Five Principles in Plain English reviews the 5 principles of Passive House construction, with a concentration on simple explanations and examples. This Guide is intended for use by contractors who may not know what Passive House is about or for the average person thinking about building or buying a Passive House.

The Five Principles are:

• Super insulated continuously around the entire building
  
• Air tight with no leaks or perforations in the air barrier(s)
• No thermal bridges
  
• Certified PH Windows and Doors
  
• Properly sized ventilation with heat recovery
  

NOTE: The temperature, volume, square footage and energy values in this Guide are shown as METRIC with (IMPERIAL) measure included in brackets beside. The Metric system is used in European and Canadian Passive House calculations.

Content sources for this Guide are listed in the Resources section.