Passive House Plus standard

The ‘passive house plus’ standard is a new certification category designed to recognise the production of onsite renewable energy by passive buildings. It requires a minimum of 60k kWh/m2/yr of renewable energy generation, along with a maximum renewable primary (PER) energy demand of 45 kWh/m2/yr. PER is a new energy factor developed by the Passive House Institute designed for a future where electricity grids are powered entirely by renewables. It is designed to replace traditional primary energy demand in the long term. In this case, a higher PER demand, 56 kWh/m2/yr, was allowed because the dwelling produces much more (83 kWh/m2/yr) than the renewable energy generation target.

The even more advanced ‘passive house premium’ standard requires generation of 120 kWh/m2/yr and a maximum PER of 30 kWh/m2/yr. Meanwhile under this new system, the traditional passive house standard is rebranded as ‘passive house classic’, and has a max PER of 60 kWh/m2/yr, with no renewable generation required.

This new classification system is operational alongside the traditional passive house standard, with its maximum primary energy demand of 120 kWh/m2/yr, and no requirement for renewable energy production. The targets for space heating demand (15 kWh/m2/yr) and heat load (10 W/m2) remain the same under both certification systems.