We received the Passivhaus Premium certification for the Can Tanca housing project a little more than a year after we started working on the rural house in San Lorenzo, Ibiza. Great, but … what does this all mean? First of all, it means that we have met the demanding requirements of the German institute for the Premium certification of high energy efficiency: the highest of the three possible categories.
It means that we have achieved, among many other parameters, that our energy demand is less than 30Kwh / m2a and that we generate more than 120Kwh / m2a, meaning that we need less energy than we generate, and also that it comes from renewable sources.
And why is all of this effort made? The reasons are many. The first is professional responsibility. One shouldn’t do things wrong if one has learnt to do them better, it’s simple really. The quality of the product. Certifying is the only way to ensure the house meets the set goals – speaking from experience, if we hadn’t certified, we wouldn’t have been able to reach the level of efficiency that we did. The health of the occupants – thanks to the ventilation system, an excellent indoor air quality is guaranteed, something that can already be seen in the data provided by the installed CO2 sensors.
In this type of housing, it is very important to monitor, it is not enough to calculate at the beginning, it is also necessary to measure later. Comfort – you have greater comfort in the house in terms of temperature, humidity, air quality, and peace of mind. Yes, peace of mind: who doesn’t sleep better knowing the bills will be small, or non-existent as in our case. Economy. Not only does it imply less cost for the user, it also implies less cost to the country, which needs to generate less energy to supply their cities.
All these reasons are enough on their own to take the step, to build efficient, however, none of them, in my opinion, is the main reason. The real reason we do this is more relevant than any of the benefits that, in one way or another, can be obtained from the different agents. The real reason is environmental responsibility. Climate change is already evident. There is increasing CO2 in the atmosphere and as a result global temperatures are rising. Buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption, and more than 80% of the energy we generate comes from fossil fuels. That means from burning things and that means emitting CO2.
We must then, speaking of generation, shift to emission-free sources, and speaking of demand, need less energy. Here everyone has to play their part. Building professionals should generate renewable energy in situ (not always possible) and also build in such a way so that energy demand is as low as possible. That is why Passivhaus is born, and that is the reason there are over 4.000 buildings built under the standard and that is why Can Tanca exists.
Álvaro Martínez Gil
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