Energy plus houses
Many houses are built with little thought to their life cycle energy costs. When a property developer is looking to earn as much as possible from the sale of houses, it does not pay to make extra investments in energy-sparing and efficiency measures. It is not the developer who pays the fuel bills, after all.
There are alternatives to today’s energy-consuming houses, including houses built not only to save power but to produce it as well. There is long-standing interest in energy efficient houses in Europe, but now there is increasing interest in so-called energy plus houses, which generate more energy than they consume. Such houses are being built in a number of countries, including the much discussed Freiburg project in Germany, where the terraced houses are roofed with solar panels. The buildings are far better insulated than the norm and have a whole house heat recovery ventilation system. Most energy plus houses in Europe are based on solar panels, thanks to good grant programs for solar energy. In Britain, a number of public buildings and housing complexes in recent years have been equipped with their own energy yielding wind turbines either mounted on the roof, or erected on the grounds.
Saving electricity is both sensible and necessary for reducing CO2 emissions. The European Parliament and the European Council reached an agreement on energy performance of buildings November 18 th. 2009 that fixes 2020 as the deadline for all new buildings to be nearly zero energy buildings.
