Yellow Rock Passive House
Description: In Progress – Passive House Classic to BAL40
Building Type: Detached single family home
Location: Yellow Rock NSW 2777
Number of Apartments/Units: 1
Treated Floor Area According to PHPP: 382m2
Construction Type: Timber Construction – Blue Eco Homes Prefab System
Year of Construction: Due for completion - Due for Completion 2021
Background and Brief
This project is a fantastic example of how Passive House principles can be applied to larger homes to be incredibly energy efficient and sustainable.
With a treated floor area of 382m2, this almost completed passive house in Yellow Rock in the Blue Mountains has been designed as a multi-generational home.
With 4 bedrooms and living spaces across 3 levels, all linked to a common area, this home also incorporates gold liveability standards and includes an elevator.
The home has been constructed using prefab wall and roof cassettes, researched and developed by Blue Eco Homes, and recently achieved an amazing 0.59 ACH50 at blower door testing.
We are aiming to achieve passive house plus for this project.
After launching ‘Sapphire’ we were looking to improve the process and performance for future Passive House builds. This led us to develop our own Passive-House Prefabricated wall and roof system called ‘Passive Prefab 5’.
Our system has been modelled to PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) and WUFI (hygrothermic analysis) tested to avoid condensation and moisture, achieving watertight, weather tight and air tightness of 0.28 air changes/hour (aiming for 0.6 or lower air changes/hr to meet Passive House standard) suitable for both residential and commercial construction.
The video shows the wall, roof cassettes, and metal roofing installation in less than 5 days on this project in July 2020.
Project Members
Architecture: Diego Villar, Villar Architect
Energy Consultant: Daniela Russo, Plus Energy Living
Building Services: Blue Eco Homes
Building Physics: Blue Eco Homes
Certifier: Jason Quinn, Sustainable Engineering
Builder: Blue Eco Homes
Thermal Envelope
Exterior Wall: Blue Eco Homes Prefab System
Roof: Blue Eco Homes Prefab System
Glazing: Triple Glazing
Mechanical Systems
Ventilation: Brink Climate Systems – Flair 400+225 & Air 70 HRV Units
Heating & Cooling Installation: Reverse Cycle Air conditioning
Domestic Hot Water: Sanden Heat Pump
PHPP Values
Climate: 5: Warm
Air Tightness: n50 = 0.59/h
Annual Heating Demand: 6.5 kWh/(m2a)
Heating Load: 8.2 W/m2
Cooling Load: 18 W/m2
Cooling and Dehumidification Demand: 12.5 kWh/(m2a)
PE Demand (Non-Renewable Primary Energy): 59 kWh/(m2a)
PER Demand (Renewable Primary Energy): 26.9 kWh/(m2a)
Generation of Renewable Energy (in relation to projected building footprint area): 47 kWh/(m2a)