María Eugenia Velásquez
If you are thinking about building a passive house, or are interested in the subject as a future project, you will surely have noticed that the term "thermal bridges" comes up in almost all information related to the Passivhaus standard. But what are thermal bridges and why are they so important when talking about Passivhaus?
There is technical documentation that explains it in detail, but in this article I will try to explain it in simple words 😉 Go for it!
To talk about thermal bridges, we must first understand what a building envelope is. When we refer to the thermal envelope, we are talking about all the components that separate the interior from the exterior. If we think of buildings as a human body, the building envelope would be the skin, that layer that protects the building from temperature changes and inclement weather.
That said, a thermal bridge is a specific point in the envelope where the heat flow is different compared to adjacent areas. This is because the envelope is usually composed of different materials (wood, brick, glass, etc.) that have different thermal conductivities.
Getting a bit technical? Keep this in mind: thermal bridges are "weak" points in the building envelope that allow more or less heat to pass through than desired.
One of the basic principles of energy-efficient construction is airtightness, in order to maintain the desired temperature inside. It is therefore essential to avoid thermal bridges.
Think about this: Imagine you buy a thermos, one of those trendy ones that keep your coffee hot for thousands of hours (well, 8 hours or so). In the morning you prepare your coffee very hot and put it in your thermos, but in your haste you left the lid on a little bit wrongly closed. Well, of course, when you get to work the coffee won't be completely cold, but it probably won't be as hot as you expected it to be.
It's the same in your house, even if you install super insulation, if you don't eliminate the thermal bridges the heat will continue to escape.
The Passivhaus standard emphasises building free of thermal bridges wherever possible. The aim is to reduce the effects of thermal bridges to such an extent that they are so insignificant that they do not even have to be taken into account in the PHPP (Passive House Planning Package) calculations.
Achieving an airtight construction, free of thermal bridges, is a combination of proper planning and choice of materials. There are now many Passivhaus-certified components that are precisely designed to avoid thermal bridges as much as possible.
Are you interested in learning more about this topic? Do you want to build a passive wooden house? Schedule a video call with us and let's start shaping your project.
Source: "Active for more comfort: Passive House", International Passive House Association.
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