Table of Contents

Tools

The Passive House is all about a good planning process. The goals are: healthy buildings, comfortable buildings and sustainable buildings. The decisive factor here is the quality of the building envelope and the ventilation. The performance of a designed building can be calculated prior to construction - the tools on this page help to simplify the design process.

Passive House Design Tools

CategoryToolsDescriptionLanguages
Design tools PHPP The Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) is an easy-to-use planning tool for energy efficiency, for the use of architects and planning experts. The reliability of the calculation results and ease of use of this planning tool has already been experienced by several thousand users. For more information, click here and here.EN, DE
designPH designPH 2 is a plugin for the popular 3D design software SketchUp which gives quick results using automatic analysis. For a brief overview, click here, or see the designPH homepage at www.designph.orgEN, DE
bim2PH bim2PH is a BIM Tool developed by the Passive House Institute, which allows efficiency data entry in 3D BIM software and transfers information for the energy balance calculation and efficiency design into the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP).Currently being revised
districtPH districtPH is used to create energy balances for neighborhoods, from smaller groups of buildings up to whole districts.EN

Additional Tools

CategoryToolsDescriptionLanguages
Climate Climate data tool With this tool you can retrieve climatic data in the PHPP data format for any location in the world except Antarctica. This data has not been verified and cannot be used for certification purposes.EN, DE
Climate data tool for the southern hemisphere Tool for the adaptation of climate data sets of the Southern Hemisphere to be used in PHPP up to version 9.EN
Summer temperature tool Modification of existing PHPP climate data with higher summer temperatures to allow better evaluation of the summer comfort of buildings.EN, DE
Climate Conversion PHPP Versions Tool This tool provides a template in order to automatically convert PHPP climate data between PHPP versions 9 and 10.EN
Climate Conversion PHPP SI to IP This tool provides a template in order to automatically convert PHPP climate data from SI to IP units, and vice versa. All cell references and formatting refer to PHPP version 9.EN
Thermal envelope Temperature reduction factors for unheated or partially heated extensions Calculation tool for temperature reduction factors to temperature zone “X” in the PHPP “Areas” worksheet.EN, DE
MEET (outPHit Manufacturing Energy Evaluation Tool) The tool will be new add-on to the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) and can be used to assess and compare single materials regarding manufacturing energy and CO2, opaque assemblies regarding manufacturing and operational energy as well as CO2.EN
MEETonline With the user-friendly tools MEETonline Building Assembly Comparison and MEETonline Building Lifecycle Analysis Calculator, you can quickly conduct an ecological life cycle assessment (including CO2). The Building Assembly Comparison allows you to compare exterior building components and assess the impact of thermal insulation. In contrast, the Building Lifecycle Analysis Calculator evaluates the entire building concept, including interior components, building technology, and PV systems.EN, DE
Thermal bridges Calculation of heat losses of drain pipes This tool enables a more accurate calculation of heat losses from internal drain pipes for wastewater and stormwater.EN, DE
Thermal bridge tool The user can play with different inputs for standard generic component connections, receiving straightforward feedback, which allows fast optimisation.EN
Thermal bridge tool for timber constructions With this tool, the user can look up the heat losses from thermal bridges at component connections made of wooden construction.EN, DE
Windows Window tool The Window tool provides an overview regarding life-cycle costs, hygiene, and comfort for comparison of different windows.EN
Hygiene tool Provides an assessment of the minimum thermal quality of building components with regard to its temperature factor, depending on the relative humidity.EN
Reduction factor for shading A tool that calculates shading reduction factors for shading devices according to ISO 52022, including the impact of insect screens.DE, EN
Ventilation Commissioning tool The Commissioning tool serves planners and ventilation system installers in how to communicate the correct operational data and how to adequately adjust a ventilation system.Currently being revised
Ventilation tool The tool offers all sorts of information about ventilation units, like performance, dimensions, installation options, to facilitate finding a suitable device for the specific requirements of the customers specific situation.EN
PHLuft The PHLuft Tool consists of the three parts: Heat output, Ground heat exchanger (air based), Heat exchanger. The Tool is intended to aid designers of Passive House ventilation systems.DE
Pressure Loss Calculation Tool Calculation of pressure losses in ventilation ducts (circular and rectangular).EN, DE
PHErde The tool is intended to serve Passive House designers as an aid for the design and calculation of brine-to-earth heat exchangers.DE
Cooling Cooling Systems tool Different cooling configurations can quickly be entered and compared, so that an informed choice of the appropriate system combination is possible.EN
Heat pump Heat pump tool It derives the test points for COP (heating) and EER (cooling) from the available manufacturer data (e.g. HSPF/SCOP or SEER). Tool versions are available for both PHPP 9 (only air-to-air HP) and PHPP 10 (ground- and air-to-water HP as well).EN
Heat pump water heaters This tool helps to enter heat pump water heaters inside the thermal envelope into PHPP10.EN, DE
Electricity Lift energy demand tool This tool helps to assess the energy demand of lifts using the Excel®-Tool of the Passive House Institute. The assessment follows the calculations presented in VDI 4707 2009-3.EN, DE
Monitoring & Photographic Evidence Data processing tool This tool aids in the preparation of measurement data for use in the energy balancing with PHPPEN, DE
(Extended) Building site photographs checklist A detailed list that can be linked to the PHPP, enabling precise and project-specific explanations of the photos that need to be taken on the building site. Comes with a folder structure to keep everything organized.EN
Scaled pointer The Passive House Institute has designed a scaled pointer for use during building site visits - as a scale and reference within building site photos.EN
Others IP Conversion Conversion of units between the imperial (IP) and metric (SI) system.EN
Saturation densities of vapour in air This tool gives values for the stauration water vapour density dependent on tempearture.EN, DE
Tools and calculation relating to sound protection This tool is intended as aid for approximate calculation and dimensioning of sound protection measures by the designer.DE
DESUTO (outPHit Decision Support Tool) With the Decision Support Tool, outPHit helps with the planning of energy-related improvements and is intended to facilitate the first steps towards refurbishment.EN
PVecon (outPHit PV Economy Evaluation) This tool to assess PV self-consumption potential of a building, the possibility to improve the self-consumption ratio by temporary storing PV electricity within a building, and supports to evaluate the economic potential of selling PV to the grid.EN, DE, and others
High-Rise Pressure Difference Calculator This tool calculates the pressure differences in high-rise buildings due to buoyancy. It helps with calibrating the airtightness test settings.EN, DE