Passive House (Passive Haus): The Value Proposition Australia

Passive House proponents consider it a universally robust solution to mitigate the climate-related environmental impacts of energy consumption in buildings. Deep systems analysis, however, reveals significant limitations to the approach for much of warm climates such as Australia: a) climatic (in)appropriateness, cold climate versus warm climate, b) addressing the flawed premise of air tightness, c) improving design phase validation arising from lack of sophistication in calculations - blunt tools limit the design palette. e) localization of high-value insulation and air tightness redirects capital, e) use high solar energy yields, which trades off lower insulation and air tightness, for high solar energy yields. Given that solar is now approximately 50c/watt installed in Australia, in specific circumstances, such as when occupants use solar for self-consumption. Yields are very high due to solar availability; in this context, the current approach to GHG benefits misdirects capital and is fundamentally bad economics. Net-zero energy is already in reach for Australian homeowners. Therefore, the value proposition in Australia rests on thermal comfort and indoor air quality, both of which are much weaker than in traditional passive solar design.