The energy concept aims at:
Maximising the use of renewable energy technologies in the building in order to offer a show-case for the integration of renewable energy technologies in a monument-protected building
Ensuring the implementation of a full range of energy-saving measures
All measures implemented contribute to reducing the energy consumption of the building with the benefit of increasing the comforts to its tenants, as well as to supplying renewable energy.
The following measures were implemented, resulting in the reduction of the annual energy consumption for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning by 50 % compared to a reference building. 100 % of the building’s heating and cooling demands are provided by renewable energy sources (biomass, wood pellet, geothermal heating and cooling, solar thermal heating and absorption cooling). The building features the latest PV technologies (modules, thin-film, semi-transparent) for the production of electricity and was equipped with a series of energy efficiency technologies (ventilation with heat recovery, insulation of façade and roof, highly-efficient double glazing, high-efficiency lamps). In addition to this, the remaining electricity required will be bought from renewable energy installations so that 100 % of the electricity consumption will be provided by renewable energy making the Renewable Energy House 100 % renewable energy based.
Any sustainable energy solution has to contain measures on both the demand and supply side, thereby taking into account energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. With the Renewable Energy House, this principle was carefully applied, although because the building is monument-protected some energy efficiency measures are excluded. In existing buildings there is much less flexibility in the design and layout of energy efficiency measures. Nevertheless, a good number of energy efficiency technologies have been implemented such as:
Insulation of façade and roof