Low-energy house

A low-energy house is characterized by an energy-efficient design and technical features which enable it to provide high living standards and comfort with low energy consumption. Traditional heating and active cooling systems are absent, or their use is secondary. Low-energy buildings may be viewed as examples of sustainable architecture. Low-energy houses often have active and passive solar building design and components, which reduce the house's energy consumption and minimally impact the resident’s lifestyle. Throughout the world, companies and non-profit organizations provide guidelines and issue certifications to guarantee the energy performance of buildings and their processes and materials. Certifications include passive house, BBC - Bâtiment Basse Consommation - Effinergie (France), zero-carbon house (UK), and Minergie (Switzerland). Buildings A low-energy house is characterized by an energy-efficient design and technical features which enable it to provide high living standards and comfort with low energy consumption. Traditional heating and active cooling systems are absent, or their use is secondary. Low-energy buildings may be viewed as examples of sustainable architecture. Low-energy houses often have active and passive solar building design and components, which reduce the house's energy consumption and minimally impact the resident’s lifestyle. Throughout the world, companies and non-profit organizations provide guidelines and issue certifications to guarantee the energy performance of buildings and their processes and materials. Certifications include passive house, BBC - Bâtiment Basse Consommation - Effinergie (France), zero-carbon house (UK), and Minergie (Switzerland). During the 1970s, experimental initiatives for low-energy buildings were made in Denmark, the United States, Sweden, Canada, and Germany. The German Passivhaus Institute introduced the first passive house in 1990. The implementation of standardized low-energy building concepts has developed differently in each country. Interest in low-energy buildings has increased in the United States, primarily due to rising energy prices, decreasing costs for onsite renewable-energy systems, and increasing concern about climate change. California requires all new residential construction to be zero net energy by 2020. Triggered in the 1970s by the first energy crisis and growing environmental awareness, energy conservation became increasingly important in Germany. In 1977, the country's first energy-related building standard was enacted. The annual heating requirement was introduced as an important parameter by the third German Thermal Insulation Ordinance (1995). In 2013, however, there was no clear legal requirement for a low-energy building standard in Germany. According to Maria Panagiotidou and Robert J. Fuller, definitions, policies and construction activity of zero-energy buildings must be clear. The European Union's Energy Performance Directive requires that beginning in 2021, only low-energy buildings may be built. Changes to national policies have occurred since May 2015 in the UK. One of the most significant has been the withdrawal of the Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH) as a system for assessing and encouraging improvements in the environmental design of dwellings. This has abandoned the code's schematic which provided a framework of achievement levels and to which low-energy designers could aspire to meet or surpass. Although energy-conservation legislation still exists in the building regulations, there is a lack of suitable standards exceeding basic regulations. As a result, the Passive House Standard may expand its influence and impact on energy-efficient houses. The term 'low-energy houses' may refer to national building standards. These standards sometimes seek to limit the energy used for space heating, which is the largest energy consumer in many climate zones. Other energy uses may also be regulated. The history of passive solar building design provides an international view of one form of low-energy-building development and standards. Standards for low-energy buildings in Europe have proceeded differently in each country, and there is no common certification or legislation for low-energy buildings valid in all EU member states. As a movement towards reducing energy use and emissions, a common legislation concerning buildings’ energy performance, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) was published in 2002 and became effective in January 2003.