Certification criteria for Passive House and EnerPHit buildings

The following links provide information about building certifications offered by the Passive House Institute. In addition, examples of local and regional certification are given.

There are four main Passive House criteria that form the International Passive House certification criteria:

• Very low space heating demand of less than 15 kWh per m² and year.
• Very low space cooling demand of less than 15 kWh per m² and year.
• Very good airtightness of less than 0.6 air changes per hour at a pressure difference of 50 pascal.
• Very low primary energy demand (heating, cooling, domestic hot water, household electricity) of less than 120 kWh per m² and year.

Certification criteria have been translated into many languages by local partners. The official versions in English and German are listed on the official website:

• Criteria for residential buildings
• Criteria for non-residential buildings

For existing buildings, the best solution is the application of Passive House components. The standard is called "EnerPHit" - Energy retrofit with Passive House components.

• EnerPHit certification criteria for existing buildings

In the Passive House project database, certified Passive House Buildings are marked with the PHI logo.

Furthermore, component certification and person certification are also available from the Passive House Institute. For detailed information, please go to the official website of the Passive House Institute.