Scandinavian Homes pass 50 passive house mark

 Pettersson said that clients are choosing to build modest-sized homes compared to previous years, making it much more affordable to go passive.

He said the company's 160 square metre Nordica 94 timber frame house is particularly popular at the moment, with two recently finished, a third about to be built. "It's a massively price-effective shape for a passive house, and at a budget that's affordable for most people," he said.

He stressed that the key to the passive house concept is simplicity. "This means that the general shape of the house needs to be considered at an early stage," he said. "Customers most often design their houses themselves with a little help from our passive house architect. The original passive house concept envisioned simplicity in heating arrangements."

He said his clients are seeking energy independence by installing a small multi-fuel stove, which he said can easily heat a passive house in combination with heat recovery ventilation.

"We focus only on the 10 watts per square metre peak heat. If we focus on that, everything else falls into place. It's not terribly difficult to achieve that in Ireland," he said.

Pettersson said that a Scandinavian Homes built "super passive" house at Loughrea, Co Galway achieved an airtightness test result of 0.27 ACH. The house features 700mm of cellulose insulation in the attic, and 335mm of Paroc mineral in a double-stud timber frame wall system. Homeowner Declan Cunningham kept a blog about construction of the house at http://www.h214dcu.blogspot.ie