Saving money wherever possible is something we all try to do, especially in our own home. There are some tried and true ways to lower energy costs at home – turning off the lights when you leave a room, using more energy efficient appliances, or leaving the heat turned off in areas where you spend less time. But there are other impactful and effective ways you can consistently save energy in your home, such as building a passive house with the use of Greenstone ICE Panels.
A passive house is a building that will save as much energy as possible. The main criteria to achieving a passive house are:
- Space heat demand maximum 15 kWh/m2a OR heating load maximum 10 W/m2
- Pressurization test result at 50 Pa maximum 0.6 ACH (both over-pressure and under-pressure)
- Total Primary Energy Demand maximum 120 kWh/m2a
This list of criteria might not mean much to the average consumer so let’s break it down into easier terms. Space heat demand refers to the amount of active heating needed to fully heat the space. The pressurization test is a result of an airtightness test, which measures the total air leakage occurring throughout the building, and the primary edge demand is the total amount of energy used for domestic applications.
Now that you’ve learnt what passive house standards are, let’s talk about how ICE Panels fit in to the equation. ICE Panels provide an airtight building envelope with no thermal bridging and R-values as high as R37. By choosing ICE Panels for your building envelope, you’re effectively reducing heating and cooling requirements by a substantial amount.
Here’s a real world example. A contractor working on an ICE Panel project located in Whitehorse, Yukon had a airtightness test performed in their ICE Panel building and the results were outstanding. The airtightness tested at 0.4 ACH at 50 Pa. Passive house standards for an airtightness test are 0.6 ACH at 50 Pa. So this home tested 33% better than the standard requirements to achieve passive house designation. The results speak for themselves — ICE Panels can significantly help achieve, and sometimes even surpass passive house standards.
If you’re planning to build a new commercial or residential building and are looking to reach passive house standards, ICE Panels are a great place to start.
To learn more about the benefits of building with ICE Panels, connect with us by calling 204-726-1426 or sending an email to info@gsbp.ca.
