I am very often asked what issues are still being addressed at the seminars on passive houses, because they have all been already resolved and these buildings are pretty common abroad. The truth is that in other countries the construction of low energy buildings started in the 1990's. However, their ecological, technical and energetic aspects are still evolving. The building structure itself is improving, as well as the insulation systems, heating, ventilation and new building materials and technologies are becoming more sophisticated. It has all gradually come to houses that consume almost no energy. Let's have a look at some of the aspects of the developments.

Sophisticated heating solutions lead to the fact that if at any given stage of the thermal insulation a TRV is properly fit and adjusted and, at the same time, a sophisticated substation solution is installed, one that will “know” how to prepare and maintain the required parameters, mainly during the heating season, then there will be nothing to renovate or solve during the lifespan of the heating station, other than adjusting the temperature and hydraulic parameters correctly.

The attenuation of sound wave with bends is mostly used in the design of noise walls, curtains and barriers along ways with intensive traffic (roads, rail and tram). Noise reduction from stationary sources with curtains is less common because it is always better to place the noisy device in the machine hall. This is then ventilated through a system with big enough dimensions so as to absorb sound, which then blocks the source of sound and the fan noise. Let's look at some specific installations seen in this context as well as calculations of the sound attenuation bend.

Windows, as fillings of peripheral orifices in the structure of buildings, are a construction product, which either must be tested or verified for their compliance with the various Czech regulations and standards. One of the most important criteria that window structures must meet is the one prescribed by ČSN 730540-2 Thermal Protection of Buildings from April 2007 The compliance of the inner surface temperature factor with the standard ČSN 730540-2 must be verified separately for each orifice filling structure. So far, there are no universally applicable rules that determine which edge of glazing units can be applied to with structure. The area of the glazing joints is among the riskiest parts of the whole structure, and that is why two basic design rules were derived in order to provide an increase the internal surface temperature in that area.

The aim of the diurnal lightning proposal is to rectify rooms' access to sunlight, which is dispersed in the atmosphere, and to rectify the visual comfort of the users of the interior during daylight hours; i.e. the appropriate lightning conditions for visual work carried out in the interior. The specifications of diurnal lightning are formulated in IEC-730580-1 to 4. These specifications are binding because the relevant articles mentioned in the standards are determined as binding laws and decrees 268/2009 on the technical requirements for construction, 258/2000 on Public Health, 410/2005 on hygiene requirements for educational facilities and the education of children, Government Decree 361/2007 on sanitary conditions at work. In situations where controls of calculations of measurements are not possible or too difficult, it is then necessary to maximise the transparency of computational procedures. In particular, it is necessary to include all the variables that enter into the calculation (factors of brightness shading barriers, factors of transmission and reflection of light). When assessing the accuracy of the calculations, it is also necessary to require detailed descriptions of the computational models used in determining the individual components of the diurnal lightning factors.

The following contributions, which deal with this problematic, consider the impact of high heat resistance of the walling on the thermal comfort and the design of heating ventilations systems, which are still perceived, as it is the case in buildings with classical walling, therefore, to have lower thermal resistance. For instructions to formulate the effect of walling on the thermal comfort and technical equipment, a general comparison of both the following cases is made, which is simply called building with high thermal resistance of external walls for a low-energy house, and a building with classical walling parameters (e.g. housing estate from the past) as a standard house. The articles are not of exact technical nature and deal with regularly updated dependencies and sometimes refer to previously applicable legal provisions.

The author draws attention to the deterioration of the quality of indoor environments in flats where the original windows have been replaced by modern, tight windows, which although improve the flat's energy balance, they also limit the possibilities for ventilation. Moisture that has not been ventilated accumulates in the flat, which leads to mould growth, and in the case of gas appliances, there are also exhaust gases, which are are toxic substances that lead the health problems, intoxications and even death. In the Czech legislation there aren't sufficient basis for an unambiguous determination of the requirements for the quality of the indoor environment of flats, including the requirements for their security, i.e. ventilation. The information can be found in selected European Standards, the author cites ČSN EN 15251.

Overview of the contents and recommendations to the appendix in a purchase contract and contract for work. The issue of windows and balconies – windows and doors - is very extensive and contains many requirements. This resulted in the manual “Technical conditions for the purchase and installation of windows”, which seeks a simple, yet all-encompassing for to describe the requirements for the windows, so less sophisticated techniques could apply to suppliers. The article is the introductory text of this guide, which is available for download. This is purely a technical manual that tries to cover all the usual cases of windows, requiring them, their evaluation, classification and their density. The manual does not replace or otherwise alter the forthcoming standard dealing with the requirements for windows and doors in buildings. The manual is completely independent and does not know about what is included the upcoming standard.

The examination method Blower-Door test (fan pressurisation method) is used for measurements of air permeability of buildings and is also used for leakage detection. The result of the measurement is air leakage rate at the pressure differential across the building envelope of 50 Pa. The article points out leaky details which often appear at constructions. The article shows the possibility of using infrared camera and anemometer for leakage detection.

New Czech technical standard ČSN 73 0810 Fire protection of buildings - General requirements was issued in April 2009. This standard replaced the standard of the same title issued in June 2005. New standard has expanded or changed some of the paragraphs. Important changes are defined in the article.