Passive House Institute details Component Award for windows

The Passive House Institute is announcing its very first Component Award, recognising high-quality, cost-effective Passive House Components. This first edition of the Award will be dedicated to windows. The award ceremony will take place at the 18th International Passive House Conference, to be held in Aachen, Germany, on 25 and 26 April 2014.

A detached house will serve as the evaluation basis. For this building, participants will offer windows, (including installation) at their consumer prices. Participants will enter these windows, along with their thermal performance values, into an Excel data sheet provided by the Passive House Institute. The building will be optimised with regard to investment and energy costs based on the input provided by the participant, and will be compared with a building with “standard windows” in accordance with German legal requirements. The results will be determined in terms of

monetary savings made possible by each window with regard to the present value (life cycle costs). The offer providing the biggest savings will win.

Entry requirements

• The Award is open to all Passive House Windows, certified by the Passive House Institute and available for purchase by the date of the Award Ceremony.
• The submission deadline is 1 March 2014. Confirmed thermal performance values must have been submitted by this date. A signed certification contract must be provided in case of ongoing certification procedures.
• The costs stated in the submission must remain unchanged for at least one year after the presentation of the Award.
• The Component Award refers to cool, temperate climates (reference location: Frankfurt, Germany). Award categories will be based on construction types: wood, wood/aluminium, aluminium and PVC (a minimum of three submissions is required for each category to enter the award)
• In order to make up for different price levels in different countries, all quotations will be calibrated for Germany using the consumer price index.
• The submission documents include plans of the sample building along with the required window dimensions. The glazing thickness and the spacers will be based on the values stated in the certificate and on glazing statics. The coating can be selected individually. The distance between the factory and the construction site will be assumed to be 50 kilometres for all submissions.

Prizes

The winning components in each category will receive a special certificate showing the Component Award logo along with their category and rank, valid until the end of 2015. In addition, winners will be eligible for a free full colour advertisement in the Conference Proceedings of the 18th International Passive House Conference, and in the Exhibition Catalogue if an exhibition stand has been booked. Second and third place winners will receive a
special certificate, valid through 2014, as well as a free upgrade if an advertisement is booked in the Conference Proceedings and in the Exhibition Catalogue if an exhibition stand is booked. The winners may also use the Component Award logo with their category and rank for their own advertisements for as long as the certificate is valid. The certificate and a plaque will be presented at the 18th International Passive House Conference. The participants
will be informed of the results of the Component Award in advance.

All participants will be mentioned in the Component Award booklet, published by the Passive House Institute. The names of the winners will be mentioned along with their ranking. Other participants will be mentioned upon request. This publication will contain all relevant results including the quoted prices. A complementary copy will be sent to all participants.

Deadline

The submission deadline is 1 March 2014.

Component certification

Manufacturers who decide to have their product certified as a result of the Component Award will receive a discount on the certification costs. The same will apply for additional calculations of cross-sections and elements for existing certificates.
Please feel free to contact us!

Contact person

For more information, please contact us at the Passive House Institute:
Dr.-Ing. Benjamin Krick
benjamin.krick[at]passiv.de
Header: Component Award 2014

Entry requirements are available upon request.