ISOBIO partner Progetic works to create the first prefabricated straw bale and timber passive home on the Iberian Peninsula
Progetic has recently achieved the Passivhaus certification for its Larixaus home given by Spanish authority certifier Energiehaus. It is the first prefabricated straw and woodpassive home in Spain which is located in the town of Collsuspina, in the Catalonian region. This is a great accomplishment for our ISOBIO partner because getting this certification is not an easy goal due to the rigorous requirements of the Passivhaus standard. Given that the Larixaus is made of 3.5 tonnes of straw insulation and designed with optimised bio-climate features, the house keeps a stable temperature throughout the year (cool in summer and warm in winter).
A passive house is an energy-efficient building that requires little energy for space heating and cooling, compared to a traditional building. A passive house does not rely on the installation of active mechanical heating, cooling or ventilation systems to ensure a comfortable, healthy indoor environment.
The standard applies not only to new buildings but also to refurbishments of existing buildings. Generally speaking, a passivhaus can save between 60 and 80 per cent of the energy required for heating and cooling a house.
The concept of Passivhaus was originated in 1988 by Bo Adamson (Lund University, Sweden) and Wolfgang Feist (Institute for Housing and the Environment, Germany). The first building with the Passivhaus certification was built in Darmstadt, Germany in 1990, being Germany and Austria the countries with the highest number of these certified buildings.Worldwide there are about25,000 Passivhaus completed buildings(residential properties, office buildings, schools, kindergartens, etc.).
Further reading:
