Energy efficient kitchen. Energy efficient house: what is it, what are the advantages and disadvantages

Are you here: Ceiling

With rising energy prices and decreasing reserves of fossil fuels, the issue of energy conservation has become very acute. One of the main vectors for the development of energy-saving technologies is energy saving in construction.

Passive house project with layout of all communications

Application of new approaches to, use of modern building materials and modern devices energy accounting has made it possible to significantly reduce energy costs and energy losses of buildings.

In addition, energy-saving technologies must be accessible, environmentally friendly, not affect the usual way of life and be safe for human life.

A passive energy-efficient house is a building with low energy consumption (for heating and household needs). Ideally, a passive house should not require heating at all by conventional means. A passive house allows you to reduce energy consumption tenfold. This efficiency is achieved by using new technologies that increase.

It's not just about new building materials, but also about a new approach to the design of structures. They are trying to reduce the size of the house, remove all heat leaks and use non-traditional energy sources to maintain optimal temperature inside the building (for example, using solar energy to heat water).

Passive house technologies are especially effective in public buildings, where is the influx the heat is coming from a large number of visitors, which helps reduce energy costs.
And in Kyiv in 2012 they moved from words to action and built such a passive energy-saving house.

The term passive house is often placed next to energy-independent house and energy-plus house. This means that, along with ideal thermal insulation materials and technologies are used engineering solutions, allowing you to completely abandon the consumption of external energy, and in some cases also generate in excess of the required standards.

For this purpose, passive houses are equipped with blocks solar panels, combined with storage devices.

In those climatic zones where this is possible, the sun comes to the aid. In some areas where there are close to the surface of the earth thermal waters, you can use their energy - common in Kamchatka, some areas of Lake Baikal, in Tyumen region Ural region.

Scheme for mounting solar panels

A house that remains comfortable to live in without additional heating, and also does not use electricity and other resources for its own needs, can be called energy independent. And if the energy received is also enough for other needs, then it will be an energy plus house.

Technologies for building an energy-saving house

When constructing a passive house, both traditional materials (wood, brick) and non-traditional building blocks made from recycled materials are used. And of course, a large number of houses are built from modern materials with low thermal conductivity.

An example of innovative building materials that effectively save heat and can great success used for the construction of a passive energy-saving house

Heat leaves the building through the building envelope - walls, floor, roof and windows. When building a passive house, several layers of thermal insulation are used. It prevents the penetration of cold from external environment and heat loss from the building itself. During construction, all enclosing structures are insulated, which reduces heat loss by 10-20 times.

Unlike a traditional one, in a passive house all the air passes through a recovery system. This allows you to take waste heat and return it back into the premises, rather than releasing it outside.

Diagram of thermal insulation and ventilation of a private energy-efficient house

Much attention is paid to windows. During construction, 2-3 chamber double-glazed windows are used, and the joints between the windows and the wall are carefully sealed and insulated. Often different window sizes are used, depending on the direction of the world (the most big windows facing south).

Orientation of an energy-saving house on the site

A suitable location is selected for the construction of a passive house. Ideally, you need to choose an area that will be protected as much as possible from the effects of adverse external factors. But at the same time it should have maximum sunlight.

Passive house form

The outline of the building and the exterior as a whole are subject to no less requirements than the choice of the site where the building will be located. Any house loses heat through its enclosing surfaces; the larger their area, the more difficult it is to stop this process. Enclosing surfaces include all external structures: walls, floors, roofs, windows, doors.

Therefore, all passive house projects are calculated in such a way that, while maintaining the maximum useful internal volume, the area of external surfaces is minimal.

One of the design options for a passive house

Hence, all passive house projects are made very compact, without unnecessary pretentiousness and luxury in the exterior. One-story buildings with a large building area and unnecessary architectural solutions in the form of bay windows and balconies are unacceptable here. Projects are also deprived internal corners and complex geometry in general. Most often, such houses are equipped pitched roof, which allows you to save on building materials, simplify the roof structure, remove cold bridges, and also ensures maximum insolation of the interior.

The placement of windows, their size and number are also strictly regulated. Windows in a passive house are both a way to lose heat and a way to accumulate it. Of course, the windows themselves cannot store energy, but they let in sunlight, which illuminates and warms interior spaces, and with proper arrangement internal partitions, also accumulates.

Table of heat loss through windows

Windows in an energy-saving house are arranged according to the following principle:

The maximum number of windows (up to 70-80%) is on the southern facade of the building. The quantity and size are selected in such a way that the sun’s rays at any time of the year (winter and summer) penetrate as deeply into the room as possible, ideally reaching the far wall, heating it;
The eastern (20-30%) and western (0-10%) sides are equipped with windows to a lesser extent. They almost do not contribute to the production of energy, but are more needed for natural light. On the windy side, the number of windows should tend to zero;
The northern facade of the building is made blank. There is practically no sun on that side, so the window will only serve as a heat transfer function.

Passive house involves the use of only special windows - energy-saving ones. Such windows are equipped with two- and three-chamber double-glazed windows. Also, special attention is paid to their installation.

The joints are carefully processed, sealed and insulated, which helps prevent unnecessary heat loss.

In this video you can see an example of equipment completely independent of external systems passive house electricity.

Interior layout of a passive house

It will also differ from the layout of an ordinary cottage. Designers of energy-efficient buildings prioritize the rules of Feng Shui. And even the inconvenience of consumers (although this factor is fully taken into account), and the principles of heat and energy conservation, and moreover, their accumulation.

To do this, all rooms in the house must be divided into two parts - living, which will include bedrooms, guest rooms, living room, children's rooms. And the buffer room is those rooms that make life more comfortable: kitchen, bathrooms, storage rooms and utility rooms, dressing rooms, hall, hallway.

We study the problem through real experience, with calculations from specialists and forum members

Due to the steady increase in energy prices and the high cost of gas connection, everything large quantity developers are thinking about building an energy-efficient house.

We have already told the readers of our site about what technologies are used in its construction.

And FORUMHOUSE users will help us with this.

From our material you will learn:

Which house is energy efficient and which is not.
Is it possible to heat an energy-efficient house with electricity only?
How to calculate the required thickness of insulation.
Will building an energy efficient house pay off?

What is energy efficiency

Energy efficient houses are being built in European countries for a long time, but for our country such a dwelling is still exotic.

Many developers are distrustful of the construction of such buildings, considering it an unjustified waste of money.

Let's figure out whether this is true and whether it is profitable to build an energy-efficient house in relation to climatic conditions most zones of Russia, including Moscow.

An energy-efficient (energy-passive) house is a building in which the costs associated with energy consumption are on average 30% less than in a conventional house. Energy efficiency of recent times could be determined by the coefficient of seasonal thermal energy use - E.

E<= 110 кВт*ч /м2/год – это обычный дом;
E<= 70 кВт*ч /м2/год – энергоэффективный;
E<= 15 кВт*ч /м2/год – пассивный.

When calculating the E coefficient, the following are taken into account: the ratio of the area of all external surfaces to the entire cubic capacity of the house, the thickness of the thermal insulation layer in the walls, roof and ceilings, the glazing area and the number of people living in the building.

In Europe, to determine the energy efficiency class, it is customary to use the EP coefficient, which determines the amount of electricity spent on heating, hot water supply, light, ventilation and the operation of household electrical appliances.

The starting point is EP = 1 and energy class D, i.e. standard. The modern classification of houses adopted in European countries looks like this:

EP<= 0,25 – класс А, пассивный дом;
0.26 < ЕР <= 0,50 – класс В, экономичный;
0,51 < ЕР <= 0,75 – класс С, энергосберегающий дом;
0,75 < ЕР <= 1 – класс D, стандартный;
1,01< ЕР <= 1.25 – класс Е;
1,26 < EP <= 1,50 – класс F;
EP >1.51 – class G, the most energy-consuming.

In ordinary, insufficiently insulated housing with large heat losses through the building envelope, most of the energy (up to 70%) is spent on heating.

We can say that the owners of such a home heat the street.

Therefore, in European countries, no one will be surprised by the thickness of the insulation in the walls of 300-400 mm, and the outline of the building itself is made airtight.

The required level of air exchange in the house is maintained using a ventilation system, and not the mythical “breathing” of the walls.

But before you buy cubic meters of insulation, you need to understand when additional insulation and the whole range of measures associated with building an energy-efficient house are economically justified.

Energy efficiency in numbers

In our country, the heating season lasts on average 7-8 months, and the climate is more severe than in Europe. Because of this, a lot of controversy arises about whether it is profitable to build here energy saving houses. One of the most frequent statements made by opponents of energy-efficient construction is the argument that in our country the construction of such a building is very expensive, and the costs of its construction will never pay off.
But here is a comment from a member of our portal.

STASNN

In 2012, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, I built an energy-efficient house of 165 square meters. m of heated area with a specific energy consumption for heating of 33 kW*hours per sq. m per year. With an average monthly air temperature in winter of -17°C, the cost of heating with electricity amounted to 62.58 kWh per day.

You should pay attention to the technical characteristics of this house:

thickness of insulation in the floor – 420 mm;
insulation thickness in the walls – 365 mm;
The thickness of the insulation in the roof is 500 mm.

The cottage was built using frame technology. The heating system of the house is electric low-temperature convectors with a total power of 3.5 kW. Also installed in the house is a supply and exhaust ventilation system with a recuperator and a ground heat exchanger for heating street air. Vacuum solar collectors are additionally installed to supply hot water.

Total bill: 3.2 thousand rubles are spent on heating per month. at a 24-hour tariff of 1.7 rubles/kWh.

Also interesting is the experience of forum member Alexander Fedortsov (forum nickname Skeptic), who independently built a frame house of 186 square meters. m on a “insulated Swedish slab” foundation, with a homemade heat accumulator of 1.7 m3 and with electric heating elements embedded in it.

Skeptic

The house is heated with electricity through a water-heated floor system. For heating, a night tariff is used - 0.97 rubles / kW. At night, the coolant in the heat accumulator heats up to the desired temperature and turns off in the morning. The cubic capacity of the house is 560m3.

Result: In winter, in December, heating cost 1.5 thousand rubles. In January, a little less - 2 thousand rubles.

As the experience of our site users shows, anyone can build an energy-efficient home. Moreover, there is no need to equip it with expensive engineering systems such as air recuperators, heat pumps, solar collectors or solar panels. According to a forum member with the nickname Toiss , the main thing is a warm closed circuit, three times superior to modern SNiPs, the absence of cold bridges, warm windows, a well-insulated roof, foundation and walls.

Toiss

Instead of paying 0.5–1 million rubles for gas connection (the price of which is constantly growing), it is better to build an energy-efficient house with an area of up to 200 sq.m. Subject to construction technology and a competent approach, its construction is economically justified for any architectural and structural solutions.

Energy efficiency - basic principles

How and with what to insulate a house is one of the main issues that arise during construction.
And you need to think about this at the design stage. According to Pavel Orlov (forum nickname Smart2305), before economically calculating the justified thickness of the insulation, it is necessary to determine the following initial data, namely:

Area of the planned house;
Area and type of windows;
Façade area;
Area of the foundation and ground floor surfaces;
Ceiling height, or internal volume of the house;
Type of ventilation (natural, forced).

Smart2305

As a basis, we will take a house with an area of 170 sq.m., with a ceiling height of 3 m, and a glazing area of 30 sq.m. m and the area of enclosing structures is 400 sq.m.

The main heat loss in the house occurs through:

Window;
Enclosing structures (roof, walls, foundation);
Ventilation;

When creating a project for an economically balanced house, it is necessary to strive to ensure that heat losses in all three categories are approximately the same, i.e. 33.3% each. In this case, a balance is achieved between additional insulation and the economic benefits of such insulation.

Maximum heat loss occurs through windows. Therefore, when building an energy-efficient house, it is important to “tie” it to the correct place on the site (large windows face south) for the maximum degree of solar insolation. This will reduce heat loss with a large glazing area.

Smart2305

The most difficult thing is to reduce heat loss through windows. The difference between various modern double-glazed windows is quite insignificant and ranges from 70 to 100 W/sq.m.

If the window area is 30 sq. m, and the level of heat loss is 100 W/sq. m, then the heat loss through the windows will be 3000 W.

Because reducing heat loss through windows is the most difficult thing, then when designing the thermal insulation of the building envelope and ventilation system, for balance, you need to strive for the same values - 3000 W.

Hence the total heat loss of the house will be 3000x3 = 9000 W.

If you try to reduce only the heat loss of the enclosing structures, without reducing the heat loss of windows, this will lead to an unreasonable overspending on insulation.

Heat losses through the enclosing structures are equal to the sum of losses through the foundation, walls, and roof.

Smart2305

It is necessary to strive to equalize heat losses through windows with heat losses through building envelopes.

It is also necessary to reduce heat loss associated with ventilation of premises. According to modern standards, it is necessary that the entire volume of air in a living space is changed once per hour. House with an area of 170 sq. m with a ceiling height of 3 m, 500 m3/hour of fresh street air is required.

The volume is calculated by multiplying the area of the premises by the height of the ceilings.

If you provide only cold air from the street into the house, then the heat loss will be 16.7x500=8350 W. This does not fit into the balance of an energy-efficient house; we cannot say that such a house is energy-saving.

There are two options left:

Reduce air exchange, but this does not meet modern standards for required air exchange;
Reduce heat losses when supplying cold air to the house.

To heat the cold street air entering the house, the installation of forced, supply and exhaust ventilation systems with a recuperator is used. With the help of this device, the heat of the air leaving the street is transferred to the incoming flow. This improves ventilation efficiency.

The efficiency of recuperators is 70-80%. Read our article on how to build an inexpensive and

Smart2305

By installing a forced supply and exhaust ventilation system with a recuperator in the house (from the example above), it will be possible to reduce heat loss to 2500 W. Without a forced supply and exhaust ventilation system with a recuperator, it is impossible to achieve a balance of heat losses in the house.

Economic feasibility of additional insulation

The main indicator of the economic efficiency of additional insulation of a house is the payback period of the insulation system.

Interesting user experience with nickname Andrey A.A , who compared heating costs in the permanent residence mode of an insulated and non-insulated house. For the purity of the experiment, we take the following data as the initial conditions:

heating with main gas;
heat loss through the enclosing structures – 300 kW/h/(sq.m.*year);
the house has a service life of 33 years.

Andrey A.A.

To begin with, I calculated the annual heating costs in permanent residence mode without additional insulation. After my calculations, the cost of heating an uninsulated house of 120 sq.m., with its heat loss of 300 kW/h/(sq.m.*year), amounted to 32 thousand rubles. per year (provided that the price for 1 m3 of gas until 2030 will be 7.5 rubles).

Now let’s calculate how much you can save if you properly insulate your house.

Andrey A.A.

According to my calculations, additional insulation will reduce the heat loss of my home by approximately 1.6 times. Hence, with heating costs equal to 1.1 million rubles for 33 years (32 thousand rubles per year x 33 years), after insulation you can save 1.1-1.1/1.6 = 400 thousand on energy costs . rub.

To get 100% economic benefit from additional insulation, it is necessary that the amount spent on additional insulation does not exceed half the amount saved on energy costs.

Those. for this example, insulation costs should not exceed 200 thousand rubles.

After a year of operation, it turned out that after additional insulation, heat loss decreased not by 1.6, but by 2 times, and all the work done (since the insulation was carried out on our own, and the money was spent only on the purchase of insulation) paid for itself many times over.

Also interesting is the approach to calculating the profitability of additional insulation from a forum member with the nickname mfcn:

– Consider the following hypothetical conditions:

in the house +20°C, outside -5°C;
heating period – 180 days;
house - with a single-layer frame, costing 8,000 rubles/m3, insulated with mineral wool at 1,500 rubles/m3;
installation cost – 1000 rubles/m3 of insulation;
frame pitch – 600 mm, thickness – 50 mm.

Based on these data, a cubic meter of insulation costs 3,000 rubles.

An energy-efficient house is a building that combines very low energy consumption with a comfortable microclimate.

Energy savings in such houses reach 90%.

The annual heating requirement of an energy-efficient home can be less than 15 kWh per square meter.
For example, today in the most common design of a private house (reinforced concrete foundation, “warm floor” system without insulation, 1.5 brick walls with cement plaster, ordinary metal-plastic windows, 150 mm roof insulation and without supply and exhaust ventilation with heat recovery ) energy consumption for heating is 110-130 kWh per 1 m2 per year.

In the European Union countries the following classification of houses is accepted:

Low energy houses
Use at least 50% less energy than standard buildings built to current energy standards.
Ultra-low energy homes
They consume 70-90% less energy than conventional buildings. Examples of ultra-low energy consumption houses with clearly defined requirements are the German Passive House, the French Effinergie, and the Swiss Minergie.
The pioneer in the construction of such houses was the Passive House, which was developed in Germany in Darmstadt in the 90s. A building is considered to be “passive” if it meets the requirements developed by the German Institute for Passive Buildings. A “passive” house is a house with excellent thermal insulation and minimal electricity and heat consumption. It maintains a comfortable microclimate mainly due to human heat, solar energy and household electrical appliances such as a kettle, stove, etc. Passive house technologies (buildings with ultra-low energy consumption, without a traditional heating system) are effective and have already been tested in the harsh Scandinavian climate. Such houses have virtually no heat losses.
Homes that generate energy
These are buildings that produce electricity for their own needs. In some cases, excess energy in the summer can be sold to the power company and bought back in the winter. Good thermal insulation, innovative design and the use of renewable energy sources (solar panels, ground source heat pumps) make these houses the vanguard of modern housing construction.
Homes with zero CO2 emissions
Term most commonly used in the UK. Such a house does not emit CO2. This means that the home is self-sufficient in energy from renewable sources, including energy used for space heating/cooling, hot water, ventilation, lighting, cooking and electrical appliances. In the UK, all new homes since 2016 have been built to this standard. The following classification has been adopted in Russia:

*In accordance with SNiP 23-02-2003 "Thermal protection of buildings" standards for
Rostov-on-Don (m2° C/W) Rwall=2.63 Rcover=3.96 Rwindow=0.84

HOW TO “TEACH” A HOUSE TO BE ECONOMICAL AND COMFORTABLE?

1. Correct orientation of the house relative to the cardinal directions.

One of the most important factors influencing a home's consumption of energy resources is its location relative to the cardinal directions. For a home to be energy efficient, most of the windows should face south. At the same time, a deviation of up to 30° from the azimuth to the south slightly reduces the use of solar energy. If the house is located differently, then the walls and roof of the building should be insulated more effectively to compensate for the lack of heat entering the room from the rays of sunlight.

How does the house heat up from the sun? About 90% of light energy penetrates through the glass windows, heating the room. Modern double-glazed windows are made with special coatings and filled with inert gas. Coatings reflect long-wave infrared rays from indoors back indoors, reducing their loss through windows.

Large windows can make your home too hot in the summer. This problem is solved by using another special glass coating, as well as using automatic shading systems, roof overhangs, and balconies. They are positioned to allow direct sunlight to pass through the windows only when the sun is low in the winter. In summer, the windows on the sunny side of the house are shaded by trees. In winter, sunlight easily penetrates the house between the bare branches.

2. Design of a compact configuration of buildings.

The larger the outer surface of a building with the same volume of its premises, the higher the heat loss. Therefore, when building, reconstructing or expanding a house, you should, if possible, avoid all kinds of niches, ledges, and protrusions on the walls. It makes sense to build unheated extensions on the north side of the house. For example, rooms for storing garden tools and bicycles, technical rooms that protect the heated part of the house from wind and cold. A house with a compact design not only consumes less energy, but also requires lower construction costs.

3. External walls, structures and properties of building materials used.

A significant portion of the heat leaves the house through its outer shell. The higher the difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures, the greater the heat loss.

The degree of thermal insulation of a house is determined by the heat transfer resistance coefficients of its enclosing structures (floor, walls, windows, roof). The higher it is, the better the quality of insulation.

The figure above shows wall structures whose transmission resistance coefficient is 2.1-2.2 m2ºC/W, which meets the regional requirements of buildings located in the geographic latitude of Krasnodar.

In accordance with SNiP 23-02-2003 “Thermal protection of buildings”, for the city of Rostov-on-Don, the heat transfer resistance of a one-story building must be at least 2.62 m2ºC/W.

4. The thickness of the external walls and the living area of the house.

The size of the future living space in the house directly depends on the thickness of the external walls. If the walls are made thick, for example, not 32 cm, but 38.5 cm, the living space of the house will be significantly reduced. So, in a house with an area of 10x11 m and walls of the specified thickness, its living area will lose 2.73 m! On every floor. This means that every square meter of housing will cost more! With a wall thickness of 49 cm, the living area of each floor will decrease by almost 8 m2.

5. Noise protection at home.

The sound insulation of walls and structures of a house directly depends on the density and structure of the material from which they are made. When designing a house, it is very important to pay attention to insulation from impact and sound noise.

Solid walls (without windows and doors), for example made of fiber foam concrete with a thickness of 250 mm, fully meet the requirements of comfort. Soundproofing a wall with windows occupying more than 25% of the area will no longer be so effective: in this case, a significant portion of the noise will penetrate through the windows. This is where, first of all, special noise insulation measures will be required.

6. Individual perception of comfort and indoor climate.

The concept of “comfort at home” has different meanings for many people. Some believe that the most comfortable house is a house made of baked clay bricks, others prefer sand-lime brick, and still others have a passion for wooden frame construction. However, the climate in a house depends not only on the absorption and heat-storing capacity of the walls, the operating principle of the heating system, the ventilation system and the activities of its inhabitants. A comfortable microclimate is a balanced combination of all these elements in the design of a house.

7. Heat loss and cold bridges.

When insulating a house, special attention is needed to places of heat loss, or so-called “cold bridges”. In these places, heat escapes more intensely than in others. Examples include balconies made together with the ceiling in the form of one continuous slab, window slopes or joints between external walls and the basement floor. To reduce heat loss and avoid possible damage to structures (for example, the formation of mold on them due to sweating), it is necessary to take this into account at the design and construction stage of the house.
Particular attention should be paid to sealing joints in places where windows, doors, roofs are installed and fastening roller shutter bodies.

Under the conditions of any truss structure, incl. wooden, it is necessary to lay a waterproofing, vapor-permeable film over the insulation, and a vapor barrier film underneath the insulation and lay seamless thermal insulation. The sealing of junctions with internal walls requires special attention. These two photos show the same house: the first photo was taken with a camera, the second with a thermal imager.
This device recorded huge heat losses through windows and external walls (marked in yellow and red).

8. Thermal insulation of the roof.

If previously it was believed that 10 cm thick insulation (mineral fiber mats or polyurethane foam boards) with a thickness of 10 cm was sufficient for roof insulation, now much more stringent standards apply to roof insulation. For the roofs of energy-efficient (“warm”) houses, the heat transfer resistance must be at least 6 m2ºC/W, i.e. The thickness of thermal insulation made of material with a thermal conductivity coefficient (at equilibrium humidity) of 0.04 W/m2K must be at least 24 cm.

In conditions of more stringent energy consumption standards, home heating systems that meet new requirements play an important role in energy savings. Significant energy savings can be achieved, for example, through the use of automatically controlled low-inertia systems that quickly respond to changes in room temperature.

So, when rooms are heated by sunlight passing through the windows, the corresponding sensors can send a signal to the metering valves to reduce the supply of coolant to the heating devices of a given room. Accordingly, the boiler will operate for less time and gas consumption will be reduced. In this case, plate heating batteries and convectors, which have low inertia, can provide you with a good service when heating your house. Heating through underfloor heating and a tiled stove will not be able to react quickly due to the large heated mass.

The heating boiler must meet standards that indicate efficient use of energy and the absence of emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. Nowadays, these requirements are met by condensing boilers running on liquid fuel or gas, as well as gas steam boilers with ultra-high efficiency.

However, the most effective and providing the greatest comfort is the heating system with infrared film heaters, their efficiency is 92-97%.

If you want to reduce the energy consumption of your own home, the question arises: what needs to be done first - make the heating system more powerful or insulate the house? The answer to this question is clear. First, you should improve the thermal insulation of all elements of the house. Because heating a well-insulated house will require a more compact and less powerful heating system, but well regulated.

10. Passive and active use of solar energy.

Using double-glazed windows with a lower heat transfer coefficient allows you to save energy resources. For example, 1.6 W/(m2-K) instead of the previous 2.3 or 2.6 W/(m2-K). The modern market offers double-glazed windows even with Kt = 1.3-1.1 W/(m2-K). There are also luxury-class double-glazed windows (0.9-0.8 W/(m2 "K)), but they are much more expensive. Along with energy savings, double-glazed windows create comfort in the premises. The cost of the window is primarily influenced by the frame material and only then - glazing. The use of a double-glazed window with a heat transfer coefficient of 1.3 or even 1.11 W/m2-K does not lead to a sharp increase in the cost of the window, unlike, for example, the use of wooden frames made of glued Angara pine.

Conversion of solar energy.

The energy of the sun can be used not only passively (due to the predominant location of the glazed surfaces of the house on the south side), but also actively. In this case, we are talking about the use of solar panels and solar water heaters, with which you can heat water for the bath, shower and heating system.

Liquid solar collector;
Automation shield;
Heat exchanger;
Analysis of heated water;
Heating boiler circuit coil;
Solar station heat exchanger coil;
Heat exchanger feed pipe;
Solar collector feeding pipeline.

When designing a house, it is necessary to provide for the laying of thermally insulated pipes from solar to hot water consumers. The process of converting solar energy into electrical energy through photovoltaic elements is already quite advanced today, but for now, for private housing construction, only the use of solar water heaters is economically justified.

Along with heat loss through the structural elements of the building, it is also lost during ventilation of the premises.

It has been verified that in a well-insulated house, ventilation heat losses reach 30-50%. In this case, heat is lost as a result of replacing warm air with fresh, but colder air.

This process is absolutely necessary to create normal microclimatic conditions in the house. The need for ventilation is especially noticeable in an energy-efficient home, where the paths for cold, fresh air to enter the home are reliably sealed.

An effective solution in the fight against heat loss is the installation of a ventilation system with heat recovery (return), which in modern models reaches 80-85%.

At the design stage, it is necessary to provide for the location of the recuperator and pipelines.

However, an effective ventilation system, based on practice, is the most common element of construction, which is always saved on. Since the residents' need for clean fresh air does not decrease, they have to constantly pay for the excessive consumption of electricity or gas, which is used to compensate for the evaporated heat.

Think about it: what is the point of additionally sealing and insulating the structures of the premises if the heat escapes outside through open windows and doors?

Without installing an effective ventilation system, you just have to put up with these heat losses. They can only be reduced slightly, by 25-30% (or by 10-15% of the total heat loss) through proper ventilation. Outside the heating season, of course, you can ventilate the house as much as you like. It is recommended to carry out so-called draft ventilation, at least in order to comply with hygiene standards. It is useful to open the windows wide at least two or three times a day for a short time, creating a draft.

The time required for air exchange depends on the temperature and humidity of the outside air and the strength of the wind. The colder and drier it is outside, the shorter the ventilation process should be. Water vapor, as well as odors generated when taking a bath or shower, should be removed immediately by ventilating the room. In winter, this must be done carefully, since a draft can not only harm the health of the inhabitants of the house, but also lead to the loss of a significant amount of heat. It is known that a person is not without weaknesses, which include an unintentional disregard for observing the rules. In this case, these are the rules for ventilation of premises. Often, when it’s hot, we don’t reduce the power of the heating system, but open the window. So shouldn't we entrust this task to ventilation equipment controlled by a computer in autonomous mode?

Televisions, washing machines, electric kettles, irons, hobs, split systems, light bulbs - they all consume a significant amount of electricity. Today it is quite easy to reduce its consumption. When purchasing each electrical appliance, you need to pay attention to its energy consumption class; it must be AAA.

For home lighting, it is best to use lamps based on LED technology. The LED lamp is one of the most environmentally friendly light sources. The LED lighting principle allows the use of safe components in the production and operation of the lamp itself. They do not contain toxic substances, so they do not pose a danger in the event of failure or destruction. The LED lamp life is up to 100,000 hours. And the increased energy intensity allows you to consume 10 times less electricity compared to traditional incandescent lamps.

13. Economical water consumption and heat recovery from used warm water.

Manufacturers of plumbing equipment over the past decade have developed many different designs of mixers, taps and other elements of plumbing equipment that can reduce water consumption by 40-50%, without losing the cleaning properties of the water flow.

Innovative systems for watering flower beds and lawns of private houses have been developed, which reduce water consumption for irrigation by 40-60%. The systems combine local sensors, regional weather forecasts and an intelligent algorithm to select the optimal regime for watering plants in a personal plot. Sensors are inserted into each irrigation zone and monitor humidity, soil temperature and lighting in the area. The system has a built-in microcontroller that connects sensors via Wi-Fi wireless technology to the home network to control the time and duration of watering. And the microcontroller, analyzing all the data received, selects the optimal watering mode.

In 2012 designers of recovery systems for private houses from England and Belgium presented very compact systems that allow the heat energy from wastewater to be returned back to the house. The efficiency of such systems is about 60%.

IS ALL THIS WORTH THE EXTRA COSTS DURING CONSTRUCTION?

The answer to this question can be given by real savings figures and confirmed facts.

The cost of the most popular source of thermal energy in Russia, natural gas, in 2017. in Rostov-on-Don was 5.5 rubles/m3. The price trend is an annual smooth increase to the level of global prices, as has already happened with gasoline, the cost of which in the domestic market is equal to its cost in the markets of Europe and North America. Today, the average price of 1 m3 of natural gas, for example in Europe, is $0.37/m3, i.e. 13.3 rub./m3. If we assume that the annual price increase is only 9%, then the price of gas on the domestic market will reach the world average by 2025.
The average monthly volume of gas energy consumption in winter for an ordinary house is 100 m2 (reinforced concrete foundation, “warm floor” system without insulation, 1.5 brick walls with cement plaster, with ordinary metal-plastic windows, 150 mm roof insulation and without supply and exhaust ventilation with heat recovery ), is 850-900m3. In 2017 prices this is 4.8 thousand rubles/month, but in 2025. with a very high degree of probability, heating this house will cost on average 11.5 thousand rubles per month, or about 60,000 rubles. during the heating season.
Owners of houses of the design described above, who have such huge heating costs, will be forced to insulate them, the minimum cost of which is in 2017 prices, for 1 floor. a house of 100 m2 (to comply with SNiP 2302-2003 “Thermal protection of buildings”) is about 320 thousand rubles. If they don't insulate, they will have to accept huge energy bills and their homes will be priced significantly lower by the market than those built to energy efficiency standards. Home buyers check this simply by looking at their utility bills for the past year.

The most pressing questions:

How much will the cost of construction increase if everything is done at once in accordance with existing heat conservation standards?

On average, from 3% to 10%, it all depends on the architectural project, initially correctly selected engineering solutions for the construction of the house, building materials and technologies.

How many years will it take for this additional investment in heat conservation to pay off?

For example: during the construction of 1 floor. a house of 100 m2 (according to the classical scheme described above), the initial cost of construction was 2,100 thousand rubles. After adjustments, in order to meet the requirements of SNiP 2302-2003 “Thermal protection of buildings”, the estimate increased by 90 thousand rubles. At the same time, energy consumption will decrease by no less than 30% (usually 35-40%), and the annual savings during the heating period will be at least 1400 m3 of natural gas. In 2017 the price of 1m3 of gas in Rostov-on-Don was 5.5 rubles. Provided the annual gas price rises by no more than 9%, the costs will pay off in the 8th year. However, what is much more important is that after these 8 years, you will still have to carry out a set of measures to save energy at home so that its maintenance does not become a heavy financial burden for the family. And the cost of remodeling the elements of the house will be almost 4 times more expensive, compared to 80 thousand rubles. costs for energy saving during the construction phase.

Are there real examples of houses you have built that have 30-40% less gas consumption for heating, without compromising living comfort?

More than 70% of our Clients have decided to build such houses and are already living in them. However, since 2014 We began to offer customers and implement complex engineering solutions in projects for all structures of house elements, which allow reducing energy consumption during operation by another 20-30%.

Energy-efficient technologies are increasingly becoming part of our modern life. Every person strives to make their home as warm and cozy as possible. And with the increase in gas tariffs, for example, maintaining a large house is not as easy as it seems. It is in order to save money that you can make your home energy efficient. What is this and how to achieve it - we will consider further.

What is energy efficiency?

Energy efficiency itself is the minimum cost directly related to electricity consumption. An energy-saving house can be called one in which energy costs are reduced by at least 30%.

That is, we get that an energy-efficient house is a residential-type building in which any energy losses are minimized, resulting in a reduction in active energy consumption. In Ukraine, heating is the most expensive for the population, so an important task of turning a house into an energy-efficient home is to reduce heat loss through insulation of the building structure.

Visualizing energy efficiency in numbers

This sensational indicator can be calculated by the coefficient of seasonal heat use, that is, E. When calculating the coefficient, it is also useful to know the ratio of the facade of the building to the volume of the house, the thickness of the insulation layer on the external and internal walls, the roof, the area of all windows and the number of people living in the house. The calculation formula is simple: the amount of heat generated (kW) must be divided by the amount of energy consumed (kW). In the form of numbers we get the following indicators:

E<= 110 кВт*ч /м2/год - обычный дом;
E<= 70 кВт*ч /м2/год - энергоэффективный;
E<= 15 кВт*ч /м2/год - пассивный.

If you take the average poorly insulated house, it loses heat through the external walls. Because of this, up to 70% of all energy consumed is spent on heating. In Ukraine, the heating season lasts, on average, 5-6 months, the climate is very harsh, but at times the temperature reaches 17-20 degrees Celsius. When analyzing, many people wonder whether it is profitable to build energy efficient ones? It seems as if the investment in this construction is so high that it will never pay off.

In fact, it is stupid to talk about the low cost of building an energy-efficient house. On average, the price will be 14% higher than the cost of a conventional one, but an active house will cost 60-70% less to operate.

Basic principles of an energy efficient home

The most important thing to strive for during construction is complete and absolute sealing of the structure. All cold bridges, even the smallest ones, must be closed.

If we draw an analogy between the creation of the world and the construction of an energy-saving house, then here too we can distinguish 3 pillars on which everything rests. The first is the thermal insulation contour of the foundation. As far as we know, the largest amount of heat escapes through the walls, however, the foundation also plays an important role. You need to think about future energy efficiency at the stage of digging a pit. Then builders create a special permanent thermal insulation circuit that prevents direct contact of the foundation with the ground. We also include energy-saving windows consisting of 3 or more chambers here. They help reduce heat loss by 50%.

The second pillar on which the energy efficiency of a house is based is a sealed airtight circuit.

The third pillar is a comfortable microclimate inside the house, which is created thanks to a properly built ventilation system with a recuperator.

How to build an energy efficient house?

No matter how it may seem, the construction of modern housing requires taking into account some important nuances:

develop a project only with proven, qualified organizations with more than one successful construction behind them;
At the same stage, consider using modern insulation materials in construction. This way you can reduce heat loss as much as possible;
windows “steal” about 15-25% of heat, so install only multi-package windows, preferably even with argon filling.

It was stated above that the foundation plays an important role in heat conservation. Many architects and experts recommend using an “insulated wall bars”.

That is, for this it is necessary to additionally insulate the foundation of the future house with special extruded polystyrene foam. Yes, only 10-15% of the total heat loss through the foundation is lost, but this can also be prevented.

At the design stage itself, it is important to determine the total area of the house, the height of the ceilings, the area of the facade, windows, and foundation. The type of ventilation also plays an important role, since through it the owner of the house loses about 10% of the generated heat.

How to make an existing house energy efficient?

The most important thing, since the main heat loss occurs through the walls, is to choose the best insulation. The thickness of the selected material depends on the structure of the house itself. The standards provide for a thickness of 150 mm, but in terms of energy efficiency - 250-300. In addition, you also need to take into account the materials and manufacturer of the insulation. Each specific brand is suitable for a specific type of construction.

Changing windows will also help reduce heat loss. High-quality double-glazed windows will retain up to 50% of heat. The difference between the loss of modern windows is small - 70-100 W/sq.m. But if the window area in the house is 40 sq.m., and the level of heat loss is the maximum of the above - 100 W, then all the glazing will “steal” 4000 W.

Ventilation will also make a difference. According to the standard, the entire volume of air in the building must be changed every hour. If, for example, we take a house of 170 m2, the ceiling height of which is 3 m, then 500 m3 of clean, street air is required every hour.

Now let’s calculate what kind of heat loss such an influx will entail by multiplying the area of the house by the height of the ceilings (this is how we get the volume of the house) and by the required influx. Result: 16.7*500=8500 W. To conserve heat, you can reduce air exchange or heat the street air using a ventilation system with heat exchangers.

Companies that build energy efficient houses

Of course, experienced developers with a staff of professional specialists will quickly and efficiently build a new house, making it the most energy-efficient. Below he will list the TOP-5 Ukrainian companies.

Optima House

“Optima House” is a subsidiary of the developer “Affordable Housing” and operates in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. It has been on the market since 2015, based on Western ideas and projects like “Active House”. The housing of this company is heated by a special heat pump, solar panels on the roof of the house and collectors for heating water. Residential buildings Optima House consumes 65% less energy than conventional houses. The cost of the company's services starts from $1000 per 1 sq.m. taking into account the interior decoration.

Life House Building

“Ecopan”

Another company in Dnepr, which uses exclusively environmentally friendly materials in its activities. For construction, engineers have come up with a technology similar to a constructor: first, individual elements are assembled into certain structures, and then they are connected and a new house is obtained. Individual panels do not exceed a thickness of 20 cm, but this is enough to heat a house with an area of 200 m2 in frosty temperatures of -12 degrees. 2 only 10m 3 gas For comparison, this is 9 times less than what is needed to heat a conventional stone house of the same area. This company's environmentally friendly housing will cost $500 per 1 sq.m.

PassivDom

A fairly young startup company, founded in the spring of 2016. The company's goal is to build not just energy-efficient houses, but completely autonomous housing. The finished brainchild of PassivDom does not need to be connected to network communications, so you can build your own house of this type far in the mountains. The frame of the building is created on a 3D printer, and the absence of joints guarantees perfect tightness and thermal insulation. Initially, small panels of 36 m are printed 2 , and a solar battery is mounted on the roof. Dirty shower water, for example, is purified for reuse by a special built-in system.

Neoarce

The main focus of the company's activities is the German company Passichaus. Energy-saving houses are built with a special hermetic layer, which improves the already excellent thermal insulation, minimizing heat loss. Housing is supplied with energy through solar panels, heat pumps and collectors. To build such housing far from everyone, in the mountains or forest, you need to pay $1000 per 1 sq.m. 2 . This price includes interior finishing, setting up communications inside the house and installing plumbing.

What are the benefits?

The first and most important advantage that should be mentioned is the efficiency of an energy-saving house. To maintain it, you will reduce your costs by 60-70%. With current gas prices, these numbers are staggering. In addition, in 99.9% of such houses, solar panels and collectors are installed, which, due to the feed-in tariff, also become advantageous compared to network electricity supply.

The second and important advantage is the ability to use conventional main gas for heating. 10 cubic meters per day will be enough to create a comfortable temperature.

Are there any disadvantages?

Probably the only, but such a significant drawback is the high cost of building an energy-efficient house. Prices of companies on the Ukrainian market vary from 500 to 1000 dollars per 1 sq. m. meter and often include interior finishing services, installation of systems, wiring and installation of plumbing. The payback on the house will also take quite a long time and depends on the area, type of insulation, construction materials, level of modernization and upgrade.

Let's sum it up

Having analyzed all of the above, we can conclude that building an energy-saving house is a profitable and ambitious investment. A large investment that will fully pay for itself will reduce maintenance costs.

Now on the market you can find a huge number of components and necessary systems, which differ in price, but not in quality. Correctly selected and installed sensors reduce your heating costs by up to 40%. For example, a “smart home” will itself control turning on and off the lights, activating small and large household appliances, etc.

An energy-efficient house is a long-term project that can save a large budget and pay for itself in 5-7 years.

An energy efficient house is a house that consumes no more than 15 kWh/m² per year (according to European standards), also called a zero energy house. In such a house, heating costs tend to a minimum, even in Russia.

Energy efficient house: materials and construction rules

The construction of an energy efficient house must be carried out in accordance with certain rules that guarantee less energy loss and therefore lower heating costs. What should you pay special attention to?

The right choice of building materials

When thinking about an energy efficient home, you should also remember the ironclad rule - choose the right building materials. Up to 35% of the heat from the entire house “escapes” through external partitions in single-family houses. There are many types of building materials available in the market for constructing external and internal walls. They differ not only in price or brand, but, above all, in technical properties and parameters.

1. H+H aerated concrete- This is a material with good thermal insulation parameters. The blocks made from it, as one of the few available on the market, are able to meet the current and future high technical requirements regarding the thermal insulation of external partitions, even in the case of a single-layer wall. The H+H cellular concrete structure, consisting of a large number of air-filled cells, makes this material not only lightweight, but also guarantees a low heat transfer coefficient.

Aerated concrete block

2. Wood concrete. Pros: good thermal conductivity 0.12 - 0.19 W/m³ (better than aerated concrete), relative lightness (a brick really weighs no more than 3 kg, and a block more than 20 kg). Disadvantages: not environmentally friendly, walls made of wood concrete are blown through, does not always suit the building design of interest, high moisture absorption.

Material - Arbolit

3. Cork insulation. Pros: good thermal insulation, light weight of the material, environmental friendliness and high level of sound insulation. Cons: high price, dents from strong pressure.

Cork insulated floor

4. Eco-friendly straw panels.“New old” technology for building houses from straw. The house is built from straw panels, a technology very similar to Lego. The panels are fastened to each other, using insulation between them. The thermal conductivity of a straw panel is 0.047 - 0.053 W/m³, which is 7 times warmer than brick, and 4 times warmer than timber. Due to these properties, the house accumulates heat for 4-7 days per heating.

8 important rules for building an energy efficient home:

1) Correct location of the house in relation to parts of the world;

2) High thermal insulation of external building partitions;

3) Limitation of thermal bridges;

4) Thermal accumulation of internal building partitions;

5) Correct and careful execution;

6) Heat recovery from the ventilation system;

7) Natural composition of building materials;

8) Use of autonomous energy.

Is it possible to transform an already built wooden house into an energy efficient one?

This is quite possible if the house is in adequate condition. First you need to find cold bridges, these are places of heat leakage. As a rule, this is one of the main reasons for heat loss in the house. They are found in the walls of the house, in window frames, in corners and doorways. Typically, thermal bridges are checked using a special thermal imager. Next you need to insulate them.

And, of course, solar energy.

Of course, solar energy, what would you do without it? On average, on a sunny day, the station produces approximately 30-35 kW/hour, and the average family of 3-4 people consumes 15-20 kW/hour. The station opens at 7 am and ends at 7 pm. Maximum output 4+ kW/hour. The disadvantages of a solar battery are that the equipment is quite expensive. But the station will pay for itself in the future. The payback period is on average from 3 to 5 years. If this is beyond your means, then the good old method of starting a fire in a fireplace (stove) is your faithful horse.

Installation of solar panels at home

Finally:

Pros of an energy efficient home:

1. Savings on heating

2. Eco-friendly and safe home

3. Special microclimate at home

Minuses:

1. 15-20% more expensive than a regular house.

And in truth, an energy-efficient house costs more than a conventional house made of timber or frame technology. An energy-efficient house is a long-term project that can save a large budget and pay for itself in 5-7 years. published.

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