Thermal comfort in a passive solar building

The paper offers a description of possibilities of reducing energy consumption in modern passive solar buildings. The research was carried out based on the analysis of regulatory documents (EU directives, Polish legislation, analyses of reports and publications of the US Department of Energy - National Energy Technology Laboratory). The applied methods comprised the modelling and design method, as well as the analytical method. Heat balance was calculated using Herz OZC, version 3.0 (c) computer software 1994-2007. The heat demand of the passive building has been calculated considering the heat recovery from ventilation and the efficiency of the recuperator. The average annual cost of heating of the energy-efficient building is PLN 4,715, while of the traditional building - PLN 14,115, i.e. three times as much. The solutions proposed in the article significantly reduce the heat load on a traditional building, so they are a good way to reduce heating expenditures. Building a passive solar house is a green investment offering tangible environmental and economic benefits. Construction of passive buildings contributes to lower consumption of fossil fuels, the resources of which are shrinking with the ever-increasing demand for energy.