Passive Houses: Energy Efficient Homes

Enjoyed this book! Beautiful pictures and amazing houses

I bought this book in the hopes that it would be a less expensive version of other Amazon-listed Passive House book. Well, it isn't. What you get is a photo book of many interesting architecturally-designed homes from around the world that happen to meet Passive House standards. A couple paragraphs accompany each home along with the who, what, where, and when. If you are looking for a book that will help you design, or learn about the details of achieving Passive House status, this is NOT the book. How do you achieve an airtight envelope? What materials are available to use in a Passive House? How are thermal bridges eliminated? How are heat gain and losses dealt with? These questions are not addressed in any fashion. If you want to see pretty pictures of contemporary architecture and design of homes, then this might be of interest to you. Calling this book "Passive House" is really inappropriate, other than to say that an ultra-energy efficient house does not have to look like a bunker. Very disappointing.

This offering will make a wonderful coffee table book, if that's what you're looking for. The photos are excellent, and there are a wide variety of world-wide designs, if you are the kind of person who is inspired in their own work by seeing what others have done. It may have been that I did not read the title description clearly enough, as I was expecting a book instructing on 'how' to build a passive house, including the elements of air movement, off-grid power structures, water usage, site selection, etc. Your guests will appreciate your artistic tastes, but this is not a 'how to' construction manual.

not very technical. just pictures and a very short description of the house. i don't recommend this book for people who needs more information about passive design.