What is a Passive House?

A Passive House represents today's highest energy standard promising to reduce heating and cooling energy consumption by a remarkable 90%. A Passive house is extremely well insulated and virtually air tight in an effort to bring a building to zero energy consumption while minimizing energy loss. A Passive House achieves this amazing standard of air tightness by employing elite home sealing and insulating products to the exterior shell of the home.

The virtually air tight home is primarily heated by passive solar gain and by internal gains from people, electrical equipment, etc. A certified Passive House is the world's most energy efficient home to date. Learn more »

Why does Passive House trust Freedom Pet Pass pet doors for dogs and cats?

Because Freedom Pet Pass pet doors are the only pet doors on the market that seal air tight. Below is a story sent to us from Blake Bilyeu. Blake is a sustainable home professional who is a Graduate from Oregon States prestigious Environmental Science program. Blake is also Leed certified and he specializes in passive homes.

"As custom green homebuilders in Oregon, quality, high performance components are critical to what we do. Early discussions with our most recent customers made two things very apparent: they wanted a new home built with extreme energy efficiency in mind—an incredibly low energy home built to the Passive House Standard (www.passivehouse.us), but one that also held a place for their dog Pippen and had his needs in mind as well. Our initial research turned up a few options, but only one that had actually been tested for air tightness—the Freedom Pet Pass pet door. passive home in salem Oregon featuring an airtight freedom pet pass pet door.

We decided to give it a shot, knowing that to meet the strict Passive House certification requirements we would have to reach extremely low levels of air infiltration on our blower door test. Initially we planned to do our own testing on just the pet door before committing ourselves and cutting a hole in the door to the backyard.

However, upon opening up the freshly shipped package, it became quite apparent that the quality of construction and tenacity of the air seal were both very, very high. We installed the pet door without hesitation, and suffice it to say, the pet door did not disappoint--we exceeded the Passive House air tightness requirements by a factor of three!

Now, while the homeowners appreciate the incredible comfort and efficiency of their new home, Pippen is happily enjoying his access to backyard freedom."

Blake J. Bilyeu | SHP| CPHC |
Bilyeu Homes, Inc.
custom home design and construction"

Exceeded the Passive House air tightness requirement by a factor of 3!

The air tightness requirement for Passive House certification is 0.6 ach50., and requires a different method for interior volume calculation resulting in even stricter levels of tightness. This level is achievable only with an extremely well thought out and detailed shell.

Our Passive House project in Salem, OR, achieved a remarkable third party certified 0.2 ACH50 on it’s final blower door test, and this was with a Freedom Pet Pass 6x10 door-mounted pet door unit in place during testing.

Blower door test results for the 16th & Nebraska Passive House as tested by the Earth Advantage Institute

Interior volume based on Passive House Methodology: 13772 ft3
CFM at 50 pascal depressurization: 47 cfm50
Air changes per hour at 50 pascal depressurization: 0.2 ach50

What is a blower door testing as it relates to Passive Homes?

To test levels of air tightness and locate leaks in a home, a large calibrated fan called a blower door is used to evacuate air from the interior. This fan depressurizes the building down to -50 pascals, which is the equivalent of a 25 mph wind hitting the house from all directions at once. Under this pressure differential, any areas contributing to leakage can be found and remedied.

The resulting amount of leakage can be expressed many ways, but is usually seen in the form of “x” ach5o, which relates how many air changes per hour the house will experience under an induced pressure differential of 50 pascals. It is not uncommon for older homes to have numbers in excess of 10 ach50 (10 whole house air changes every hour at -50 pascals). New, well built homes often fall in the 3-5 ach50 range, and getting below 2 ach50 only takes place with true diligence to sealing details and components.