The potential for the Passive House standard in Longyearbyen – the High Arctic

Passive building design reduces a building’s energy consumption through mainly non-mechanical design strategies. The Passive House (or Passivhaus) Standard certifies such buildings that comply with its strict energy performance criteria. Achieving the Standard is very challenging for dwellings in extreme climates. There is limited knowledge of the Standard’s potential in Arctic regions, particularly the High Arctic. Through a review of the literature and energy modelling of a hypothetical dwelling, the challenges in achieving the Standard in Longyearbyen (78°N), Norway are investigated. Very low temperatures and 112 days without daylight create a high heating demand. Whereas previous studies measured actual building performances or used simple calculations, the findings in this investigation show the limitations of individual design parameters and technical limits of the building envelope. In theory the Standard can be achieved in Longyearbyen; however, the potential in practice is low due to the very tight margins in the heating criteria. The results show the significant impact of applying contextual (climatic) adjustments to the boundary conditions of the Standard. The investigation could contribute to a discussion on modifying the Passive House Standard for dwellings in the High Arctic and improving building design for the region.

Practical application : Current knowledge regarding energy efficient building performance in Arctic climates is limited, while the urgency for improved efficiencies is extremely high. The modelling in this work shows the valuable impact of contextual adjustments to the Passive House boundary conditions; the impact of individual design parameters; and the potential for significant energy savings through adopting passive house principles for dwelling design in Longyearbyen or similar climates. This investigation could encourage new policy making, additional research and the development of an optimized Passive House Standard that considers High Arctic climate conditions, thus encouraging new energy efficient building construction in cold climates.