Nowadays, the issue of green housing is very acute. People strive to equip their homes with furniture made from natural materials and use extremely safe products for repairs.
The desire to be closer to nature also affected the construction industry. Modern developers have begun to build environmentally friendly homes using the latest technology. One of the latest achievements in this industry has become a passive house (eco-house). What is green building and what are its basic principles, we will tell in our article.
A little about the origin of passive houses
In European countries, the issue of energy savings has been an acute issue for a very long time. For many years, their professors struggled to develop economical heating, ventilation, and solar heat conversion systems. They managed to reduce electricity costs, but to reduce the heat loss of the building - no.
Then the German scientists came up with the idea of creating a passive house, and they managed to bring it to life in 1996. It was then that the Passive House Institute was opened in Germany, where experimental structures of this type were erected. Since then, several thousand such houses have been built in America and Europe, and today their number is growing rapidly.
In Russia, this technology is still little known, therefore, not everyone knows what an eco-house is, and how it differs from the structures that are familiar to us. So let's figure it out!
Definition and features of eco-houses
Passive house is a residential building, which is characterized by a complete absence of traditional heating systems and minimal electricity consumption. A favorable microclimate is constantly maintained inside the premises, while the negative impact on the environment is absolutely excluded. The energy consumption of such housing is only 10% of the cost of ordinary private houses.
The eco-house project is created on the basis of the following requirements:
- Creating a simple and energy-efficient building design.
- Arrangement of a passive air conditioning and heating system.
- The use of environmentally friendly building materials.
- Use of alternative energy sources.
- Full automation of all engineering systems.
- Creating an energy-efficient layout of the house (with a minimum number of windows facing the north side).
Arrangement and architecture of passive houses
The arrangement and construction of eco-houses is carried out according to a number of rules. Owners of such housing should completely abandon artificial and harmful materials, otherwise the meaning of such housing is completely lost. Interior decoration should not involve the use of vinyl, polystyrene foam, varnishes, various formaldehydes and other harmful substances.
Preference is given to materials such as:
- clay;
- glass;
- gypsum;
- brick;
- a rock;
- wood;
- ceramics and others
As for the appearance of the building itself, there are also certain features:
- When creating projects of such houses, experts determine their optimal shape, which will create a spacious room with a minimum external area. This move allows you to reduce heat loss through the outer surface.
- The color of energy-saving houses can also not be any, since it directly affects the indicator of heat consumption. Most often, such structures are white, in some cases, the outer surfaces are finished with mirrors. This reduces the impact of external factors on the outer surfaces of the building.
Lighting in passive houses
Understanding the question: “What is an eco-house?”, Special attention should be paid to the lighting of this building. Since the essence of such housing is to reduce energy costs, the principle of arranging the illumination of a room is based on the installation of devices with high efficiency.
In this case, the incandescent lamps familiar to us are completely inappropriate. As lighting elements, LED lamps are installed here that do not produce heat during operation. It is also important that lamps of this type can be disposed of without harm to the environment, which just fits the basic concept of passive houses.
Feature of window systems
The arrangement of window openings is preferably carried out on the south side of the building. With this arrangement, the windows will more fill the room with heat than give it out. On the upper floors, skylights are equipped to provide the room with sunlight. On the lower levels of the house openings of increased sizes are provided.
The windows of the eco-house are equipped with two and three-chamber double-glazed windows (with argon and krypton filling). The glass surface is completely covered with an energy-saving film. To reduce heat loss through window openings, they are supplemented with wooden blinds, shutters and curtains.
Power supply system
One of the significant advantages of such structures is the opportunity to save on the purchase of land for construction. It may not have a communications approach, but, as practice shows, such lands are several times cheaper.
The passive house provides itself with electrical resources. For this purpose, solar collectors are installed on its roof, which accumulate electricity. In the future, it is spent on heating water, heating a house, operating autonomous devices and lighting. The electricity system can also be supplemented by wind generators, which can provide up to 80% of the required energy.
Heating
Whatever the eco-house - wooden, brick or stone - it needs heating. In the warm season, working household appliances are quite enough to create a comfortable microclimate inside such a home. When it gets cold enough outside, additional heating comes to the rescue.
In passive houses, the same solar panels, collectors, and heat pumps are used as heat sources. The autonomous heating system is equipped with underfloor heating devices, which automatically turn on when the temperature drops below the permissible limit.
Ventilation system
Speaking of what an eco-house is, one should pay attention to the main system, which is responsible for the favorable microclimate of the room - ventilation.
About it you need to know that the level of humidity and cleanliness of air in passive houses is controlled using a special device - a recuperator. The essence of his work is that the air leaving the room warms up the air flows entering the house with its heat. As a result of this, fresh air enters the house is already quite warm.
In the cold season, air flows are sent to the underground duct system, where they are heated to positive temperatures and sent to the recuperator. In hot weather, the same process takes place, but only underground is not heating, but air cooling.
Thus, the house constantly maintains the optimum temperature, and only occasionally there is a need for the functioning of additional heating systems. That is why passive houses are so relevant in our time, when the cost of energy is constantly growing. Based on this, we can assume that the popularity of housing of this type can also grow sharply in our country.