Considerations concerning the feasibility of the German Passivhaus concept in Southern Hemisphere

The first Passive House (PH) was built in 1990/1991 in Darmstadt-Kranischstein (Germany). It was the first real-size implementation of a concept proposed by Wolfgang Feist. Since then, several empirical design solutions have been developed by the Passive House Institute (PHI) of Darmstadt. This paper deals with the feasibility of the PH concept in Southern Hemisphere. The paper compares general climate conditions for 13 European localities and 38 localities in South America, South Africa, mainland Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. Further analysis is performed by estimating the energy performance of a prototype passive building when located in any of these localities. The prototype passive building is AMVIC PH built in 2008 in Bragadiru (Romania). The energy performance is evaluated by using the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) developed by PHI. Passive buildings located in Tasmanian and South American localities at latitudes higher than 53° have a higher heating demand than European localities at similar latitudes. New Zealand and South American localities at latitudes lower than 53° generally have lower heating demand than European localities at the same latitude. The cooling demand is generally smaller in Southern Hemisphere than in Northern Hemisphere. Passive buildings placed in Tasmania, New Zealand, and South America do not require cooling while those located in South Africa and mainland Australia require a reduced amount of cooling.