New 2,000 SF house, good construction

Heating Design Load - 30,000 Btu / Hr

Average Hourly Consumption - 10,000 Btu / Hr

10,000 Btu x 24 hours = 240,000 Btu / Day

240,000 Btu x 30 days = 7,200,000 Btu / Month

Compare to collector output - Winter Output

New 2,000 SF hous, passive construction

Heating Design Load - 8,000 Btu / Hr

Average Hourly consumption - 2,666 Btu / Hr

2,666 Btu x 24 hours = 64,000 Btu / Day

64,000 Btu x 30 days = 1,920,000 Btu / Month

Compare to collector output - Winter Output

Passive House

-R-53 Walls
-R-140  Attic
-Extremely high performance windows.
-Passive Solar Design
-Decrease heating load by at least 70%

German passive house designs use 20% as much energy as typical U.S. homes.