Solar energy house in a wintry country
By Anne Berit Bjørken.
Photo:Asmund Hanslien
Even in such a wintry country as Norway it is possible to build houses that need virtually no outside sources of energy.
Professor Øyvind Aschehoug and Erling Nordsjø from LOOC in front of the wall that consists of translucent insulation.
Scientists at NTH/SINTEF have designed a new low-energy house that has now been built in the Winter Olympics media village in Hamar.
In the media village stands a row of three low-energy apartments, of which the centre apartment is an experimental house in an international solar energy project financed by the Research Council of Norway´s solar energy programme. Other energy and environmental experiments are being carried out in the two other apartments.
The house contains all available technical equipment that is capable of keeping energy consumption at a minimum. The house uses only 15% of the normal amount of energy needed for heating.
"During the winter, the solar cells produce too little current because solar irradiation levels are simply too low. So about 3,600 kWh of electricity must be bought from the grid during the winter, at a cost of about NOK 1,800", says NTH Professor Øyvind Aschehoug.
The purpose of building the house was to gain experience that in turn might make it economically and technically feasible to build low-energy housing for ordinary families. Every conceivable method has been adopted to reduce energy consumption. A great deal of effort has been put into identifying suitable materials, components and construction concepts by studying energy consumption with the help of simulations. The time horizon is long as far as choice of materials is concerned, and cost-benefit restrictions were not based on the choice of technologies that were evaluated.
The two other houses function as references that also demonstrate good Norwegian products in the energy sector. One of the primary reasons for building these houses was to try out new energy and indoor-climate technologies that satisfy the new building regulations that are expected to be adopted in 1995.
"Three identical apartments in a row give us a first-class basis for comparing different energy-saving technologies, especially as the apartments will not be inhabited for much of the first winter-heating season."
Scientists at NTH/SINTEF have designed a new low-energy house.
New translucent insulation
In addition to superinsulated windows, the walls of the house will have a new type of insulation. Part of the wall from the ground to the roof will consist of translucent insulation. This is made of a special type of plastic with a high insulation capacity which also lets light into the rooms inside.The principle of the heat recovery system is that warm indoor air gives up its heat before it leaves the house. This is used to warm up fresh cold air from outside the house.
On the roof are solar cells that generate electricity for the TV, washing machine, electric shaver, heat pump and other electrical equipment. The heat pump in the loft heats water for domestic consumption and space heating. The heat pump sources are a ground coil and a solar collector.
Test by journalists
The journalists who come to Hamar for the Winter Olympics in February 1994 will be first to really experience whether the environmental house works as intended. The trial low-energy housing units consist of rational designs with a high standard of insulation, good sealing and beneficial indoor-climate materials, new types of heat-insulating glass and windows, transparent insulation, an integrated sunroom, efficient heat-recovery systems such as heat pumps, control systems for heating and ventilation, solar heating system for hot water and solar electricity.The project is a collaboration between Hamar and District Housing Corporation (HOBBL), NTH/SINTEF, the building contractor and a number of industrial companies that have supplied materials and components for the houses.