IEA5 solar house

The IEA Task 13 Advanced Solar Low-Energy Houses of the International Energy Agencys Solar Heating and Cooling Programme was established to promote international co-operation in the design testing and use of buildings and components that make use of solar energy. The objective is to minimise the amount of purchased energy and at the some time to achieve a good indoor climate. The Finnish IEA Task 13 demonstration house, IEA5 Solar House, has been designed within the framework of the international collaboration. The objective of the IEA5 Solar House is to minimise the energy consumption using present technology or new technology on recognized construction principles in Finnish climatic conditions. In this report the building process has been presented. The energy saving solutions of the house and the designing process has been reported. The objectives set for the building envelope were well achieved. The airtightness of the envelope was 0.87 ACH at 50 Pa pressure difference. According to results from a short time test, the building heat loss coefficient is 85 W/K which is 10 - 15 % lower than calculated valve. The estimated yearly consumption of purchased energy is 27 W/m² which is about 10 % of the consumption of a typical Finnish small house.