice (Hons) and a Diplom-Ingenieur (FH) in Architecture.