Cross-section of a Plusenergiehaus®

“The average home in the Solar Settlement, as a model planned after the EnEV- requirements, the minimum energy efficiency restraints for a new house in Germany, would consume 185 kWh/m2a.

The PlusEnergy home built only with the Passive House Standard would still consume 98 kWh/m2a.

When that home’s heat is drawn from the local heat network from wood burning, its consumption is reduced to79 kWh/m2a.

This low consumption is counterbalanced with a credit of 79 kWh/m2a primary solar powered energy. The generated surplus is on average 36 kWh/m2a of primary energy.”

Large advancements rely mostly on simple ideas, so simple, that they at first seem unbelievable: save energy and generate a surplus of power, use the power of the sun and have 100% renewable energy.In order to achieve its annual median positive energy footprint, the building makes the best possible use – active and passive – from the only form of energy available in abundance, free of charge everyday, everywhere: solar energy. The house generates its own electricity and heat, uses them intelligently, and retains them in the building’s structure.This can be demonstrated with a typical PlusEnergy home : The roof is made of the most extensive photo voltaic unit equipped with a solar thermal collector to heat tap water. The well-tested and well-proven use of the roof overhang shields from the high summer sun, while it still allows rays of the winter sun to penetrate into the home.High-grade and transparent, the south façade’s infrared-reflecting, triple-paned insulated glass maintains the warmth within the home. The entire building’s skin is insulated, thermal-bridge free, and is densely sealed. In addition, the ventilation system facilitates a permanent fresh air supply with nearly no heat loss.The activation of the building masses as a thermal reservoir is further strengthened by the addition of the Phase Changing Material in the inner walls. Also with commercial PlusEnergy buildings, a vacuum-insulated façade is implemented. Should an additional heating unit be necessary, there are several options to do so with renewable energy.We employ advanced, clever solutions as necessary, i.e. high-tech heating systems. Otherwise, the technical expenditure of our homes are easy, robust, low-maintenance and user-friendly – because these are also economically successful.“The long-term goal is carbon-free homes,” reported the German government with their fifth energy research program – as if reality wasn’t already beyond that. However science is well beyond the next step, as explored by the 59 existing PlusEnergy houses in the Solar Settlement in Freiburg. The results of a long-term study at the Bergische University in Wuppertal were published in January 2009 in the Deutsche Bauzeitschrift (German Building Magazine).The Solar Settlement houses actually do generate a surplus – and indeed the average per square meter and year was 36 kWh. Included therein are all of the energy consumption values: Heating and warm water, household and appliance power, not only, like otherwise customary, the heat energy.In comparison: the existing buildings in Germany lie at an average of 435 kWh, the minimum energy standard for new building (EnEV 2009) at 260 kWh, and even the passive house allows up to 120 kWh of consumption. Here we are talking about consumption. The Plusenergiehaus® covers its own consumption and generates another 36 kWh still on top of that.How does that work? Prof. Karsten Voss and engineer Mira Heinze explain this in their study. They act on the assumption from the average of all the Solar Settlement homes: Three residents share 137 m2 floor space. Now imagine the exact same house, as if it were actually built after the minimum energy building standard (EnEV). Then it would consume 185 kWh/m2 per year.However one can only insulate a home so well – how the residents live and which electrical equipment they use plays a roll as well. That is why an energy saving household is estimated, like the Solar Settlement determined, to stay at 165 kWh/m2. Now the building is only within the passive house energy standard. With that it consumes 98 kWh/m2.It also depends on where the energy used comes from. It is more efficient for example when one uses a mini-CHP in their own home, with wood pellets from the region, than when one uses an age-old heating system with Arabian petroleum. That is why there is a key multiplier for the so called “primary energy.” Through the district heat network with partial wood buring we arrive in Freiburg at a consumption of 79 kWh/m2 of primary energy.In addition to 79 kWh/m2a in consumption, the photovoltaic installation generates 115 kWh. This yields a final energy gain of 36 kWh.The energy savings at the Solar Settlement in total, including the 59 PlusEnergy homes and the commercial and retail Sun Ship, are equivalent to 200,000 L of oil or 500 tons of CO2 per year.Meanwhile, the Plusenergiehaus® is capable of even more! Since the realization of the Solar Settlement, the home and housing community concepts have been further developed. With optimized components, PlusEnergy homes can now generate up to 200 kWh/m2 per year.The average information for a house in the Solar Settlement was taken and reported with an average of 2.9 residents, 1,475 ft2 heated floor space and 527 ft2 of solar power units with 6.3 kW peak capacity. The average house in the Freiburg Solar Settlement generates a surplus of 36 kWh/m2a primary energy. In order to demonstrate how well the concept actually works, Professor Dr. Karsten Voss calculated the following in the study:

Photovoltaic unit / Inverter

Bright and healthy atmosphere

Using natural materials is not only great for the environment, rather it is also good for the environments we build for ourselves. After all, central Europeans spend over 80% of their lives indoors.Equal for both living or for working space, the Plusenergiehaus® avoids any kind of harmful substances. All of the building materials must be emission free. Together with modern ventilation systems – not energy-wasting air conditioning – the PlusEnergy-construction guarantees permanently fresh, healthy and well-climatized air.Light-flooded rooms cater for a cheerful atmosphere. The large-paned windows, that are so essential for PlusEnergy, also cater towards a positive and comfortable balance within the home. Ecology is in no case asceticism and waiving one’s comfort, but rather PlusEnergy means a luxury for all, that is essential for a buoyant and reasonable, healthy and joyful lifestyle.Insulate homes, everyone can do that now. But to build and organize a large office and commercial building modelled according to PlusEnergy building standards was regarded by the German National Environment Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt) as so innovative, that they developed an entirely new energy façade with generous sponsorship.The energy that a building generates must be held within that building. That is why a modern building needs a well designed façade. With the example of the “Sun Ship,” the 60,000 ft2 commercial developed section of the Solar Settlement in Freiburg, one can observe these necessary measures. The following three films demonstrate the façade’s post-and-beam construction from wood, with special windows and vacuum-insulated panels. Ventilation with heat recovery is integrated into the façade, and the two potential thermal bridges, the incoming and outgoing air channels, are stinted.(5.20 Min.)(7.45 Min.)(5.20 Min.)