Denmark’s Eco-Friendly Active Solar House

Energy conservation is the need of the hour. Scientists work day in and day out to find means of conserving energy in all possible ways. This earnest desire to conserve energy gave rise to Denmark’s net zero energy house. The house is made up all eco-friendly things and has roof of solar panels. It not only produces power and energy sufficient for its working but also produces a little more which can be returned to the grid.


Image Source: IEEE Spectrum
It is a two storey building. It has windows on the four walls and a slanted skylight which ensures that there is sufficient sunlight on the first floor. There is automatic adjustment of their glares as per the movement of the sun. To ensure sufficient fresh air inside the house the skylight slides open. Specialized windows, proper insulation and a good climate control system ensure that desired temperature is maintained. The technologists wanted to save energy but at the same time restrain from harming the comfort of the people. So they conducted a test and asked a family of 5 to stay in the house and share their experiences. The family had lived in the house for around 3 months. The design had the core of the house as a light cross which cut through the 40 square meters area and accounted for the kitchen, dining area and living room. The design was so made that there was sufficient daylight through the four points of the light cross and there was minimal need of artificial light. The family said that they were very much contented with the time they spent at the light cross. There was good ventilation also.
Previously the approach was to build the house with small windows with walls having good insulation. This ensured that there was no overheating during summers and cut the expenditure on air conditioners. It ensured a good temperature for winters too. But then the family complained that it was so heavily insulated that the chirping of birds also could not be heard. So they decided to increase the number of windows. The windows had a special three layer glazing on it. This ensured sufficient sunlight to come inside the house and remain trapped. Thus most of the heating for the winters was provided by these windows only. The window frames made up of polyurethane also added to insulation. To ensure shade during summers there is a roof overhang which checks the temperature and there are shutters and blinds on both the sides of windows that maintain proper temperature inside the house. The windows automatically open to let fresh air in and avoid overheating. There are sensors in every room which keep a track of the temperature, humidity and carbon levels and there is a weather station on the roof which keeps a track of the outside temperature.

If all the systems run perfectly it is estimated that each house would produce a surplus of 9KWh per meter square. The solar panels of 50 meter square produce 5500 KWh energy per year. This is 20% more than that required by the house. There is also hest that comes from the solar thermal collectors. The 6.7 meter square of collector plates collect the sunlight on copper plates that are mounted below the lowest part of the roof. There are copper pipes beneath the copper plates that circulate some fluid. This fluid absorbs the energy from the plates and convert this energy to heat. These collectors catch indirect sunlight too and ensure that there is warmth in the house even during cloudy days.

Even after all this there were some problems faced by the family. The technologists are involved in setting them write and then you never know you might just be the next one buying such a house.