Reports

In Germany, passive houses have been built since the mid 1990ies. By now, there are about 10,000 of buildings worldwide that have been constructed as passive houses. Passive houses are particularly characterized by their low energy consumption of less than 15 kWh/(m²a) (square meters of floor area and year). This corresponds to an oil consumption of 1.5 l/(m²a) or a gas consumption of 1.5 (m³/m²a).

Good air tightness of the building envelope makes an important contribution to improving the energy efficiency of buildings. In Germany, the air tightness of the building envelope has been embodied in the standards since the mid 1990ies. Apart from single-family homes, in the last couple of years larger buildings like office complexes, halls, schools, retirement homes, production facilities, and warehouses have also been successfully tested. This trend is now also spilling over into our neighbouring countries, which are increasingly focusing on a defined and controlled air permeability of the building envelope. More attention is being paid to large buildings with an internal volume of more than 4.000 m³.

Production and development processes in the electrical industry (micro chips), highprecision technology (high-precision fines and micro components), medical research and food technology as well as operating theaters require laboratories or rooms with particularly „clean“ air. Clean-room technology is dedicated to protecting these work areas. One of its main tasks is to prevent undesired excessive concentrations of particulate matter and fine dust in the air, which can lead to disturbances in the operating procedures and a distortion of research results. This is why it is necessary to restrict the concentration of particles in the ambient air.