Energy-efficient houses built according to the energy performance requirements introduced in Denmark in 2006

In order to meet new tighter building energy requirements introduced in Denmark in 2006 and prepare the way for future buildings with even lower energy consumption, single-family houses were built with the purpose to demonstrate that it is possible to build typical single-family houses with an energy consumption that meets the demands without problems concerning building technology or economy. The paper gives a brief presentation of the houses and the applied energy-saving measures. The paper also presents results from measurements of the overall energy use, indoor climate and air tightness. Furthermore, results from detailed calculations of the utilization of electricity-related heat gains are presented. The paper concludes that electricity savings are only to a modest extent eaten up by increasing heat consumption. The houses built can relatively easily keep the future energy demands as the energy consumption is on a level corresponding to a classification as “Low-energy house class 2” or about 75% of the required maximum energy consumption. With minor modifications, some houses could be classified as “Low-energy building class 1” equivalent to an energy consumption of only 50% of the required and almost the level of typical passive houses.