Australia's First Certified Non-Residential Passive House
Australia's First Certified Non-Residential Passive House and Most Energy Efficient Building in the Country - Only $3.00 Per Month to Operate!
Torrens Early Learning in Canberra, Australia has just received Passive House certification, making it the first non-residential building to reach this standard in Australia.
It also gained the prestigious Premium rating. Whilst there are 4879 certified buildings worldwide, there are only 14 buildings certified as Passive House Premium, which means the building generates more energy than it consumes.
This is the first non-residential building designed and constructed to this world leading energy efficient standard in the Southern Hemisphere.
Some notable features:
It is the most energy efficient building in Australia
$3.00 a month in energy costs
It has been operating for the last 18 months as a custom designed childcare centre
The property benefits from the many features found in passive house building include comfort, insulation, energy efficiency, and ventilation
Pre-fabricated insulated panels
Triple-glazed windows from Germany
Cross Laminated Timber flooring systems
Healthy air energy recovery ventilation systems (ERV) generating fresh clean (filtered air)
Solar electricity generation
Torrens Early Learning was built and is operated by Natalie Colbert. Natalie is a passionate mum who advocates healthy custom-designed environments which facilitate children’s health, happiness and learning.
“The Passivhaus standard is world-leading in terms of occupant’s health, when I first heard about Passivhaus I knew I had to build this building for the health of the children I look after. When I first spent time in a Passive House I knew it was the only option for my next building in terms of sustainability and the future”
“As a commercial building, it is world-class in its thermal efficiency, and therefore highly energy efficient. My other buildings cost me $15,000 a year in electricity – whilst Torrens is only $36.00 – and that is mostly from the admin fees of being grid-connected.”
“The buildings filtration system was also a huge bonus during the bushfires, our full airtight building combined with our fully filtered air systems which ensured no smoke particles were entering our learning spaces, and if they did, they were scrubbed by our super-fine F7 filters. Probably the cleanest commercial indoor air in the world.”
