Sweltering summers? No Sweat!
Are you basking in the summer heatwave? The soaring mercury makes it more pertinent than ever to design buildings which do not guzzle energy to keep us warm in winter or stay cool in summer. Recently, overheating buildings is a growing concern in the UK, exacerbating health risks to the elderly & vulnerable and potentially increasing the strain on the NHS. The Environmental Audit Committee warns of 7,000 heat-related deaths every year in the UK by 2050.
Typically, in warm-hot climates, buildings have always had to be designed to cope with hot summer temperatures and the building’s occupants have learned how to keep a building cool using shading and night ventilation. Other European countries with typically hotter summers than the UK manage to maintain comfortable temperatures in their low-energy buildings without active cooling, so it follows that active cooling should not be required in the UK. Only where this is not possible should active cooling be considered.
Although a warming climate is sometimes blamed for the increase in overheating, the change in building specifications is also partly to blame. The insulation we use to keep us warm in winter also retains heat from the sun and internal gains in summer. If this heat gain is not removed, we become uncomfortable. Also, high performance glazing allows us to install more glass in our buildings without winter discomfort or high heating bills. However, the increased glazing could raise the risk of overheating. It is therefore very important to consider both winter and summer comfort levels when designing buildings.
The Passivhaus Standard also includes targets for summer comfort (including humidity) and the Passivhaus design software (PHPP) provides increasingly powerful tools to ensure that Passivhaus buildings deliver excellent summer comfort. For further design advice on summer comfort please download our Good Practice Guide and read our How to build a Passivhaus: Rules of thumb guidance.
How is your building coping? Hear the latest exemplar Passivhaus project teams discuss effective solutions to ensure summer comfort at the 2018 UK Passivhaus Awards Ceremony on the 24th October in London. Tickets are free, registration essential, so join us for an informative afternoon.
Further Information
PHT Good practice guide on designing for summer comfort
How do Passive House buildings stay comfortable in summer?: iPHA blog - 12 August 2018
The hidden problem of overheating: Committee on Climate Change – 8 August 2018
UK ‘woefully unprepared’ for deadly heatwaves, warn MPs: The Guardian - 26 July 2018
The impact of the heatwave on our daily lives at home: 19 July 2018
Passivhaus Overheating: Design it out: Elrond Burrell – 11 August 2016
