low energy housing

This paper is an overview of the work carried out during a 3year EPSRC funded project investigating the important factors in Supply Air window design. The structure and some of the main conclusions of this work are presented here. The project consisted of alternating experimental and simulation phases; the experimental results contributed to the model validation, and the simulation outputs provided design guidance for the following experiments.

This paper presents a passive design strategy where thermal comfort is achieved by engaging the occupants to define their own comfort condition and vary the quality of the space according to their needs. Two naturally ventilated houses in South Australia designed with this approach were tested and their actual performance documented. The results showed that most of the time the houses were always comfortable without any assistance from active systems.

Island and coastal areas in northern and western regions of Scotland are characterised by comparatively high levels of wind and rain - a combination that increases the wind-chill cooling of buildings and leads to higher energy consumption. This paper describes a low-energy housing demonstration project in the Orkney Islands, an island group located off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The background to the project is discussed, in particular, why there was a need for a more appropriate design, the features incorporated, and the main findings of the research

The project involves a 'Housing for the Elderly' development of 32 units, built by the Blenheim Borough Council, BBC, under a Housing Corporation sponsored initiative. The initiative is aimed at providing affordable rental accommodation for the fastest growing section of the community: the elderly. The council sought a new housing design which catered specifically to the needs and resources of elderly tenants. Comfortable and affordable rental accommodation linked with low maintenance were foremost considerations in the project.

Passive and low energy houses are not yet widespread throughout the world. One of the reasons is that their actual performance has not been clarified. In recent years, the number of houses has been increasing in Japan, however, there are very few examples of multiple dwelling building whose performance has been clarified. The annual thermal performance of two dwelling units in a multiple dwelling building in Japan is measured and their high performance is verified.

In the frame work of IBA Task XIII, a pilot project URBAN VILLA has been realized in Amstelveen, The Netherlands, Ref. /1/. This project concerns the development of an apartment building of 42 luxurious apartments, of which 16 will have extreme low energy consumption. Success and failure of every new domestic design are ruled by the sensation of comfort, experienced by the residents. Therefore, in order to make this a successful project comfort requirements should be fulfilled.