Objective
To build low-energy-consumption houses similar to the type of house currently being built in Ireland and which conform strictly to town-planning constraints and building regulations. The aim is to achieve a 40% energy saving on the annual consumption for heating and domestic hot water compared whith conventional houses; that is, an annual saving of 6 250 kWh per house.
The houses have been completed and the monitoring system has been installed.
The thermal characteristics of houses as well as their air-tightness have been measured.
A film on the construction has been realized and more than 30 000 persons saw it.
The thermal characteristics which have been measured seem to be better than expected from the design. The air-tightness is very good: infiltation rates are very low in the range of 0.1 - 0.3 air change per hour according to external conditions.
The construction of five low-energy-consumption houses and one control house, in Kilcock, near Dublin. These houses are semi-detached, in three pairs, and are built alike. Each has a heated area of 90 m2 and buffer zones or insulating areas, for example, double doors, a garage, a glasshouse.
The thermal insulation of the control house conforms to the legislation in force from january 1982. This house is heated by a hot-water system with a storage tank using off-peak electricity. The domestic hot water is also provided by an electrical storage tank. The five low-energy-consumption houses have increased thermal insulation of outside walls, roof and floors; they also have double and triple glazing.
They are heated in one of the following ways: by conventional mixed electric heating (direct-night storage), by heating with hot water using a storage tank heated by off-peak electricity , by air- water heat pumps. Domestic hot water is provided by an electric storage tank, accompanied either by an air-water heat pump or by solar collectors. Two of the five houses have increased air-tightness, pulsed mechanical ventilation and air extraction using a heat-recovery system. The detailed measurement programme is being carried out with the help of a data-collecting system with 297 probe points. The measurements will be taken first over one year for the unoccupied houses, then over two years when the houses are occupied.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
DEM - Demonstration contractsCoordinator
2 Dublin
Ireland