There is often mis-information about passive housing and active housing, so I thought I’d just copy paste the part about energy from our Learn page which explains how MSA sees this.
energy
Active energy:
Energy is a hot topic. But it is also something that can easily be solved on an individual basis. For MSA it’s very simple, just provide more free energy than what you, the house and a couple of EV’s consume. We call this an active house. Unlike a passive house that attempts to use as little energy as possible and hence has to compromise on a multitude of comfort and environmental factors, MSA believe it is better to invest in ample alternate energy from the start, so all MSA houses provide this, primarily with photo-voltaic cells (solar panels). This isn’t an option, it’s another new normal. Based on the average energy consumption in New Zealand homes the MSA house supplies about twice what you need. The excess provides EV charging, the peace of mind not having to worry about energy use (ever), and because MSA houses are grid tied, there’s plenty left to send back to the grid repaying the embodied energy used to create the house and a possibility of a cheque from the power company every month to boot.
Home Batteries:
The MSA way means you don’t need batteries. The grid becomes your battery storage effectively. So long as you put more into the grid than you take out, you are energy and carbon neutral and contributing to the reduction of burning fossil fuels and carbon emissions.
I hope that helps and feel free to ask us any questions.
Constructing a better future,
Joanna
