Polystyrene to drive housing insulation improvements in Australia

What is Passive House certification?

Certified Passive House (often known by its abbreviation CPH) is a voluntary standard for constructing buildings that deliver a healthy indoor environment that is comfortable in temperature and humidity while using very little energy.

And perhaps Passive House could be the next big thing in Australia. While it’s a relatively new idea here, it’s been popular in building and construction in Europe for a couple of decades.

Originating in Germany in 1992, where it is known as ‘Passivhaus’, Passive House has proven to be a very useful means of enabling buildings of all types (not just residential) to provide high quality, low energy indoor environments.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, Passive House is not enforced sealing up of the building where windows and doors are never opened. On the contrary, you can live in a Passive House as you would in any other house – opening doors when the weather is nice, closing them when it is too hot or too cold.

The difference is that when you close the house, it really is closed, and it looks after the indoor environment to a very high standard of health and comfort.

One of the key principles of Passive House is eliminating thermal bridges, which are the points at which conventional houses lose energy.

What role can polystyrene play?

Polystyrene helps to achieve the highest results in insulating homes and can also deliver 6 star performance at a significantly lower cost than other building products. One of the most cost-effective ways to achieve optimum insulation in walls, roof and floor slabs, polystyrene insulates by minimising thermal bridges between rooms and the exterior.

Central to the home’s performance is its airtight envelope achieved through attention to insulation and membrane detail in the slab, timber framing, roof and, most importantly, all the junction points.

Foamex’s Styroboard XPS is a resilient and robust polystyrene construction material boasting a high compressive strength and a superior thermal performance. Its high-density cell structure also makes it practically impervious to water. When insulation comes into contact with water it loses its thermal abilities, even when facing extreme weather conditions.