ABSTRACT
Micheel Wassouf, a certified Passive House (PH) designer from Barcelona, Spain, presented monitoring results from two PH residences in his region at International PH Conference to respond, in his words, to doubts that PH is the right building standard for the Mediterranean summer. Adam Cohen, an experienced PH designer and builder in Virginia, has been at the forefront of figuring out how best to adapt PH to mixed humid climates. Milder climates, where the space conditioning loads can be brought very low by building a PH envelope, have their own issues. With PH envelopes, even constant mechanical ventilation bringing in fresh air to a structure may not answer all indoor air quality (IAQ) concerns. However, research has shown that this approach may lead to poor IAQ, depending on the design of the mechanical system and whether cook top is gas-fueled, electric, or induction. The PH approach assumes extraction of air from the kitchen area, but not necessarily a range hood.
