IEA-ECBCS Annex 51: energy efficient communities. Experience from Denmark

The paper describes the Danish contribution to the IEA-ECBCS Annex 51: “energy efficient communities”. We present three case studies, two from Annex subtask A (state-of-the-art review) and one from subtask B (ongoing projects). The first case study is “Samsoe: a renewable energy island”. The community achieved a net 100% share of renewable energy in its total energy use, relying on available technical solutions, but finding new ways of organizing, financing and ownerships. The second project is “Concerto class I: Stenloese Syd”. The buildings in the settlement are low-energy buildings class I (Building Regulation 2008). The project partners envisaged the implementation of selected key energy-supply technologies and building components and carried out an evaluation of user preferences to give suggestions to designers and constructors of low-energy houses. The third case study (Subtask B) is: “low-energy neighbourhood in Lystrup, Denmark”. The project integrates sustainable solutions both for the building sector and the energy supply side, which in the case consists on a low-temperature district heating network. The analysis of the successful/unsuccessful factors in the projects contributes to develop the instruments that are needed to prepare local energy and climate change strategies and supports the planning and implementation of energy-efficient communities.