PHPP Modelling
Until now the PHPP energy modelling has only really been used for buildings aiming to achieve the Passive House Standard. This is the standard that some of the best buildings in the world achieve to ensure comfort and health for the people who use the building with very little energy use to do so.
Balance Design offers this modelling to anyone involved in building new, or making use of an existing building, to best understand what is possible and how it will work, to any standard. It is the attention to the detail combined with the use of sophisticated analysis tools that ensures that the building will work as it is designed (this of course depends on the building being built as designed!)
Below are a couple of examples of the level of detail that only the PHPP modelling offers to understand how the building will work in its context, in its climate, in its use. The shading and overheating analysis are both primarily concerned with knowing accurately just how the windows are working to balance the building.
Sample PHPP report for an existing building
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Shading Analysis
The shading of windows is analysed using the 3D model of the building in its context. This accurately accounts for even complex shading reliably.
The shading context is able to be altered to represent summer and winter conditions with deciduous trees/vines or moveable shading (shade sails/vergolas) to analysis accurately the solar gain impact specifically for the heating and cooling seasons.
The PHPP uses precise window frame and glass performance data that is specific to each and every window. Together with the shading analysis the solar gain impact on the building is well understood.
The shading mask is the view of the sky from the window being analysed that shows the building and winter tree condition where it will block sun hitting the window
Existing windows/doors (single glazed with Aluminium frame)
New windows/doors (triple glazed with uPVC frame)
Overheating Analysis
The PHPP calculates how many hours in a year the building is too warm (expected to exceed 25°C), and this can be understood for any temperature set point. If overheating is not designed out before a building is built it is then often expensive and difficult to manage with the need to add shading or additional air-conditioning.
It is only with a 3D model of the building in its context can the window shading be accurately understood. Too much solar gain is the primary driver of overheating so accuracy in understanding the shading really matters.
The PHPP stress test for summertime overheating provides insight into how the building will operate under potential higher heat stress loads, both from the climate as well as the way the building is used. This assessment of the resilience of the building is critical to balance to design the optimum performance for summer as well as winter now as well as for a warmer future climate.
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