Canadian Passive House Institute website is online

Daox · 03-03-10, 06:28 AM

I just got an email from a Canadian friend of mine telling me that the Canadian Passive House Institute just got their website up and running. It looks like it might have more info (or is at least better laid out) than the US Passive House Institute website, although I really haven't dove into it yet. However, I'll be looking it over soon!

Daox · 03-03-10, 06:59 AM

Nice chart here.

I decided it would be good for me to calculate my kWh heating energy use per square meter... Much to my dismay, I'm at 200. This is simply my gas usage (includes water heating, dryer and range), not electric. So, its not incredibly accurate, but fairly close.

Anyone else care to share their energy usage?

Piwoslaw · 03-03-10, 02:08 PM

I got 175 kWh/m2 per year. I had to do a bunch of approximating (I don't yet have data for the full heating season, and can't find bills from previous years), so it could be off by 20%.

EDIT (25-06-2010): I finally completed a full year of logging the gas usage, so here is better data:

During the last year we used 1932 m3 of natural gas,
The non-heating average is 0.5 m3 per day,
So we used 1747 m3 for heating.
Nat. gas has an energy value of around 32 MJ/m3 = 8.9 kWh/m3.
The house's floor area (without unheated basement and garage) is 110 m2, so
Our house is at 141 kWh/m2/year.

I'll have to look for old gas bills to get a multi-year average, which would be much closer to being objective, since this past winter was the coldest in 30 years.

knowbodies · 03-05-10, 10:16 AM

Hmmm, let's see. In the past year:

2243 cubic meters of natural gas
2233 KWh of electricity
200 sq meters of living space

Assuming 1 kwh = 3.6 MJ and 37MJ per cubic meter of natural gas, I used about 126 KWh/m2. Not bad for a hundred year old house.

WD-40 · 03-06-10, 10:12 AM

Anyone care to show the math to figure this out, I tried google and got a million ways to figure it out but nothing seems to give me results.
thanks

Daox · 03-06-10, 10:18 AM

I took my gas usage (gas forced air furnace is my main heat source) in therms and added it up for the entire year. Then, I converted the therms to kWhs. 1 therm = 29.3 kWh.

Then, I took my square footage of the house, converted it to square meters. 1 sqft = 0.0929 sqm.

Finally, I divided my total kWh by the square meters to get my kWh/m^2 for a year.

WD-40 · 03-06-10, 07:44 PM

Thanks Daox
So if I did it correctly ..
-----------------ft^2---m^2--------GJ-------Therms-----kW*h-----kWh/m^2
Living Space-----1240---115.196
Natural Gas--------------------------27.8-----263.49-----7720.25--- 67.02
Electricity------------------------------------------------5109------ 44.35
Total---------------------------------------------------------------111.37

Piwoslaw · 03-07-10, 01:54 PM

Nice result WD-40.
To Daox's post I'll add that in my case I use nat. gas for the stove and hot water, so by looking at gas usage for the non-heating season I know how much goes for those needs per day (about 0.5m3/day in my case). I multiply that by 365 and subtract from the year's total gas, and that gives me my gas usage for heating only.

If you want to be really detailed about this, then you should calculate how much hot water turns into space heating, same for the oven, refrigerator, hair driers, lights, electronics, etc. This is almost nothing for a large, inefficient house, but could probably amount to a large percent in a passive house. Maybe these things, plus the occupants' body heat, are taken into account when planning a passive house? I read that when some Scandinavians want to heat up their house they invite friends/neighbors over for a party.

Daox · 03-07-10, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WD-40

Thanks Daox
So if I did it correctly ..
-----------------ft^2---m^2--------GJ-------Therms-----W*h-----kWh/m^2
Living Space-----1240---115.196
Natural Gas--------------------------27.8-----263.49-----7720.25--67.02
Electricity------------------------------------------------5109-----44.35
Total-------------------------------------------------------------111.37

The calculations look correct. You only use 263 therms of gas a year? Thats very good. Your electric is on the higher side though (IMO). You must use some electric heat for something, water? Overall though your power consumption is great! Good job!

WD-40 · 03-07-10, 09:55 PM

Thanks guys .. My gas bill is low due to 97% efficient furnace and 68 degree temp on programmable thermostat, and new hot water tank.
My power consumption is high even tho I have reduced a ton of usage..
I had the furnace fan on low speed 24/7 to move air .. I thought more efficient, but cost a ton in power, I also had a Swordfish® UV Air Purifier but that cost a ton run 24/7 , so both are on timers now to save a bit.
All bulbs are either CFL or LED, I spent over $500 on 7 watt LED bulbs for the lower level recently. I recently spent around $2000 on an LG WM3988HWA combo washer dryer that runs on 120 volt and Ventless Condensing Drying System , plus I got a similar new LG dishwasher with the same Ventless Condensing Drying System so I'm hoping that will reduce the power bill a lot more. Damn it costs so much to save energy.

03-03-10, 06:28 AM	#1
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,521 Thanks: 1,160 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Canadian Passive House Institute website is online I just got an email from a Canadian friend of mine telling me that the Canadian Passive House Institute just got their website up and running. It looks like it might have more info (or is at least better laid out) than the US Passive House Institute website, although I really haven't dove into it yet. However, I'll be looking it over soon! __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by Daox; 03-03-10 at 06:37 AM..

03-03-10, 06:59 AM	#2
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,521 Thanks: 1,160 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Nice chart here. I decided it would be good for me to calculate my kWh heating energy use per square meter... Much to my dismay, I'm at 200. This is simply my gas usage (includes water heating, dryer and range), not electric. So, its not incredibly accurate, but fairly close. Anyone else care to share their energy usage? Attached Thumbnails __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

03-03-10, 02:08 PM	#3
Piwoslaw Super Moderator Join Date: May 2009 Location: Warsaw, Poland Posts: 947 Thanks: 187 Thanked 109 Times in 85 Posts	I got 175 kWh/m2 per year. I had to do a bunch of approximating (I don't yet have data for the full heating season, and can't find bills from previous years), so it could be off by 20%. EDIT (25-06-2010): I finally completed a full year of logging the gas usage, so here is better data: During the last year we used 1932 m3 of natural gas, The non-heating average is 0.5 m3 per day, So we used 1747 m3 for heating. Nat. gas has an energy value of around 32 MJ/m3 = 8.9 kWh/m3. The house's floor area (without unheated basement and garage) is 110 m2, so Our house is at 141 kWh/m2/year. I'll have to look for old gas bills to get a multi-year average, which would be much closer to being objective, since this past winter was the coldest in 30 years. Last edited by Piwoslaw; 06-25-10 at 04:57 AM.. Reason: Data update

03-06-10, 10:18 AM	#6
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,521 Thanks: 1,160 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	I took my gas usage (gas forced air furnace is my main heat source) in therms and added it up for the entire year. Then, I converted the therms to kWhs. 1 therm = 29.3 kWh. Then, I took my square footage of the house, converted it to square meters. 1 sqft = 0.0929 sqm. Finally, I divided my total kWh by the square meters to get my kWh/m^2 for a year. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

03-06-10, 07:44 PM	#7
WD-40 Lurking Renovator Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 24 Thanks: 3 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Thanks Daox So if I did it correctly .. -----------------ft^2---m^2--------GJ-------Therms-----kWh-----kWh/m^2 Living Space-----1240---115.196 Natural Gas--------------------------27.8-----263.49-----7720.25--- 67.02 Electricity------------------------------------------------5109------ 44.35 Total---------------------------------------------------------------111.37 Last edited by WD-40; 03-08-10 at 10:50 AM.. Reason: wrong #s and bad formatting*

03-05-10, 10:16 AM	#4
knowbodies Home Improvement Goon Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Moose Jaw, SK, CA Posts: 96 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Hmmm, let's see. In the past year: 2243 cubic meters of natural gas 2233 KWh of electricity 200 sq meters of living space Assuming 1 kwh = 3.6 MJ and 37MJ per cubic meter of natural gas, I used about 126 KWh/m2. Not bad for a hundred year old house.

03-06-10, 10:12 AM	#5
WD-40 Lurking Renovator Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 24 Thanks: 3 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Anyone care to show the math to figure this out, I tried google and got a million ways to figure it out but nothing seems to give me results. thanks

03-07-10, 01:54 PM	#8
Piwoslaw Super Moderator Join Date: May 2009 Location: Warsaw, Poland Posts: 947 Thanks: 187 Thanked 109 Times in 85 Posts	Nice result WD-40. To Daox's post I'll add that in my case I use nat. gas for the stove and hot water, so by looking at gas usage for the non-heating season I know how much goes for those needs per day (about 0.5m3/day in my case). I multiply that by 365 and subtract from the year's total gas, and that gives me my gas usage for heating only. If you want to be really detailed about this, then you should calculate how much hot water turns into space heating, same for the oven, refrigerator, hair driers, lights, electronics, etc. This is almost nothing for a large, inefficient house, but could probably amount to a large percent in a passive house. Maybe these things, plus the occupants' body heat, are taken into account when planning a passive house? I read that when some Scandinavians want to heat up their house they invite friends/neighbors over for a party. Last edited by Piwoslaw; 06-25-10 at 04:47 AM..

03-07-10, 09:55 PM	#10
WD-40 Lurking Renovator Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 24 Thanks: 3 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Thanks guys .. My gas bill is low due to 97% efficient furnace and 68 degree temp on programmable thermostat, and new hot water tank. My power consumption is high even tho I have reduced a ton of usage.. I had the furnace fan on low speed 24/7 to move air .. I thought more efficient, but cost a ton in power, I also had a Swordfish® UV Air Purifier but that cost a ton run 24/7 , so both are on timers now to save a bit. All bulbs are either CFL or LED, I spent over $500 on 7 watt LED bulbs for the lower level recently. I recently spent around $2000 on an LG WM3988HWA combo washer dryer that runs on 120 volt and Ventless Condensing Drying System , plus I got a similar new LG dishwasher with the same Ventless Condensing Drying System so I'm hoping that will reduce the power bill a lot more. Damn it costs so much to save energy. Last edited by WD-40; 03-08-10 at 10:52 AM.. Reason: added stuff

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode