A Passive House home won a competition against Scotland’s building code, in a recent head-to-head test to see which design approach kept living space cooler for longer.
The test was orchestrated by the city of Glasgow, just a few months before the community is set to host this year’s United Nations climate change conference, COP 26, in November.
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“The two competitors in the Ice Box Challenge were built in accordance with the Scottish building standard and the Passive House design standard respectively,” Canadian Property Management explains. “Neither incorporated active cooling. However, results demonstrated the effectiveness of Passive House guidelines for window glazing, insulation levels, airtightness, and reduction of thermal bridging.”
Each of the structures was filled with 917 kilograms of ice, then left alone for two weeks. The results should capture the attention of anyone who’s been sweltering through a summer of heat domes and air quality alerts.
“All the ice in the Scottish standard prototype melted by the 11th day of the challenge, whereas the Passive House structure still retained 121 kilograms at day 14,” Canadian Property Management states. “That’s despite a coincidental heat wave during the challenge period.”
And “energy management specialists stress that the structure’s cooling features, embodying four of the five key Passive House principles, are equally effective in helping to retain warmth when it’s cold outside,” the publication adds. “Wintertime also sees the fifth Passive House principle—heat recovery ventilation—pressed into service.”
Early indications are that the competition caught the attention of some key decision-makers. “Housing associations in Glasgow are looking at this very closely and what it means to new build programs,” said Michelle Mundie of Glasgow’s municipal housing investment group.
