Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a critical consideration in airtight buildings that depend on mechanical ventilation, such as those constructed to the Passivhaus standard. While previous reviews of IAQ on Passivhaus-certified buildings foccused on offices, this study examines residential buildings. A summary of data collection methods and pollutant concentrations is presented, followed by a critical discussion of the impact of Passivhaus design strategies on IAQ. This review indicates that IAQ in Passivhaus-certified dwellings is generally better than in conventional homes, but both occupant behaviour and pollution from outdoor sources play a significant role in indoor concentrations. Moreover, there are differences in data collection and reporting methods. Many of the available studies depend on short-term IAQ monitoring of less than two weeks, making it difficult to determine the longer impact of housing design on IAQ and occupants’ well-being. There is also a lack of studies from non-European countries. Future research should focus on investigating associations between IAQ and Passivhaus design strategies in hot and humid climates, where evidence is particularly lacking. Further effort is also required to investigate potential links between occupant’s perception of IAQ and physical exposure to indoor pollution. Finally, the lack of homogeneous monitoring and reporting methods for IAQ studies needs to be addressed.

Climate change and sustainability legislation in recent years has led to significant changes in construction approaches in the UK housing sector. This has resulted in the adoption of new building typologies, including the German Passivhaus (Passive House) standard. This standard aims to improve occupant comfort and energy efficiency, potentially changing the ways in which homes operate and how occupants interact with them. With increasing construction of low energy dwellings, there is an emerging gap in knowledge in relation to occupant health and wellbeing, thermal comfort, and indoor air quality (IAQ). Using data collected from a two year Building Performance Evaluation (BPE) study funded by Innovate UK, the environmental data (temperature, relative humidity and carbon dioxide concentrations) from five Certified Passive House homes in Scotland was compared. The results demonstrate problems with overheating with peak temperatures exceeding 30 °C. Imbalanced mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems were identified in 80% of the dwellings and inadequate IAQ was found due to poor ventilation. Only one of the Passive Houses studied exhibited thermal conditions and IAQ which were, on the whole within Passive House parameters. This paper outlines the insights and the main issues of Scottish Passive House in the broader context of sustainability.

This research investigates the impact on energy use of the different ways in which office spaces can be organised and used. It explores typical UK office layouts, utilisation densities and intensities on a good practice-base case shell. This is achieved using the TAS, Lightscape and Excel software packages. For the average occupancy of 50%, the analysis indicates that the variations in combined thermal and lighting loads are 19% and 51% during the UK peak winter and summer respectively. The respective per capita load variations are 80% and 16%. The analysis demonstrates that space planning and utilisation have significant impacts on energy use and are important in assessing energy performance.

Sustainable building design, such as the Passivhaus standard, seeks to minimise energy consumption, while improving indoor environmental comfort. Very few studies have studied the indoor air quality (IAQ) in Passivhaus homes outside of Europe. This paper presents the indoor particulate matter (PM_2.5), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and total volatile organic compounds (tVOC) measurements of the first residential Passivhaus in Latin America. It compares them to a standard home in Mexico City. Low-cost monitors were installed in the bedroom, living room, and kitchen spaces of both homes, to collect data at five-minute intervals for one year. The physical measurements from each home were also compared to the occupants’ IAQ perceptions. The measurements demonstrated that the Passivhaus CO₂ and tVOC annual average levels were 143.8 ppm and 81.47 μg/m³ lower than the standard home. The PM_2.5 in the Passivhaus was 11.13 μg/m³ lower than the standard home and 5.75 μg/m³ lower than outdoors. While the results presented here cannot be generalised, the results suggest that Passivhaus dwellings can provide better and healthier indoor air quality in Latin America. Further, large-scale studies should look at the indoor environmental conditions, energy performance, and dwelling design of Passivhaus dwellings in Latin America.

The ongoing climate change and policies around it are changing how we design and build homes to meet national carbon emission targets. Some countries such as Scotland are adopting higher-energy-efficient buildings as minimum requirements in the building regulations. While net zero homes might be more energy-efficient and emit fewer operational carbon emissions, we have yet to fully understand the influence on the indoor environment, particularly on indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort. This study compares the IAQ of three homes in Scotland with equal internal layouts and designs but different building fabrics. The homes represent the minimum Scottish building regulations (2015), the Passivhaus standard and the Scottish ‘Gold Standard’. Temperature, relative humidity, PM_2.5 and total volatile organic compounds (tVOC) were measured at five-minute intervals for seven months and compared to occupants’ subjective responses to the IAQ. All three homes had temperatures above the recommended thresholds for overheating. Measured hygrothermal conditions were within the ideal range 66.4% of the time in the Passivhaus, 56.4% in the Gold Standard home and 62.7% in the control home. Measured IAQ was better in homes with higher energy efficiency, particularly tVOC. For instance, indoor PM_2.5 in the Passivhaus were 78.0% of the time below the threshold, while in the standard home the figure was 51.5%, with a weak correlation with outdoor PM_2.5 (Passivhaus: B r_s = 0.167, K r_s = 0.306 and L r_s = 0.163 (p < 0.001); Gold: B r_s = −0.157, K r_s = 0.322 and L r_s = 0.340 (p < 0.001); Control: B r_s = −0.111, K r_s = 0.235 and L r_s = 0.235 (p < 0.001)). TVOCs in the Passivhaus were 81.3%, while in the control home they were 55.0%. While the results cannot be generalised, due to the small sample, this study has significant policy implications, particularly in Scotland, exhibiting the importance of IAQ in current building legislation and sustainable assessment methods.