Where is Europe right now? Passive houses in foreign countries. Part 2

Austria

Author: Mónika Vértesy (Translated by Szabina Várnagy)
2013-10-30

In this series we show you the evolution of the passive house construciton in certain European countries. What are the current certification systems? Is there any government support available?

The number of passive houses per capita is in Austria the highest...

The catalyst of the Austrian developments was undoubtedly the province of Voralberg, where from 2007 each newly built multi-storey social reidental building has to meet the passive house standards. This way the local government can save up a lot on the utilities. The 'pioneer' constructions started long before the regulation came into force, and they set a good example. As a result, a sort of competition has emerged among the provinces. For example in 2008, the city of Wels enacted the same regulation for each municipal building.

Klima: Aktiv Haus program

In addition, the Austrian government has been active, as well. In their program between 2007-2010, they handle the buildings' energy efficiency as a priority. To facilitate this, the 'Klima: Aktiv Haus' program was announced. The program aims to build at least 50% of the new buildings to meet the low-energy standards. The program focuses also on the improvement of the houses built after the war, the requirement for these buildings is 30kWh/m2/year. One third of the Austrian houses was built in the 60s and 70s, their renovation is actual anyway. Since these buildings have been designed reasonably (such as compact form), their transformation into passive houses is easier then the older buildings'. Last but not least the 'Klima: Aktiv Haus' program is hoped to create 500,000 new jobs.

source: http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/passivhaus.JPG

9 kinds of support system

At the same time, the spread of the passive houses is propagated actively. The requirements of the 'Klima: Aktiv Haus' meet the standards of the German Passiv House Insititute. In addition to the compulsory use of the water-efficient fixtures and the protection against the summer heat, the use of the materials, like HFC and PVC is prohibited. The 'Klima: Aktiv Haus' is a 1000-point rating system. 900 points should be achieved for the passive house certificate, and 700 points for the low-energy building.

The support system is not unified, nine kinds of support system operate in parallel, and their requirements have many differences. Currently, the majority of the aids does not require the passive house qualification, but the objective of the government's current program is to change it.

For an outside observer, the situation is even more chaotic: in addition to the PHPP certficifation, the OBI (Österreichisches Institut für Bautechnik - Austrian Institute for Building Technology) has its own rating system, which requirements fall short of the values determined by the PHPP, so it sets a much larger value for the internal heat load, while it exaggerates the effects of shading. The primary energy demand is calculated differently, which complicates the comparison further.

There's no stopping

Despite the apparent confusion, Austria is the only 'Innovator' country next to Germany, where the market got into the "self-induced" accelerating phase. Over 2,000 residential units, the Austrians strive to reduce the dominance of the detached houses compared to the row-houses. In order to convince even more people of the benefits of passive houses, 'test flats' were developed, to help with the decision making.

Next articles of "Where is Europe right now? Passive houses in foreign countries" article series:

1. Germany
3. Belgium, where a PHPP certificate worth tax discounts
4. Italy
5. The French nuance...
6. Switzerland
7. The United Kingdom
8. Romania
9. Netherlands
10. Poland
11. Denmark

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