Zero house project. Additional benefits of energy efficient homes

The era of zero-energy buildings has already begun. This can be confirmed by the placement by the US authorities in open access official document of the Ministry of Energy called "Zero Energy Buildings" (ZEB), published on the agency's website on September 16, 2015.

The document was developed jointly with National Institute building sciences. In addition, the event received huge support and approval in the community. best experts and influential building and real estate professional organizations such as the Green Building Council (USGBC) and the United States Union of Architects (AIA).

What should these ZEB buildings look like? What is a zero house? What is their peculiarity and what conditions must be met for projects that will receive the status of a building with zero energy efficiency? The answers to these and other questions can be found in the new document, and the basic concepts and nuances are clearly described there. In order for a building to be classified as ZEB, it is necessary to make calculations according to certain formulas, be sure to use strict criteria and terms.

If we make some generalization, we can say that a house with zero energy consumption is energy efficient building, which during a certain period consumes the same or less energy from the central power grid than it produces for the same time for its own needs.

The electricity in such buildings is generated from their own renewable sources such as solar and wind energy, heat from the earth (geothermal energy) or the ocean and waves. Many experts are convinced of the success of the Zero Energy project: in their opinion, this is a confident step in new era capable of significantly changing the world. Due to its environmental friendliness and low operating costs, as well as high resistance to climate change, natural disasters and power outages, zero energy homes are our future.

Already today, the topic of ZEB buildings is especially relevant in the EU countries, where the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy is underway. Growing interest is being seen by commercial companies and organizations working on environmental responsibility programs, as well as by many public institutions. It should be noted that until recently various regions and organizations did not have uniform clear standards for buildings with zero energy balance and differed in their own ideas about zero homes.

The Zero Energy Buildings document was a major step towards resolving these uncertainties. It reveals a number of major priorities that affect the classification of houses. Thus, the amount of energy that a ZEB house produces using renewable energy sources plays a larger role than the average energy consumption.

“Energy should not be produced by burning fuel, that is, a house burning gas or biomass for heating or generating electricity cannot be classified as ZEB,” comment green building experts.

The surplus amount of energy that was produced during the day is sent to the grid. At night, when consumption changes and the building produces less energy than needed, its missing part again comes from the network. Simply put electrical network acts as a source of energy storage.

Buildings with zero energy balance, according to the document, can be as energy efficient as the real situation requires, without any restrictions. And if produced required amount energy only from renewable sources, then this is enough to meet the ZEB standards. The concept of passive houses provides clear requirements for the norm allowable consumption energy per square meter per year, which indicates a significant difference between these two concepts.

Already today specialists from the USA and the European Union are working on projects of ZEB-buildings. In the near future, RuGBC together with Siemens will hold an event where one of the leading ZEB designers Matt Mako will speak. The company (Environmental Building Strategies (EBS), owned by Mako, is already successfully working with several of the largest ZEB projects in the United States.

Learn more about "zero" houses from.

The idea is to make a prototype autonomous home with zero power consumption. This is achieved due to the correctly oriented, to the cardinal points, landing of the house and due to the large heat-accumulating mass.

This system was invented back in the 50s by a physics teacher from Kyiv, Ivanov Alexander Vasilyevich. He called it solar vegetarianism. From 16.5 square meters such a vegetarian garden managed to collect more than 200 kg of lemons, and pineapples and tangerines also grew there.

This technology is now actively used by China. Having improved it somewhat, the Chinese manage not only to provide for their huge population, but also to export agricultural products to other countries.

The idea was developed by American architect Michael Reynolds, adapting the system for comfortable living. He also began to use old car tires for construction, which were ideal for the construction of earthen walls.

His adaptation looks like this:

This project introduced 4 innovative engineering systems: solar heating; solar air conditioning; rainwater collection which is used 4 cycles; electricity generation using solar panels and a wind generator.

Today, there are such houses in more than 30 countries of the world, including in the cold climate of Canada and the Netherlands. Unfortunately, neither in Ukraine, nor in Russia, nor in other post-Soviet countries, there are such houses yet.

The report will be collected on the official website of the project. Also, a project with all construction documentation, tables of measurements of humidity, temperatures, illumination, water and electricity consumption will be posted on the site.

The house data will be updated regularly and it will be available primarily to investors and will also be marketed to the general public.

What else is interesting about this project? This is the economy of the building, the cheapness of the construction itself using free materials, the complete autonomy of such a house from any communications and the environmental friendliness of the house.

This project can be called the most affordable for construction, and the most profitable type of housing. Giving its owners lifelong savings not only on utilities but also on food, because this house all year round grows food for you.

look short video, which clearly shows the process of construction and operation of such a structure:

) an energy-efficient building that meets the highest energy saving standard in the world practice of individual and multi-storey construction. For a passive house, energy consumption is about 10% of the specific energy per unit volume consumed by most modern buildings. Minor heating is required only during periods of negative temperatures.

Ideally, a passive house is an independent energy system requiring no maintenance costs at all. comfortable temperature air and water. all the necessary energy for human life must be generated inside the house, and with the help of renewable energy sources.

Basic Design Principle energy efficient home is an use of all possibilities of heat preservation. In such a house there is no need to use traditional heating, ventilation, air conditioning, water supply systems. Heating of the zero house is carried out thanks to the heat emitted by the people living in it, household appliances and alternative energy sources, hot water supply - through renewable energy installations, such as heat pumps, solar panels and thermovortex installations.

In addition, zero houses are very comfortable and environmentally friendly for humans. To date, such facilities are the most convenient and modern types buildings. They automatically support optimum temperature, humidity and air purity, which makes life in such houses a pleasure. Given that people spend about 60% of their time indoors, the importance of such facilities to maintain High Quality life is hard to overestimate. The microclimate of such a building contributes to the extension of human life.

In general, zero houses are the most comfortable, modern and effective types buildings. the largest practical experience implementation of projects of zero houses have countries Western Europe. To date, thousands of such structures have been built. The concept of energy-efficient and passive houses is promising and feasible in our country.

The heat loss of the zero house is close to zero. Under the same conditions, an ordinary house "heats" the street.

Benefits of Energy Efficient and Zero Homes

Tariffs for gas and electricity are rising despite the crisis. By 2011-2012 according to the already published plans of the Russian natural monopolies their size will increase at least 2 times. The owner of a zero house saves up to 80% of energy resources for heating. spring heating period the zero house ends earlier, in the fall it starts later. AT summer period energy costs for air conditioning are reduced to zero.

Energy independence

Zero house allows you to abandon the centralized gas and / or heat supply and build houses in the "open field". However, in the near future, the concept of a zero house will become widespread within the territory with a developed infrastructure. In case of an emergency shutdown of heat in winter, the temperature inside the zero house drops only by 1-2 ° C per day. No need to connect to gas networks, as well as utility bills for gas reduces its payback period.

Comfortable indoor environment

Given that the average person spends more than 60% of their time at home, comfortable environment is one of the most important factors when choosing the type of building. Thanks to the applied technical solutions, in these houses an internal climate favorable for human health is maintained: warm walls and floors, optimal temperature, humidity and air purity. It has been reliably established that a comfortable living environment formed in passive houses contributes to the prolongation of a person's capable life span. For example, the microclimate of such a building has a beneficial effect on allergy sufferers. It is not surprising that these features of passive houses have become the reason for their rapidly growing popularity in recent years.

High liquidity

Energy efficiency is becoming one of the main standards for quality housing. Gradually, as everything appears more energy efficient houses it will become more and more difficult to sell an ordinary house without concessions in price. Insulation costs are significantly inferior to the subsequent growth in the value of the house and are a kind of investment in the future.

The zero house is fully housing the 21st century. Used solutions in the field of heating, energy loss minimization, ventilation, engineering systems, considered technologies of tomorrow, are available in Zero Home today.

Environmental component

Zero house is often also called "ecological houses" ("EcoDom"). It is known that about 40% of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere come from the combustion of fuel used specifically for heating buildings. The use of zero houses can reduce these numbers - after all, they use alternative sources energy. In addition, environmentally friendly clean materials, often traditional - wood, stone, brick.

Are there any architectural restrictions when building a Passive House?

A Passive House, like a regular house, can be of any layout and number of storeys, there are no special restrictions in this case. The only desirable recommendation is the location of most of the windows on the south side of the building (to reduce heat loss).

Why build a Passive House?

The service life of a modern capital building- several decades. To maintain the life of people during this time, a huge amount of heat and electrical energy(and therefore money). The Passive House allows you to reduce the consumption of resources and heating costs by several times. This becomes especially relevant in the following cases:

- electricity is used to heat the building;

- on the construction site (or in an already built house) electricity of limited capacity (or none at all) is supplied, and an increase in the input power (laying power lines to your house) is associated with large capital investments;

– there is a need to reduce electricity consumption;

– solid fuel, liquid fuel is used to heat the building, or liquefied gas in cylinders and it is necessary to reduce its consumption or switch to a more convenient source of energy;

- the main is used for heating natural gas, but, given the growing tariffs, it is necessary to save its consumption;

Also, do not forget that the reserves of energy resources (oil, gas) are limited, as a result of which the price for them is becoming more and more every year.

Principles for designing an energy efficient home

architectural solution

• energetically rational orientation of the building in parts of the world in terms of location window openings, doors and buffer zones.

Space planning solution

• energy-efficient shape of the house, providing a minimum area of ​​​​exterior walls;
• optimal glazing area;
• the presence of vestibules at the entrances.

Constructive decisions

• continuous insulating shell of a building made of high-performance thermal insulation materials thickness 25-40cm (according to calculation), lack of cold bridges, tightness;
• usage window systems with high level thermal protection;

Engineering Solutions

• ensuring air exchange with minimal heat loss, provided by mechanical supply and exhaust system with heat recovery.

Plate heat exchanger device

Recuperator- this is a device in which the heat of the "exhaust" outgoing air is transferred to fresh incoming air, i.e. we do not “throw out” heat from the room along with the air exhaust ventilation and use this heat to heat the incoming air. The supply and exhaust air flows in the heat exchanger do not mix, only heat is transferred.

• rational use sources of heat and energy of the house itself (internal heat generation of electrical appliances) and its surrounding area: for example, the use of thermal energy of the earth with the help of heat pump, which allows you to get up to 5 kWh of thermal energy for every kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed. It is possible to use solar energy and wind energy.

• use of modern engineering equipment with high efficiency(for example, heat generators, vortex thermogenerators).
• additional savings in thermal energy through the use of automated system management of all technical devices in the building (system "")

economic benefit

The economic benefit of a zero home was not so obvious in past times of economic prosperity, low prices on energy carriers and their availability. In the future, the cost of energy will continue to rise, while the availability of energy and infrastructure will decline. The reason for these trends is a serious structural crisis in the Russian energy sector, the consequences of which are already beginning to be felt.

The greatest savings in the zero house are achieved on heating - the initial heating costs can be reduced by 10 times. If a smart energy control system is installed in the house, then heating and energy costs can be reduced even more significantly. average cost payback of engineering systems smart home fits in the range of 5-7 years at constant energy prices.

The construction of the Zero House with an area of ​​200 m2, in the conditions of the availability of network energy infrastructure, subject to the introduction of all possible energy-efficient solutions, costs an average of 30% more than a construction of a similar traditional building country house However, due to the fundamental reduction in the cost of electricity and heat, these costs pay off within 5-8 years. Subsequently, the total costs for the construction and energy supply of the zero house are less than the same costs for the traditional one, which allows the customer to receive a significant economic effect.

In conditions of unavailability of the network infrastructure, capital expenditures pay off even faster. In this case, the decisions autonomous power supply already today they are competitive in terms of capital costs with traditional network power supply. Those who installed such systems ( s low power, ) households begin to benefit from reduced electricity bills.

Became in recent times common expression "energy efficient house"does not yet have a specific definition in Russia. The Law "On Energy Saving ..." prescribes to determine the energy efficiency class of multi-apartment residential buildings and post information about the energy efficiency class on the facade of the house. Until May 1, 2010, the Ministry of Regional Development of Russia must determine the energy efficiency classes of houses . Main criterion energy efficiency for residential buildings, used today in the world - this is the value of the specific energy consumption of a house, necessary to ensure comfortable living conditions. Comfortable conditions residence is at least 18 degrees Celsius and normal humidity.

Until now, the thermal efficiency of buildings has been determined based on the level of thermal energy that must be supplied for heating 1 sq.m. building area. For various standard projects buildings, this figure, of course, varies. To ensure the thermal protection of buildings, SNiP II-3-79 (download as ZIP archive) a schedule for achieving thermal efficiency was agreed. On average, for Russia, in comparison with Germany, it looked like this:

In 2003, SNiP II-3-79 was canceled, and SNiP 23-03-2003 (download as ZIP archive), which replaced it, introduced a gradation of buildings in terms of thermal efficiency with reference to the design level. 5 classes have been introduced according to the deviation from norms A, B, C, D, E. Normal class - C. If the house is 50% better than this class in terms of energy efficiency, i.e. with a coefficient of 1.5, then this is class A, if it is 76% or more worse, i.e. with a coefficient of more than 1.76, then this is class E.

As can be seen from the above examples, the level of requirements for thermal resistance of structures in Russia is significantly lower than the requirements for EU countries with similar climatic conditions to ours. For example, in Finland, the level of requirements of 17 Wh/(m 2 . o C.day) is already provided, which is 4-5 times better than the requirements provided by us.

Parameter Wh / (m 2 . o C.day) universal application and is designed to calculate the power heating systems houses and a relative assessment of the quality of buildings in similar climatic conditions. For the consumer, the final information about the required power for space heating is more understandable. For this, as a reference parameter, you can use the data given in the table, replacing the value of Wh / (m 2 . o C.day) with the value of W / sq. meter. For the climatic zone of Central Europe and Central Russia, this approach is appropriate, although approximate.

General requirements for a passive house

At present, in Europe, the level of energy efficiency, which is focused on the construction and reconstruction of houses, corresponds to the concept of "passive house". This is such a house specific consumption thermal energy for heating which should not exceed 15 kWh / (m 2 year). This roughly matches rated power heating 7-10 W per square meter, which is 10% of the design power level of heating systems in ordinary houses. Total Primary Energy Consumption for All household needs(heating, hot water and electrical energy), should not exceed 120 kWh / (m 2 year). In practice, this means that such a house can not be additionally heated, all required heat can be provided by human life.

Passive houses are no longer an isolated phenomenon in Europe. More than 4,000 such houses have been registered. Basically, these are small residential houses of cottage type. But among them there are many apartment buildings for 4-10 apartments.

Calculations show that in order to make a house "passive", it is necessary to reduce heat loss home by 90%. To do this, it is necessary to provide a number of requirements for the thermal protection of the building and some structural elements:

Structurally, the house should not only be well insulated and sealed. The house to a greater extent should be glazed on the south side and be a "heat trap".

If we compare the possibilities for preserving heat of an ordinary solid brick house with a wall thickness of 2 bricks and a "passive house", then with an external temperature of -26 degrees below zero and turning off heat sources, the temperature in an ordinary house will drop to + 2-3 degrees per day, in passive house up to + 16 degrees Celsius. Therefore, it turns out that even in severe frost due to the heat from cooking, work household appliances and lighting in the house maintains a normal microclimate.

How to build a passive house?

As already noted, a passive house is an excellent thermal insulation, tightness, return of exhaust ventilation heat to the house with an inflow fresh air, energy efficient home appliances.

In order to determine the necessary constructive solutions, you need to draw up an energy balance at home. Typically, the heat input-output has the following form:

From the above data it can be seen that about 70% of heat leaks occur in the building structure, 30% - as a result of human activity: ventilation and drains. So the main attention should be paid to thermal insulation.

Increasing the thermal resistance of building envelopes and reducing heat leakage

The concept of enclosing structures includes walls, roofs, windows, entrance doors, ground floor floor, foundation.

Here are the basic principles that must be observed when increasing the thermal resistance of enclosing structures:

• Separation of functions building materials in designs. Structural and fasteners must provide strength, insulation must provide thermal insulation, decorative and finishing materials - appearance. With this approach, it is possible to reduce the number of "thermal bridges" through which heat from the house can go outside.
• Thermal insulation should be evenly and continuously along the entire contour of the building.
• Cold bridges should be excluded as much as possible and, if necessary, have additional thermal insulation.
• An airtight envelope must be laid along the entire contour of the building, ensuring the sealing of the building.

There is an opinion that the cost of additional thermal insulation significantly increases the cost of construction. It is not true. When implementing the above principles, the cost of a brick wall that provides the necessary thermal resistance is several times higher. frame wall with lining. This can be seen from the comparison of wall thicknesses. various designs the same thermal conductivity, providing thermal protection for a temperature difference of -26 degrees outside, +18 degrees inside:

• thermally insulated frame structure with brick lining - 290 mm;
• wooden beam - 360 mm;
• monolithic Brick wall- 1290 mm.

The most problematic places for thermal protection of the building:

• places of articulation of the roof and walls;
• junction of ceilings and walls;
• installation contours window boxes and adjoining transoms;
• junction of walls to the foundation.

As a rule, they try to make junctions using thermal inserts made of construction materials with low thermal conductivity. For example, blocks from cellular concrete, special types bricks, etc. The joints are additionally sealed various types sealants, plastic mortars.

Heat loss through the foundation is reduced:

• thermal insulation of the foundation from the outside along the entire height;
• installation of a horizontal external thermal insulation along the perimeter of the house at the lower edge of the foundation support;
• installation of foundation blocks on a sand cushion;
• applying the scheme of laying the first floor slab on the ground through a sandwich: sand cushion, waterproofing, thick insulation;
• foundation blocks above the surface must be thermally insulated from the outside and from the inside.

With such a scheme, the soil freezing zone will be at a considerable distance from the house and heat leakage through the underground will be insignificant. The problems of reducing heat losses during the arrangement of underground premises are solved in a similar way.

energy saving windows

A mandatory element of a passive house is windows with high thermal resistance R0 of at least 1.2 (m2 o C) / W. The following technical solutions meet these requirements:

• double-glazed window in a window with triple glazing and filling the double-glazed window with an inert gas;
• the glass in the window must have a low-emissivity coating with inner sides inter-glass space, which reduces heat transfer inside the double-glazed window;
• the window profile must have a high thermal resistance. Such requirements are met by a part of PVC profiles, specially processed wooden profiles;
• when installing the window block, the tightness of the joint with structural elements building. The fastening elements of the window block should not create thermal bridges;
• when installing windows are used auxiliary materials for mounting windows without thermal bridges and materials that ensure tightness.

Energy saving doors

External doors must be thermally insulated. At the entrance to the house there should be a thermal vestibule and a second door. Requirements for sealing the door porch and joint door frame with structural elements of the building are the same as for windows.
Example design door leaf for a passive house: The door leaf consists of a thermal insulation layer of cork with a thickness of 64 mm. This layer is sheathed on both sides with birch plywood 12 mm thick. In the heat-insulating layer there are transverse plywood spacers every 25 cm. The area of ​​plywood spacers is only 5% of the total area, their thickness is 12.5 mm. The outer layer consists of 1.4 mm thick veneer, 4 mm beech plywood and 1.2 mm thick aluminum plate as a vapor barrier, glued with phenolic glue. The total thickness of the door is 100 mm.

Energy saving ventilation

In passive houses, ventilation is not used by opening vents. This is extremely wasteful in terms of heat loss and inefficient in terms of removing polluted air. In order to ensure the activity of air exchange necessary for health, with the help of windows it is necessary to open them completely for 10-15 minutes every 3 hours. Supply and exhaust ventilation in a passive house is organized as follows:

• air from the kitchen, bathroom, toilet is not involved in recirculation and is removed from the premises to the outside;
• only clean air is supplied to the living quarters;
• The air discharged from the house (from the kitchen and bathroom) passes through the heat exchanger (recuperator) and heats the air entering the premises. The efficiency of modern recuperators is 75-95%. It is possible to use special electric motors with high efficiency in ventilation. The energy consumption for the operation of the engine is 8-15 times less than the heat saved with its help;
• often for preheating outdoor air previously passed through the ground under the house. The heat of the ground warms the air and provides more efficient work heat exchanger - recuperator;
• clean air first enters the living quarters. From living quarters to corridors and stairways, then to the kitchen, toilet, bathroom. This scheme ensures the maintenance of the required humidity in the room and the reliable removal of polluted air.

The house is passive. What's next?

In a general sense, the main task of a passive house is to provide thermal efficiency sufficient to forego additional heating. But in the concept of an energy efficient home, the total consumption of energy, heat, hot and cold water, gas from third-party sources with a level of 120 kWh / (m 2 year). The real total energy consumption of an average house with an average family is several times higher than the indicated figure. That is, energy saving at all points of energy application - necessary condition to classify it in this category.

What makes people seek self-restraint? Of course, very high prices for public utilities and energy carriers. But no less so is the new philosophy of life, in which there is no decrease in the level of comfort, but there is a desire to live in harmony with external environment without harming her. Modern technologies provide the necessary options for this:

• application solar collectors allows you to completely abandon the use of gas and electric energy for heating water and premises;
• the use of solar panels and wind generators in conjunction with batteries allows you to completely abandon the power supply;
• application of controllers for control electrical devices and the heat supply system allows you to optimize the microclimate in the room, coordinate the operation of devices with the presence of people in the house;
• the use of functionally rich economical household appliances;
• the possibility of using heat pumps to exclude heat discharge and the use of accumulated thermal energy;
• the possibility of using biogas obtained during fermentation and gas generation instead of main natural gas.

This list could go on and on. Currently, we mainly use the stored energy of the Earth and use very little energy from renewable energy sources of the sea, rivers, reservoirs, sun, wind.

Passive houses quite recently seemed obscure exotic. Today, this is a completely achievable reality, a subject for widespread implementation and preferences from the state.

Smart non-volatile houses are still exotic. But the number of such houses is increasing, technologies are being tuned to offer affordable and quality devices and materials to ensure such construction. In France, a 10-storey building has been operating for several years. office building powered by solar panels. The amount of energy generated exceeds the building's own needs. World's largest building opens in China with total area 75 thousand square meters with power supply from solar panels. This means that there will be operating experience, performance standards and affordable prices. It's just a matter of time. Such construction is no longer a tribute to fashion and not experiments. High prices for energy and energy carriers make profitable investment into non-volatile objects.

Zero energy houses are also known as net zero energy buildings, which means that such a house is completely energy self-sufficient. This can be achieved using solar or wind energy, but the ultimate goal is to avoid the cost of purchasing energy once such a system is installed.

Buildings built using established technologies consume about 40% total energy, which is produced using fossil fuels in the US and is a significant source of greenhouse gases. Zero energy houses, on the contrary, are a factor in reducing emissions carbon dioxide and reducing the country's dependence on fossil fuels. To date, such houses are catastrophically few.

Currently classic house designed pretty much the same as it was decades ago, no matter where it is located, with the exception of some areas, such as Anchorage (Alaska), where heat retention is the most important factor, or Phoenix (Texas), where cooling is the opposite It has importance. However, in both these cities, heating and cooling are produced using the same energy source.

When it comes to energy independence, in each case the solution varies and depends on local territorial characteristics. For example, what gives energy in sunny Los Angeles will not be efficient in windy Chicago. To achieve energy independence, it is necessary to apply various technologies that make sense in each specific climate zone. Of course, we can say that solar energy is quite enough, but in reality the situation differs from where the building is located.

For starters, it makes sense to lower your home's existing energy costs before choosing a renewable energy source. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to conduct a full analysis of how energy will be consumed, what equipment will be used (for example, using equipment that has been awarded an Energy Star rating - an international standard for energy efficiency in consumer products). Residents should understand how much energy each device in the house consumes and monitor this.

The next step is to select an energy management system (energy management system) to control its use and turn off unused appliances. In order for the water heater to be more efficient, it is essential that the temperature of the water for showering and washing dishes is set at the right level, not too hot, but not too cold. Almost any element of the house provides opportunities for energy savings, from the plumbing system to ordinary lamps.

Energy management system EMS EC-100

The best way to keep abreast of the energy consumption in your home is to use technology solutions. Energy management systems can monitor and control energy consumption using data collected from a smart meter. The system will also tell you how much power your consumer electronics, security system, lighting, ventilation and air conditioning.

Every component of the home must be energy optimized, including walls, plumbing, air ducts and windows. It will be difficult to save energy if the structure of the house is not securely isolated from the outside world.

You need to start with an energy efficient foundation using fixed formwork from Styrofoam during construction, this will save up to 30% of the energy of your home. Use the highest quality insulating material and tightly close all possible openings through which air can escape the building. Do not forget also about windows and doors - they are of considerable importance in matters of energy saving. Look out for low-emission Energy Star-rated windows.

Where possible, the largest overhangs should be used to shade the summer sun from the windows. Window coverings, blinds or curtains provide additional shade, and with it thermal insulation.

Ceiling fans must be used to prevent overheating of rooms with sunny side. Use heating boilers suitable for your room that do not turn on and off cyclically, wasting energy in vain. Because most of warm air will exit through the ceiling or attic, it is necessary to carry out thorough insulation work on them or use SIP panels for the roof.

Structural thermal insulation panels (SIP) are three-layer structures consisting of two oriented particle boards(OSB), between which a layer of expanded polystyrene is glued, which creates a heavy-duty structure. They are used to build external walls, roofs, ceilings and floors. Houses and buildings built using SIP technology are distinguished by excellent insulation, exceptional strength, quick installation and are also environmentally friendly.

Instantaneous water heaters also reduce energy costs by eliminating the need to keep 150 liters of water constantly heated around the clock. Not to mention that they take up significantly less space than the water heaters we've been using for decades, where the heat was constantly escaping through the walls of the tank.

If you have a fireplace, use the glass doors to control the heat that the fire creates. Most of us have long been using energy-saving bulbs instead of traditional incandescent bulbs, as they produce the same amount of visible light using significantly less energy, not to mention a lifespan that is 8-15 times longer than conventional bulbs.

A zero consumption house is a house that consumes the same amount of energy throughout the year as is produced on its territory from renewable sources such as solar and wind energy.

Generally speaking, buying solar panels is a great option because once the initial investment pays off, the homeowner will pay next to nothing for electricity, and will get renewable energy for free. An important point here is that solar panels not only able to produce enough energy to feed a household, but perhaps even a surplus that can be sold back to the power company.

Wind power systems use the power of turbines to spin a generator, converting wind energy into electricity. Regardless of whether the wind generator is turned on in common network or stands alone, it can be an efficient source of power when you cannot fully rely on solar energy, and in addition, you live in places with stable winds or in flat areas. You can measure the windiness of a particular place using an anemometer. The wind generator can be used both as an addition to the solar battery system, and as the only source of renewable energy.

Sure, the initial cost of a non-volatile home may seem high, but you don't need to be a jack-of-all-trades to realize that energy efficiency has a huge impact on environment because by not actually using just one kilowatt of energy, you are actually saving all three.

And here's the thing - here in the US energy efficiency is only 32%. This means that by saving one kilowatt of energy, you actually save all three! All this leads to a reduction in pollution from power plants, to a decrease in coal production and to a reduction in transport costs for its movement throughout the country.

To get a non-volatile home, it is definitely necessary to install a highly efficient solar panel system. Such a system would allow the home, among other things, to sell surplus electricity back to the grid at sunny days and at the same time, buying electricity, like any ordinary house, on cloudy days and at night, however, with the installation of windmills, this problem can also be solved. Eventually, over the course of a year, electricity bills will reach zero balance, as much as the house has spent energy, it has generated the same amount.

An energy expert can look at your home from attic to basement and point out all kinds of improvements and savings, as well as point out improvements that will lead to a healthier living environment.

Zero energy homes are not only practical, they are definitely the home of the future. Let's hope that home builders start thinking in terms of zero consumption when designing new homes.