By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Wed, 2008-12-10 14:03
The 160 million buildings in the European Union account for over 40% of Europe’s primary energy consumption. Hence energy use in buildings represents a major contributor to fossil fuel use and carbon dioxide emission.
Read full story
By David Chapman / Published on Wed, 2008-04-23 18:45
Homes in the UK are responsible for 27% of carbon emissions so improving their environmental performance is very important. Currently, about 170 000 homes are built each year in the UK – about 0.77% of the existing stock – while the number of households expands at a rate of 240 000 households per annum. Although the very high rate of expansion of households is probably temporary, being due to an ageing population, changes in social structure and population movement from new EU states, it is clear that the replacement rate is very low and homes built today will be in use for a very long time.
Two streams of actions are required, addressing standards for new-build and refurbishment measures for existing stock.
For new build, the UK Government has set building construction standards defining a path towards so-called ‘zero carbon’ or ‘zero energy’ homes by 2016. For the present, the ‘Code for Sustainable Homes’ is voluntary for private builders (~75% of the market) but mandatory for public sector housing, housing associations and for homes built on land released by Government.
Read full story
By David Chapman / Published on Tue, 2008-04-22 13:41
A lot of work is being done on setting new energy consumption standards for new build housing – such as the 2016 ‘zero carbon’ target for the UK – but relatively little is being done about the existing stock. Because new build adds much less than 1% to the housing stock each year, the majority of the stock will have been built to much lower construction standards. About 40% of the UK housing stock was built before 1945.
Read full story
By David Chapman / Published on Wed, 2008-04-02 14:17
A report by a UK Parliamentary Committee on Communities and Local Government criticises the UK Government’s concentration on improving the energy performance new homes and paying too little attention to existing housing stock.
Read full story
By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2008-02-13 14:21
Based on a Discussion Webinar, Friday, 18 January 2008
How best to heat a house is a question that is often hotly debated. On one side, it is a purely personal choice affecting our daily life and personal comfort and productivity. But on the other side, given the enormous amount of heating energy the global built environment is consuming, it is also an important topic in the sphere of social responsibility. Residential heating is an area with great potential for carbon emission reductions.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2008-01-14 16:53
Summary:
An ecological and economical answer for modern living
Electric heating has always been unbeatable for safety and comfort, but it is expensive, according to conventional wisdom. Today, that image seems more and more undeserved. Both technology and our way of living have changed significantly. In an increasingly urbanized environment with better insulated dwellings, electricity could very well turn out to be one of the most efficient ways of heating. Food for thought.
Read full story
By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2007-12-18 08:30
An annual survey
This past year of 2007 was again an eventful one in the world of energy. There were new trends, evolving markets, and important breakthroughs. The following 11 highlights stood out:
1) 4th IPCC Assessment Report
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its 4th Assessment Report. One of its most striking conclusions is that we don’t have to wait for miracles or ingenious new solutions. The technologies, policies, and measures needed to mitigate climate change are known and doable. They just need to be applied.
With this 4th report, the IPCC has confirmed that there is a consensus among experts on what we know about climate change, how serious the earth’s situation may be, and what we can do to mitigate the phenomenon. Its efforts were rewarded with this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, shared with the mediagenic Al Gore.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sun, 2007-06-03 13:02
... 457 kg
The result of the Ice Challenge was revealed last week. On April 18th, two blocks of ice were placed in a red (normal isolated) and green (super-isolated) envelope. While the ice block in the red envelope melted after 11 days, 457kg of ice remained when the green envelope was removed May 31st.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2007-06-02 09:03
This webcast describes a number of considerations about for our energy systems when passive houses become the construction technology of choice in the future.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Thu, 2007-05-10 09:49
On April 18th, the Passiefhuis-Platform put a 1300 kg block of ice in one poorly-insulated envelope and one well-insulated envelope, posing following questions:
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2007-03-12 13:43
The term passive house refers to a specific construction standard for residential buildings with good comfort conditions during winter and summer, without traditional heating systems and without active cooling. Typically this includes very good insulation levels, very good airtightness of the building, whilst a good indoor air quality is guaranteed by a mechanical ventilation system with highly efficient heat recovery. Thereby the design heat load is limited to the load that can be transported by the minimum required ventilation air.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2007-01-08 15:36
What is PEP?
PEP, which stands for ‘Promotion of European Passive Houses’ is a consortium of European partners, supported by the European Commission, Dictorate General for Energy and Transport.
Why Promotion of European Passive Houses?
It is generally recognised that, within the housing sector in Europe, many building activities can be expected over the coming decades. The old building stock will need to be refurbished or, in many cases, even demolished and new buildings erected. The existing housing stock is responsible for a large share of our total energy consumption, and therefore many energy savings can be accomplished in these upcoming reconstruction activities. As previous demonstration projects (such as CEPHEUS) have demonstrated, the reduction of non-renewable energy demand by a factor 4 (compared to contemporary national standards) is not only possible but also realistic. The Passive House concept is a sound and relatively low-cost method to achieve these energy savings. To spread this knowledge throughout the professional building community, beyond the select group of specialists, PEP has set out to spread the experience gained throughout Europe on the Passive House concept.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sun, 2006-12-17 12:08
Buildings are a composition of various materials and components, and have multiple edges, overlaps, joints, ... These are not always carefully closed. To ensure good airtightness everywhere, a continuous airtight layer needs to be defined and implemented. Typical weak spots are: connections between outside & inside walls, roofs & floors; outside woodwork, rolling shutters, and their connections with outside masonry; the various connections for the sewage and ventilation system; electricity, sanitary and heating tubes; openings to insulated attics or doors to unheated cellars, ...
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sun, 2006-12-17 09:38
Airtightness is essential for an efficient and rational ventilation. Through pressure differences between the inside and outside environment, leaks and chinks lead to air currents, spreading of smells and pollution, excessive energy use and draught.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sun, 2006-12-17 09:27
Ventilation guarantees a sufficient air supply for users and combustion equipment, maintains inside air quality and reduces the probability of condensation or mould formation.
On the other side, ventilation can represent an important energy consumption. This is used by possible motors driving ventilators but mainly for heating and conditioning fresh air supply. To limit this energy loss, following approach should be useful:
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2006-12-16 15:35
For passive houses, the installed power may not exceed 10 W per square meter (heating load). Better thermal isolation results in a lower heat demand. A normally heated house will easily need 20 - 35 kW peak power during the coldest days of the year. For low energy houses, 10 kW usually suffices. Passive houses need only 1-2 kW.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2006-12-16 15:19
In Europe, there is a tendency to impose increasing energy performance for buildings. The European Commission has issued a number of Directives, among which the Energy Performance Directive, to which member states must comply. These require for example better isolation of buildings, for renovation as well as new build.
These obligations result in more energy-efficient construction. Countries such as Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Turkey currently perform poorly in this field. But a catch-up movement may be expected for the years to come.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2006-12-16 15:18
A passive house has an annual demand of 15 kWh/m2 or less for space heating. This corresponds to 1.5 cubic meter of gas or 1.5 liter fuel oil per square meter floor space. For standard new buildings today, these figures are 8 times as high.
In extreme circumstances, the maximum heat demand may be as low as 10 W/m2. This means the house could be heated with an electric iron (1000 - 2000 W).
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2006-12-16 15:06
The concept 'low energy house' is not as strictly defined. For meeting the requirements of the passive house standard, energy use for space heating needs to be less than 15 kWh/m2 per year.
In a passive house, the investment that is normally used for a heating system is used for more isolation, better insulating windows and better ventilation. As a result, the total energy use in a passive house is a factor 2.5 lower than for a low energy design. A passive house does not require a central heating system for space heating.
Read full story
