Experience the Benefits of Passive House Living
Embrace the future of living with a Passive House, a concept rooted in German innovation for air-tight, supremely insulated homes. Our approach ensures your home is not just a place to live, but a sustainable sanctuary offering unmatched comfort, energy efficiency, and environmental stewardship. Discover how Passive House standards can transform your living experience into one of harmony with nature and significant energy savings.
The Passive House is based on principles to create exceptional energy-efficient homes with superior indoor climates.
The concept is based on slightly different principles than a passive solar house. They have similarities as well. For instance, they are similar in that direct sunlight in summer entering the home is avoided. This requires thinking through your design. Window placement throughout the house receives extra attention. Natural shade from trees can be utilised, and awnings are a popular method of reducing the impact of direct sunlight.
But above all, passive houses are airtight, well-insulated buildings that retain their temperature and indoor climate very well. Air-tightness is achieved by utilising an air-tight membrane around the entire building envelope. Thermal bridges that can transfer warmth or coldness from outside air or ground are also avoided in the design and construction. This has some implications for the type of windows, doors and frames used in a passive house.
With the air-tight membrane, natural ventilation is replaced with an HRV. This mechanical ventilation system extracts ‘old’ air from specific rooms, such as the kitchen, bathrooms, toilets and laundry, and replaces it with fresh air from outside by pumping it into the other rooms. The HRV not only extracts and pumps air in; it also transfers the temperature from outgoing to incoming air and filters it to capture pollen, dust and more. This leads to a stable temperature and very high air quality indoors.
Depending on the size of the house and the number of windows facing the sun, it is recommended for both a passive solar home and a passive place to have a closed system air-conditioning unit available for those days when extra heating or cooling is required. However, whether this is needed depends on your design and choices regarding insulation, window placement, awning and existing natural shade outside.
What is essential to understand is that your choice between a passive house and a passive solar design, or a more conventional energy-efficient build, all comes down to both the size and orientation of your block and your personal preferences, values and budget.
MK Building Solutions is here to help you navigate these choices and decisions. They have significant experience building passive solar houses and passive houses.
Why MK Building Solutions?
MK Building Solutions is a specialist in energy-efficient, custom-designed homes. We love building Passive Solar Designed houses.
We are driven by our commitment to energy-efficient homes, beautiful design, high-quality materials, and craftsmanship.
This results in long-term financial and well-being benefits for your family. Love The Home You're In ® is our motto, and we live by it.
For every house that we build, we’ll plant 1500 trees with the Eden Reforrestation Project.
Contact us today to discuss your project.
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Passive Solar Homes are well-known in Australia, and for good reasons. These houses are designed and built in such a way that they take maximum advantage of the sun and the orientation and location of the landscape. Learn more...
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Learn more about designing and building a sustainable house.
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Custom Energy-Efficient Homes offer a balance between energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness. These are ideal for lots and blocks that aren’t suitable for passive solar-designed homes.
Bringing Your Home and Renovation Dreams into Reality
At MK Building Solutions, we pride ourselves on our unparalleled ability to design and construct 10-star Solar Passive homes, completely customised to the dreams and desires of our clients. MK Building Solutions is at the forefront of creating energy-efficient and environmentally friendly homes. We seamlessly integrate passive solar design principles and passive house principles to maximize natural light, ventilation, and thermal performance, ultimately reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint.
We ensure that every Passive House we create exceeds energy efficiency standards while providing exceptional comfort and aesthetics for our clients. When you work with us, you will have a remarkable living experience with a custom home that not only saves on energy costs but also contributes to a greener future. We are one of the few building companies in Perth with experience building homes of these high standards, and we are proud to make this attainable for clients who have a normal budget, and would never expect to be able to build such custom high-spec homes.
Bring your existing plans, or have us design you a custom home to exceed your expectations and save you on energy costs.
Unlock a future of unparalleled comfort, eco-friendliness, and savings with our 8+ star-rated, custom-built homes. Embrace the Passive Solar Design or Passiv house philosophy and enjoy reduced energy bills, a lower carbon footprint, and an elevated resale value.
• 8+ star (up to 10 star-rated) Energy Efficient home
• Passive Solar or Passive house design
• Lifetime low energy bills
• High resale value with a 10% uplift
• Expert consultation & end-to-end services
• Cutting-edge construction methods
Designed & Built without breaking the bank!
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Reserve Your Consultation
Reserve your exclusive consultation with MK Building Solutions now. Let's bring your dream project to life! We're eager to discuss your vision and aspirations for your new home.
At MK Building Solutions, we prioritise quality and personalised attention. To guarantee each client receives the comprehensive care and dedication they deserve, we limit our projects and homes under construction at any one time. This approach ensures every detail of your project is managed with the utmost precision and excellence, fostering trust and delivering a superior experience from start to finish.
Frequently Asked Questions and Articles about Passive House
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A house is considered passive when it meets certain energy efficiency standards, requiring very little active heating or cooling to maintain comfortable living conditions. This is achieved through superior insulation, airtight construction, high-performance windows, thermal bridge-free design, and controlled (mechanical) ventilation. The goal is to minimise energy demand for heating and cooling, significantly reducing the home's carbon footprint.
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The concept of a Passive House, or Passivhaus, revolves around achieving ultra-low energy buildings that provide exceptional comfort and indoor air quality while using very little energy for heating and cooling. Originating from the Passive House Institute, this rigorous standard focuses on energy efficiency, sustainability, and creating a healthier living environment.
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One of the main disadvantages can be the higher initial cost due to the specialised materials and construction methods required. Additionally, the strict airtightness standards necessitate a mechanical ventilation system, which run as a ducted system throughout the house to supply filtered, fresh air. However, these initial investments often pay off in the long term through significantly reduced energy costs and a healthier indoor environment.
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The five principles of Passive House include:
Superinsulation to minimise heat and cooling loss,
Airtight building envelope to prevent drafts,
High-performance windows for optimal insulation,
Thermal bridge-free construction to eliminate points where heat or coldness is transferred,
Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) to ensure fresh air without energy loss.
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Yes, the Passive House standard is highly adaptable and works effectively in Perth’s climate. Australian Passive House Association actively promotes the standard, showcasing how these energy-efficient and comfortable homes can be achieved even in Australia's unique environmental conditions.
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Yes, you can open windows in a Passive House. While the homes are designed to be airtight for energy efficiency, occupants can open windows for natural ventilation as desired. The MVHR system ensures a continuous supply of fresh, filtered air, but the option to open windows allows for additional natural ventilation and personal comfort preferences.
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While both focus on energy efficiency, their approaches differ. A passive house uses a combination of airtight construction, superinsulation, and MVHR to minimise energy use for heating and cooling. Passive solar design, on the other hand, primarily uses the sun's energy for heating during winter, relying on the building's orientation, window placement, and thermal mass. Passive houses incorporate these solar design principles but apply them within the broader, stringent energy efficiency framework of the Passive House standard.