Germany

Purpose of the work

A procedure for the preparation of buildings for airtightness checks in compliance with legal requirements was to be defined in a standard. It should be possible to transfer the measurement result directly into the energy performance calculation as specified in DIN V 18599 without making any mathematical corrections. Checklists in the standard should largely eliminate the need to consult previous publications on interpretation issues.

Method of approach

Building airtightness in Germany is on a good way. The latest survey amongst FLiB members shows the n50-values are much better than the benchmarks given in EnEV 2014 (German EPBD). For airtightness tests in 2014 the average n50-value of single-family houses is 1.1 ACH for new buildings and 1.6 ACH for refurbishments. In multi-family houses the average n50-value for new buildings is 0.9 ACH and 1.5 ACH for refurbishments.

This paper presents some first approaches for the national application of the nearly zero-energy building definition according to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive by summarising the current plans of Germany, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands. As a contribution from a 5th country, the planned national energy performance requirements of Switzerland for the phase from 2018 onwards were included. It was also analysed whether any of the countries will set specific requirements to the air-tightness of NZEBs and if there are specific requirements for ventilation techniques

This article compares the requirements for mechanical ventilation systems in the new German regulation on energy savings (EnEV 2002) with those contained in the previous regulation (named WSchV 1995). It also gives information about the way to test and certify mechanical ventilation components according to this new regulation.