Lilu's House - a fantastic passive house
Construction of low-energy houses, such as passive houses, is becoming more common. Interest in building houses with low operating costs and lower electricity consumption is increasing. Although passive houses still represent a small part of the construction sector, the segment of low-energy houses is growing every year and passive houses are a sustainable construction alternative with an exciting future development.
Definition Passive House
The formal definition states that a passive house is built with an airtight and very well-insulated outer shell and mechanical ventilationwith efficient heat recovery. A passive house focuses on minimizing energy consumption and achieves, in some cases, energy self-sufficiency through its special design and construction. A passive house is a low-energy house that requires very little energy to heat.
Up to 90% energy savings can be achieved with a low-energy house, compared to a standard house. To achieve this, the passive house must use very little energy for heating and cooling.
In addition to energy efficiency, the living climate is an important aspect of a passive house as they are built to have very good ventilation and high turnover of fresh air. A passive house maintains an optimal temperature regardless of the season.
Project: Lilu's House
The goal of the project is to obtain a passive house certification for a complete house, made entirely of wood, the first of its kind in Catalonia. The house will not only serve as a home, but also as House Habitat's headquarters and universities and other companies will be invited to show how a passive house works in practice!
Key factors for Project Lilu's House:
- Ability to monitor energy consumption and other variables. Engineers, technicians and individuals can experiment and see if they can imagine living in a biopassive house.
- Green construction. The house will be constructed through modular construction, which means that the carbon footprint is greatly reduced compared to other traditional construction methods. What's more, "km. 0" sustainable materials will be used - these are materials that have travelled less than 100 km to the construction site and are produced ecologically and ecologically.
- Healthy house. With excellent indoor air quality that reduces VOCs and a special design that minimizes electromagnetic fields and other harmful substances. Moisture control will also be available. In addition, the house will include a double flow ventilation system with heat recovery to maintain high indoor air quality to optimize user health.
- Energy efficiency. If the house maintains a positive energy consumption: it will save more energy than it uses.
- 5 months construction time. Work impact is reduced. Its structure and roof were built in just 5 days and the project should be completed within 5 months.
A sustainable partnership with CPG Europe
As the market leader in the construction industry, CPG Europe offers solutions for sustainable building construction. Therefore, we are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with House Habitat on this exciting project and have the opportunity to offer our products, services and knowledge. To achieve the main goal, a good living comfort and a healthy living climate, with minimal energy consumption, our illbruck products will be used. Illbruck's range consists of certifiedsealing solutions for windows and facades of excellent quality.
For sealing window and edge joints, illbruck joint tape TP654 illmod Trio 1050 will be installed. The joint band is an airtight multifunction tape used to seal joints around windows and doors. It protects against impact rain, provides a high level of airtightness, provides excellent thermal and acoustic insulation and complies with passive house requirements.
illbrucks adhesive SP050 will be used for lumber joinery due to its weather and UV resistance and excellent tensile strength.
Passive house design
Lilu's House consists of 180 m2 distributed over two floors, with modern, compact design, sloping roofs and large windows that provide sun and daylight. The house has a ventilated wooden façade and an external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS).
The house is built with a double façade consisting of light wood and CTL (wood laminated panels), taken from the sustainable forests of the Pyrenees. Since a modular building system is used, the shorter delivery times mean that the construction of the house can be fully completed in 5 months.
Lilu's House Passive House Plus certification is one of the most demanding certificates in terms of energy efficiency and it means that the demand for renewable primary energy should not exceed 45 kWh/m² per year, which this design achieves.
This certification requires that renewable energy production should be at least 60 kWh/m² per year, and this will be achieved thanks to the solar panels installed on the roof. The house will also have an aerothermal air conditioning system and a hot water system (HSW), which will contribute to this certification. Finally, the certification will be awarded after a thorough inspection and review of energy needs, situation, weather, shadows, solar radiation, altitude and air density.
In summary, this building will have a positive energy consumption and generate more energy than it needs.
See the images below that were used to calculate the energy requirement for Lilu's House.
