Energy neutral house – The residential House+ concept

Poul Erik Pedersen, The Danish Electricity Saving Trust

Keywords

zero-emission house, House+, energy-neutral, intelligent, user-friendly

Abstract

The Residential House+ concept (called Bolig+ in Danish) is developed in cooperation with many different parties in the building sector.

The House+ is an attractive house - beautiful, functional and inspiring. The House+ is very energy efficient and it is energy neutral (year to year), which means that it produces the same amount of energy as it consumes.

The House+ dogmas are:

energy neutral (yearly basis) (Low energy class 1 – min. 50 % better than the demand in the DK building regulations 2006)
intelligent and user-friendly
flexible – in use and over time
good and healthy indoor climate
adapted to local surroundings

An international contest (project contest) will be carried out in 2007. A jury will evaluate the proposals according to the House+ dogmas.

The conceptual winning House+ projects (3 categories: Single-family house, high-density/low-rise housing, block of flats) will be published as “freeware” on the web.

The concrete winning projects will be carried out on a high quality level, technically, functionally, aesthetically and environmentally.

The concrete winning projects will be built in 2008-2009 and a comprehensive programme for measuring and evaluating the indoor climate and the energy consumption will be implemented in the houses.

The measurements will be performed with measuring devices communicating by an open and wireless standard, which means that installation of sensors and data gathering will be very simple and cheap.

The measuring and evaluation results from the house+ buildings will be promoted widely and the public will be invited to visit the houses.

The Residential House+ initiative is expected to show the next generation of residential houses.

References: See www.boligplus.org