The document discusses how the Passive House concept can be applied in Mediterranean climates. It finds that while the general principles of high insulation, airtightness, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery work for winter heating demands, additional strategies are needed for summer cooling. These include solar control with exterior shades, considering fewer windows, prioritizing roof insulation, using light colors, enabling automatic bypass of heat recovery during cooling season, and night ventilation if possible. Some active cooling is also recommended for robust indoor comfort. Case studies show Passive Houses in locations like Seville and Palermo can achieve comfortable temperatures with minimal energy use through these strategies.

1. Passive Houses in the
Mediterranean Climate
Jessica Grove-Smith
Passivhaus Institut °Darmstadt, Germany
www.passiv.de
May 19th, 2009
Thessaloniki
Passivhaus Institut, Darmstadt:
• Private research institute
• Quality assurance & certification of buildings and components
• Dissemination of information
• Annual international conference

2. CONTENTS
• What is a Passive House?
• How does the concept work in the
Mediterranean Climate?
– Cooling
– Dehumidification
– Thermal mass

3. What is a Passive House?
A Passive House is a highly energy efficient building...
...the standard achieves high thermal comfort and indoor air
quality with a minimal energy requirement
surface
9°C
outside
-12°C
air
21°C air
21°C
surface
> 17°C
outside
-12°C
Passive HouseBuilding stock
Heating system, 10 kW Small reheater, max 1 kW

4. What is a Passive House?
How to achieve this standard......
Use the ‚pencil rule‘ to create
an uninterrupted airtight
layer and thermal envelope
around the building.air-tight construction
• Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery in the winter
• Optimised solar gains
• A good building envelope
one insulation layer
avoid thermal bridges
In summer:
limit solar
gains e.g. with
exterior blinds
heat recovery
active bypassed

5. What is a Passive House?
Wolfgang Feist, Darmstadt, Germany
Architects: Bott, Ridder, Westermayer
1991: 1st Passive House

6. What is a Passive House?
HeatingenergydemandkWh/(m²a)
existing
building
low-
energy
house
CEPHEUS
Passive Houses
90%

7. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
The building has to suit the local climatic conditions!
Source: Meteotest; database Meteonorm (www.meteonorm.com)
Average annual global radiation in Europe

8. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
A note on thermal comfort...
inner comfort range
extended comfort range

9. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
A detailed study by thermal simulation

10. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Conventional construction: Heating and cooling demands
-100
-50
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350 00-Mannheim
01-Lisbon
02-Porto
03-Seville
04-Madrid
05-Bordeaux
06-Carpentras
07-Nice
08-Torino
09-Venice
10-Campob.
11-Naples
12-Palermo
Heating/CoolingDemand[kWh/(m²a)]
Heating
Latent Cooling
Sensible Cooling

11. Mannheim
Torino
Madrid
Seville
Palermo
Insulation wall [cm] 25 20 10 8 6
Insulation roof [cm] 35 25 25 20 20
Insulation basement [cm] 20 15 6 0 0
U window frames [W/(m²K)] 0.72 0.72 0.72 1.6 1.6
U-value glazing [W/(m²K)] 0.7 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2
Humidity control for cooling no yes no no yes
Heating demand [kWh/(m²a)] 15.6 14.8 12.7 4.6 3.1
Sensible cooling [kWh/(m²a)] 0 0.8 0.4 4.2 7.2
Latent cooling [kWh/(m²a)] 0 2.3 0 0 7.2
Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Example Passive Houses for selected locations
(conditioning over solely air-supply is possible)
insulated frame &
double low-e glazing for
thermal comfort
construction determined by
winter conditions
floor slab not
insulated
significant cooling required
roof always
well insulated

12. Mannheim
Torino
Madrid
Seville
Palermo
Insulation wall [cm] 25 20 10 8 6
Insulation roof [cm] 35 25 25 20 20
Insulation basement [cm] 20 15 6 0 0
U window frames [W/(m²K)] 0.72 0.72 0.72 1.6 1.6
U-value glazing [W/(m²K)] 0.7 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2
Humidity control for cooling no yes no no yes
Heating demand [kWh/(m²a)] 15.6 14.8 12.7 4.6 3.1
Sensible cooling [kWh/(m²a)] 0 0.8 0.4 4.2 7.2
Latent cooling [kWh/(m²a)] 0 2.3 0 0 7.2
Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Example Passive Houses for selected locations
(conditioning over solely air-supply is possible)
no dehumidification
required

13. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Passive House
prototype performance in Seville during hot period
Cooling
Capacity:
~ 8 W/m²

14. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Passive House
passive cooling, light colour, night flushing, no HR
mostly
sufficient,
sometimes up
to 30 °C

15. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Standard insulation
passive cooling, light colour, night flushing, no HR
up to 37 °C

16. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Dynamics with active cooling
Seville: Existing buildingSignificant
peak demands

17. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Dynamics with active cooling
Seville: Passive House

18. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Example Passive Houses for selected locations
(conditioning over solely air-supply is possible)
Mannheim
Torino
Madrid
Seville
Palermo
Insulation wall [cm] 25 20 10 8 6
Insulation roof [cm] 35 25 25 20 20
Insulation basement [cm] 20 15 6 0 0
U window frames [W/(m²K)] 0.72 0.72 0.72 1.6 1.6
U-value glazing [W/(m²K)] 0.7 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2
Humidity control for cooling no yes no no yes
Heating demand [kWh/(m²a)] 15.6 14.8 12.7 4.6 3.1
Sensible cooling [kWh/(m²a)] 0 0.8 0.4 4.2 7.2
Latent cooling [kWh/(m²a)] 0 2.3 0 0 7.2
dehumidification
required!

19. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Thermal comfort in Palermo
(reference Passive House)

20. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Cooling & dehumidification in Palermo
(reference Passive House)

21. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
Nightflushing is not always a good idea
Types of Window Operation
-30
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0 Seville
Madrid
Torino
Palermo
Heating/CoolingDemand[kWh/(m²a)]
tilt (ref.)
turn
turn w/o
humidistat
Sensible cooling
Latent cooling

22. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
The effect of thermal mass
Madrid,no cooling
Operative temperature of
living room
Passive House...
...vs. no insulation

23. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate

24. Passive Houses in the Mediterranean Climate
... the general principle works!
Winter
• sufficient insulation: roof, walls, double low-e glazing
• more windows facing south
• some thermal mass?
• airtightness & mechanical ventilation with heat recovery
• less relevant: floor slab, thermal bridges
Summer
• solar control !!
• less windows?
• good insulation, especially in the roof
• in hot climates: light colours
• automatic heat recovery bypass
• night ventilation (if possible)
• some active cooling recommended for robustness
C
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25. Thank you!
For further information please visit:
Passivhaus Institut - www.passiv.de
IG Passivhaus - www.ig-passiv.de
Passivhaus Dienstleistung GmbH - www.passivhaus-info.de
Jessica Grove-Smith
Passivhaus Institut °Darmstadt, Germany