Passive House Pilot Projects
Paroc, which already has notable experience in constructing low-energy buildings, is now in the process of testing four passive house pilots in Sweden, Finland (two projects) and Lithuania.
The passive house pilot projects aim to improve general awareness of passive building technology and strengthen the combat against climate change. Passive building technology will be a key strategy to combat climate change as passive buildings have notable potential to reduce CO2 emissions.
Passive houses are by no means a new concept. The first passive house in Germany was built already in 1989 and today there are approximately 10,000 passive houses in the world. Most of them are located in Germany and Austria, but there are also a few hundreds of passive buildings in Sweden. Paroc is currently building the first passive house in Finland.
Passive buildings are expected to become standard in EU countries by 2015.
The energy efficiency in the pilot buildings is based on air-tight building envelope solutions and low U-values. Passive houses have no separate heating systems at all - only a heat recovery ventilation and lost heat from the domestic appliances and people generate the heating energy needed.
Energy consumption of the pilot buildings will be monitored following their completion. Annual energy consumption for heating a passive building depends on the building’s location -- varying from 15kWh/m2 in Central Europe to 30kWh/m2 in North Europe.
PAROC ENERGYWISE PROJECTS
1. Granback House
This timber-framed single-family home is being constructed in Stockholm, Sweden and will be completed early 2008. The annual heating energy consumption is estimated at 15 kWh/m2. Several partners joined Paroc e.g. Nibe AB for the ventilation and heat recovery system and Elitfönster AB for the windows.
› www.granback.se
› Construction Phases
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2. Paroc Passive House
This semi-detached duplex for two families is under construction in Vantaa, Finland. The building has a concrete block frame incorporating a PreWIS facade system. The annual heating energy consumption is calculated not to exceed 20 kWh/m2. The project is supervised by the VTT. Its chief architect is Kimmo Lylykangas, and Finnmap Oy is responsible for structural engineering of the project. The exterior wall elements will be delivered by Valkeakosken Betoni Oy.
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3. Green Hills House
This stone-based, single-family home is an Energywise variant in a new development of fifty houses under construction in Vilnius, Lithuania. Apart from Paroc, the project consortium consists of REC Indovent for the ventilation system and Variotec Oy for the windows.
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4. Paroc Promise
This timber-framed single-family home will be constructed in Valkeakoski, Finland to be exhibited at the Finnish Housing Fair during summer 2009. The chief archirect of this passive house is Kimmo Lylykangas.
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