Environmental Factors
The key to building a passive house is thinking about the relationship between your home and the environment. A well designed house will harness the energy provided for by nature to the best of its ability and give it to you.
The solar orientation or the layout of your site with regard to the sun will ultimately determine the amount of energy your home recieves.
House design then takes advantage of the solar orientation and this determines the layout of the rooms, the windows and focuses on receiving the maximum solar energy possible.
These are factors which don't require any extra technology but by using good structural and insulating materials, renewable energy technology such as solar panels, wind turbines and heat recovery systems even more of the free energy nature provides for us can be harnessed.