You are not yet familiar with the Passive House and EnerPHit building standards and would like to expand your knowledge in this regard? On Passipedia - the Passive House Resource - you can find everything you need to know as a beginner - and much more.
You are interested in the details? Then feel free to jump directly to the certification criteria.
Passive Houses provide a very high level of comfort coupled with an extremely low energy consumption. The Passive House standard offers excellent cost-effectiveness, especially for new buildings. The slightly higher initial investment is quickly recouped thanks to the significant energy savings during the life cycle of the building.
EnerPHit (say "Enerfit") is the established standard for the energy-efficient modernisation of existing buildings with Passive House components. Taking into account that structural conditions often make it difficult to achieve the Passive House standard in existing buildings, this standard allows a slightly higher energy consumption as long as all comfort criteria are still met. The standard can be proven either based on the "energy demand method" or on the "building component method". Step-by-step retrofits with an EnerPHit retrofit plan are also possible. This plan can be pre-certified.
The PHI Low Energy Building standard was developed for buildings that aimed at but then barely missed the Passive House standard (for example because they fail to meet the airtightness requirement).
In addition, the following standards are currently being developed:
EnerPHit Unit is a special application of the EnerPHit building component method. Single retrofitted residential and commercial units in buildings with more than one unit can be certified with this option. For this, the unit under consideration must be completely retrofitted using Passive House components. The rest of the building is not taken into account in the certification.
The preliminary version of the developed criteria is available upon request and can already be used for project certification with the written confirmation of the certifier and the Passive House Institute. If you are interested in getting EnerPHit unit certification, please contact building.certification@passiv.de.
This certification track is being developed for non-residential buildings designed to be generally suitable for office use and which the owner rents out in part or entirely under the method known as core & shell. With this method, in addition to having the full thermal envelope completed, buildings must include at least: units and vertical distribution for ventilation, heating, cooling and DHW; lighting in common areas; lifts; external shading (if needed). All other systems and equipment are installed by the tenant. A document with the technical minimum requirements for the tenant fit-out (TMRT) must be produced for certification and included as part of the lease agreement. Tenants install the fit-out in the leased space according to the TMRT.
The preliminary version of the developed criteria is available upon request and can already be used for project certification with the written confirmation of the certifier and the Passive House Institute. If you are interested in getting EnerPHit unit certification, please contact building.certification@passiv.de.
It is highly recommended to upgrade Passive Houses and EnerPHit retrofits with the generation of renewable energy. This is reflected in the distinction between three classes:
For categorisation into Classic, Plus and Premium, the demand for renewable primary energy of the entire building (including heating, hot water generation, household electricity) is compared with the generation of renewable primary electricity.
All Passive House and EnerPHit classes can be achieved in all climate zones worldwide, although varying thresholds may apply. The building standards can be implemented in residential and most non-residential buildings (e.g., ranging from offices to schools and swimming pools).
During building certification, the design planning is carefully and comprehensively checked. Ideally, any errors can be corrected before construction begins. Further evidence from the construction work, such as the airtightness test, completes the quality control. A certificate is only issued if the precisely defined building criteria are met without exception. Thanks to the certification, clients know that their building actually fulfils the desired energy standard. This also increases the value of the property.
We recommend that you get in touch with a certifier early in the design planning phase. At this stage, problems can still be solved easily. In principle, however, certification is also possible after the building has been completed.
As a rule, all energy-relevant planning documents and technical data for the building components are submitted to the certifier before construction begins. After careful examination and comparison with the energy balance calculation, the certifier will highlight any necessary corrections to be made. After completion of the construction work, any planning changes as well as the results of on-site measurements are updated and checked during the final inspection (results of the airtightness test, adjustment protocol for the ventilation system, site manager's declaration).
If all building criteria are met, the owners receive their official certificate, a supplementary booklet with the documentation of the energy balance calculation and all relevant characteristic values of the building as well as an optional plaque.
Many building owners prefer to replace old building components step by step rather than retrofitting their building as a whole in one go. This approach is recommended as it is the economically most viable way to retrofit a building.
Before starting the first measure, however, an overall plan should be drawn up for the current and all subsequent modernisation steps - right through to the completely modernised state of the building. This is the only way to ensure that all steps dovetail well and that the builders can enjoy a cosy building with low energy costs after the final step.
The EnerPHit Retrofit Plan (included in the PHPP tool) offers such an overview. As additional quality assurance, the Passive House Institute offers pre-certification as an EnerPHit (or even Passive House) project. In addition to having developed a carefully prepared EnerPHit Retrofit Plan, the prerequisite for pre-certification is that the first retrofit step has already been implemented and that an energy saving of at least 20 % has been achieved. The pre-certificate gives clients and planners the certainty that the targeted standard will actually be achieved once all modernisation steps have been implemented as planned.
The certifier does not necessarily have to visit the building to be certified. Therefore, you are free to choose a certifier irrespective of where they are based.
The Passive House Institute offers certification to the Passive House, EnerPHit and PHI Low Energy Building standards worldwide. Please get in touch with us so we can send you a personalised offer!
Passive House Institute (German office)
Languages: de | en | es | it | ro | pl | bg | zh
building.certification@passiv.de
Passive House Institute (Austrian office)
Languages: de | en | hu
office@phi-ibk.at
Furthermore, the following certifiers have been accredited by the Passive House Institute to certify Passive Houses, EnerPHit retrofits and PHI Low Energy Buildings in its name worldwide:
ADD TABLE WITH FILTER OPTION?? https://passiv.de/de/03_zertifizierung/03_zertifizierer/01_autorisiert/01_autorisiert.html
Partners of the Passive House Institute have translated the certification criteria into various other languages. Check out the overview of all available translations.
Caution: Please be aware that the translations of third parties have not been verified. Therefore, building certifications must be based on the building criteria officially published by the Passive House Institute (English, German, Spanish).
For certification projects dating back to April 2023 or earlier the criteria for buildings in place at the start of the certification process apply.
Do you have any questions or comments? The building certification team will be happy to assist you directly by email at building.certification@passiv.de or by telephone on (+49) 6151 82699-0.