Passive House

It's no secret that the global energy resources are limited, and the problem of rational use them - one of the most topical today. I must say that it is not new. Already during the first significant energy crisis in 1974-75 people started to think about the global energy savings. But today, when experts estimate inventories of major energy sources (oil, gas and coal) in the world remained at about 50 years, conservation has become a priority of all civilized humanity. We also know that almost half the energy consumption accounts for homes and buildings. Therefore, one of the most obvious methods of resource is energy-efficient and passive buildings. What is the "Passive House"? Passive, or energy-efficient house (passive house) - is a house with negligible power consumption. Ideally it should be an independent power system, generally does not require the costs of maintaining a comfortable temperature. Heating Passive House must occur due to heat generated by people living in it, household appliances and alternative energy sources. Hot water is supplied by installations of renewable energy such as heat pumps or solar panels. In reality, such results so far achieved in a few cases. However, the passive houses, which require only about 10% of normal power consumption, have already received a mass distribution. These impressive gains achieved by the enhanced thermal insulation and a specially designed heating and ventilation systems at home. For the classification of such buildings is convenient to apply the scale, developed by the "home" ideas of energy-efficient buildings - in Germany (Table 1). Table 1. Consumption of thermal energy by type of buildings in Germany Individual house 140 m 2 total area of ??the annual heat consumption, kW, ch/m3 year Specific heat consumption, W Germany ch/m2 old building 300,136 Model home 70-ies. 200 91 Model Home 80-ies. 150 1968 House of Low Power 90-ies. 0-70 14-32 30-15 House of ultra-low power 7.14 A modern passive house less than 15 less than 7 for the first time a successful scheme for the equipment of a passive house developed about 20 years ago, Dr. Wolfgang Falst, founder of the Passive House Institute in Darmstadt (Germany). Over the past years were held in-depth studies in this area and technology "passive house" has improved significantly. To date, the countries of western Europe it has already built more than 2 thousand buildings. Some of the most famous examples - it's mansions in the city of Ulm, built in 2000, an experiment with the refurbishment of an ordinary dormitory in a passive house in the city of Wuppertal, and the world's first building, which produced more energy than it consumes - in Vaice ( It was erected in 2001). In this case, energy-efficient buildings not only save fuel and money. Payments for public utilities in Western Europe today is the lion's share of the costs of its inhabitants, and it continues to grow. It is obvious that this is due, primarily, with an increase in energy prices. Despite the relative cheapness of them in Russia, such a trend can be seen in our country. In this case, the Russian buildings have mostly inexcusable low energy efficiency, the losses in their heating systems are enormous. The introduction of conservation technologies would help to partly overcome these problems. In addition, passive houses are very comfortable and environmentally friendly to humans. To date, these facilities - the most convenient and modern types of buildings. They automatically maintains the optimum temperature, humidity and air purity, which makes life in such houses to the fun. Given the fact that people are about 60% of their time indoors, the value of such facilities to maintain the high quality of life can not be overestimated. Reliably established that a comfortable living environment that is formed in passive houses, prolongs the lifetime of a competent person. For example, the microclimate of the building has beneficial effects on allergies. It is not surprising that these features of passive houses become the reason for their rapidly growing in popularity in recent years. Undeniable benefits of passive houses and the environment. The threat of global warming, caused by an excess of human-made greenhouse gases have long been hanging over our planet and understood by many people. It is known that about 40% of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, is used for heating buildings! Application of passive houses can significantly reduce this figure. After all, they are used for heating in the first place, alternative energy sources such as solar. For construction, typically selected environmentally correct materials, often traditional - wood, stone, brick. Categorically rejected harmful to health and environmental building materials such as asbestos. Recently, the trend is the construction of passive houses of product recycling inorganic waste - concrete, glass and metal. Thus, in Germany created special processing plants such wastes in building materials for energy efficient buildings. The very concept of a passive house is primarily based on the friendliness towards the environment, working with her. Because of this «passive house» is often referred to as "ecological houses" ("Eco House"). These buildings - the most modern and effective examples of modern architecture. There is no doubt that the mass dissemination could have a serious help to combat the coming crisis. How is it? Due to what actually takes place energy saving in a passive house? In the first place - due to improved insulation. Enclosing structures (walls, windows, roof, floor) standard homes have a fairly large heat transfer coefficient. This leads to significant losses: for example, heat loss of an ordinary brick building - 250-350 kW. with the heated area sq ft per annum. Studies have shown that a significant reduction in heat consumption appears only when the insulation layer of 15 cm, it is desirable to use insulating panel thickness of 25-40 cm technology is a "passive house" provides an effective thermal insulation of all enclosing surfaces - not only walls but the floor, ceiling, attic , basement and foundation. In a passive house is formed by several layers of insulation - internal and external. This allows you to not let the heat out of the house and do not let the cold into it. Just made eliminating thermal bridges in building envelopes. As a result, the passive houses heat loss through the enclosing surface does not exceed 15 kW. 1 sq ft heated area in a year - almost 20 times lower than in conventional buildings. If you prefer, you can achieve, and great results. Separate conversation - insulation of windows. For the effective operation of a passive house technology used modern two-or three-compartment design. Inside the glass is pumped gases with low thermal conductivity, specially treated glass, uses a special design of junction boxes to the walls. In energy-efficient buildings is practiced as the following system: the biggest box sent to the south, where it comes from the maximum solar radiation. Using this technology, these "southern" openings can yield an average of even more heat than lose! In passive houses use a special ventilation system: supply and exhaust heat recovery. This means that the air goes out and goes to him not through the conventional vent exit, and through an underground duct, equipped with heat recovery. AHU - a heat exchanger: it is continuously heated air transfers heat to the cold air through the wall separating them. Schematic diagram of the ventilation of a passive house is as follows. In winter, cold air enters the underground duct, heating it by the heat of the earth, and then enters the heat exchanger. In the recuperator exhaust house air heats the incoming fresh and thrown into the street. The heated fresh air coming into the house, is due to a temperature of about 17c. In summer the hot air being admitted into an underground duct, immediately cooled it from contact with the ground to about the same temperature. Through this system, a passive house is constantly supported by favorable conditions. Only sometimes it is necessary to use low-powered heaters or air conditioners, offering a minimal adjustment of the temperature conditions. In Europe, the use of such technologies, so called "ekoderevnya - District VIIKKI (Helsinki, Finland). It is an environmentally clean area of ??rural type area of ??1,132 hectares. During its construction were applied current recycling system and heat recovery, such as using the return water heating systems for floor heating, heat recovery exhaust air systems, natural ventilation with vents of a new design, use of solar collectors for domestic hot water systems, automation systems, life support, the use of effective insulation in building envelopes. Measurements showed that energy consumption in homes less than 15 kWh in cubic meters per year. It is obvious that passive or energy efficiency are not just houses. For buildings, industrial or office use heat retention means nothing less. In some European countries (Denmark, Finland, Germany and others) have even developed special state programs to bring all facilities to the regular construction of conditionally passive level (ultra low consumption at home - up to 30 ch/m3 per year). For example, since it was constructed office building of the Research Center ROCKWOOL in Denmark. The project was awarded the title of "Office 2000" and the building was recognized as one of the most energy efficient in the world. Smart Homes for further savings of thermal energy can be achieved through the use of an automated system to manage all technical equipment in the building. The use of such a system saves energy in many different ways, for example, reducing the room temperature during the absence of people or at night. Therefore, the most efficient passive houses are part-time and smart houses »(Intelligent Building). With such systems, the tenant can regulate the heating and lighting of the building, even while outside - through the Internet or mobile communications. That automation control systems devices can establish a permanent home in a comfortable environment and to maximize energy savings. Huge potential laid out in the use of high-quality, modern equipment. For example, interest is the proper organization of space heating, because it is heat and hot water are a measure of comfort of a modern home. Today, the passive houses often use "intelligent" heating equipment. For example, Turbofan gas boilers ARISTON MicroGenus Plus involves the installation of indoor climate control (Clima Manager). This system automatically adjusts the intensity of heating, depending on the temperature outside. Clima Manager is programmed not only for a day, but on every week - that is, You can set a separate operation on weekdays and weekends. You can also create your own program for holidays or vacations. Of course, an important feature of modern equipment for energy-efficient homes is their cost and high efficiency. Interestingly, the gas heat by using condensing technology (eg, ARISTON ALD) have a nominal efficiency of more than 100%. This is made possible thanks to the recovery of additional energy (heat of vaporization). In calculating the efficiency of conventional boilers, it is not considered. Passive houses in Russia, what are the prospects of using passive house technology in Russia? They are huge. Today, most buildings in Russia are far behind in energy efficiency of European standards. In Germany, ordinary houses are buildings with specific annual heat consumption of about 300 kW ch/m2 a year, and we have - 400-600 kW ch/m2 year. It is obvious that passive house is far more relevant in our harsh conditions than the relatively mild climate of most Western European countries. But until recently, energy-efficient buildings is seen in Russia as something fantastic, but over the past few years, there are some signs of impending change. A certain constraint in the construction of a new type of buildings is relatively high cost for their construction. Currently, the cost of construction per square meter of energy-efficient homes have approximately 8-10% greater than the average for conventional buildings. Nevertheless, only Moscow has built several experimental buildings using passive house technology (in particular residential building in Nikulino-2). Demonstration project of the house was built also near St. Petersburg. I must say that the difference in price quickly leveled - extra construction costs recouped for the past 7-10 years. Meanwhile, the widespread use of energy-efficient buildings would be able to significantly reduce energy consumption in Russia, to save millions of tons of fuel! Currently, energy-efficient homes are becoming more prevalent and are becoming increasingly popular. The market is already flooded building materials for the erection of such buildings. We are talking not about the unit construction of individual buildings, and the transition to their typical construction. Firms engaged in building energy efficient homes are almost always granted government subsidies and benefits. Changes occur in the mass consciousness of people: in the construction of homes is always taken into account not only the cost per square meter, but the fuel consumption of the planned buildings. Over the last decade of XX century. in Germany, for example, energy consumption in housing and communal sphere decreased by 3 per cent despite the fact that there is an annual commissioning of approximately 600 thousand new homes. Trend - there! Thus, the future - for energy-efficient homes.