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| Designing sustainable buildings made fun: enhanced planning tool released  The tried and tested PHPP tool for designing energy efficient buildings is available in a brand-new version. This upgrade not only allows reliable calculation of the energy demand in accordance with internationally applicable criteria, it also takes into account energy generation on or near the building. Over the past few months a German edition of the PHPP 9 has already been successfully used in practice; the English version was presented at the NAPHN15 North American Passive House conference on 1 - 2 October in Vancouver and at the UK Passivhaus Conference taking place on 20 October in London."With this upgrade, PHPP can be applied on an even larger scale; it allows the designer to compare numerous design or retrofit situations in a comprehensible manner", says Jan Steiger, who coordinates the development of the tool at the international Passive House Institute. In addition, certification according to the new Passive House classes will also begin with the launch of PHPP 9. In addition to the established Passive House Classic, there are now also the Passive House Plus and the Passive House Premium classes, where energy generation is taken into account based on clearly defined criteria. The building's energy demand is determined according to a system based on Primary Energy Renewable (PER). The new features in the PHPP also include innovative options, for example for heat recovery from shower water or for profitability calculations. The practical use of the tool is facilitated by means of automatic verification and plausibility checks. Different options for a particular measure can now be entered in one PHPP file and tested with reference to their respective effects. In this way it is possible to depict improvement in efficiency due to individual refurbishment steps. In addition, the EnerPHit criteria for retrofits can now be applied internationally without restriction, with building component requirements suiting relevant climate zones. Workshops on PHPP 9 were also held in Europe. On the occasion of the Passive House conference in the UK, Jessica Grove-Smith of the Passive House Institute introduced the design tool and the new certification categories on 19 October in London and on 21 October in Glasgow. From 2 November to 13 November, an updated Certified Passive House Designer course will be offered in Darmstadt (in English), including a separately bookable three-day PHPP module. On 24 and 25 November, a workshop in Spanish will take place within the framework of the Conferencia Española Passivhaus in Barcelona. For many years, the PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) which is continuously developed by the Passive House Institute has provided architects, designers and energy consultants the possibility of optimising a building design on the basis of clear figures. The Excel-based calculation tool serves not only as a reliable planning aid but also as verification of compliance with the internationally applicable criteria of the Passive House Standard and the EnerPHit Standard for retrofits. Due to its high accuracy in energy balance calculation, the PHPP is perfectly suitable for planning Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings (NZEB) as stipulated in the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The user handbook not only offers a description on how to use the tool, but also acts as a guide to successfully design working Passive House buildings. The PHPP is available in 20 languages in total. The latest version will also now be translated into other languages. Both PHPP and designPH can be purchased all over the world from accredited partners of the Passive House Institute. write your comments about the article :: © 2015 Construction News :: home page |