Europe Shows the Way to Energy-Efficient Design

January 6th, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

After the EU signed Kyoto, requiring it to reduce carbon emissions 8% below 1990 levels by 2012, many products and design changed there, diverging from US standards. Cars, for example, became smaller, lighter; and more fuel efficient. Even US automakers not known for efficiency make 62 MPG cars for Europe. Germany and Spain introduced Feed-in Tariffs that paid homeowners to make solar power on their roofs.

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But most interestingly, for Americans now considering energy efficient retrofits with a new “Cash for Caulkers” program being considered, a whole new industry was created by the need to supply new energy efficient building innovations. Energy efficient glass.

An assortment of European window manufacturers now make far more energy efficient glass for residential use than here. This makes it possible for even an entirely glass house to meet Germany’s exacting PassivHaus standards (far more energy focused than our LEED ratings).

The PassivHaus energy efficiency standard developed in Germany requires buildings to be net zero energy. In most cases this requires thick insulation, (also driving innovation in insulation) but even fully glass houses in Europe can be energy efficient.

In this house all the remaining electricity needed is supplied by a ground heat pump and the solar roof that was incorporated into the original building design. This makes more than enough electricity to meet the energy needs of the building for electricity, heating, cooling, and for heating water.

Currently, only one company makes such energy efficient windows for houses in the US. Serious Materials has that market entirely to itself, and it is growing by leaps and bounds. But as we start to get serious about reducing our own greenhouse gas emissions with the passage of legislation like Europe did to reduce theirs, we may see may see more window manufacturers here competing to offer us such products too.

Europeans now have half the carbon footprint of Americans, so we can learn how it’s done from them. It won’t kill us to get our energy from renewables and efficiency. It might even be quite pleasant.

Image: Werner Sobek

Source: HomeDesignFind

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Tags: energy efficient glass, EU legislation, Kraemer, PassivHaus, progressive legislation, serious materials

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

alan

I’m a contractor in sun city,az. do you know where I can purchase solar panels and accessories at wholesale. the cost of solar is still high and I would like to do install it myself.

thank you,

Alan Deobler

WoodyAlans Home Repair

ROC 174444
alan

I’m a contractor in sun city,az. do you know where I can purchase solar panels and accessories at wholesale. the cost of solar is still high and I would like to do install it myself.

thank you,

Alan Deobler

WoodyAlans Home Repair

ROC 174444
steve baker

MD, I used to live in Austria, there is not even crap in the crapper. My view is that Anglo Saxon Europe is so last century. England is much more like America or Canada than the rest.
steve baker

MD, I used to live in Austria, there is not even crap in the crapper. My view is that Anglo Saxon Europe is so last century. England is much more like America or Canada than the rest.
Brian N

The EcoRock / ThermaRock aerogel based drywall also looks interesting claiming R4.1 v 0.5 for gypsum.

The windows from Serious Materials claim a R6 value which is very good. Windows typically lose 1/3 of a homes heat assuming normal ratios of typical R20 walls & attic to R2 window areas. R6 windows really justify improving the whole building envelope to the point of needing heat recovery mechanical ventilation.

High R windows are really comfortable with no cold zones.

Home owners not looking to upgrade windows do have two other window thermal re-mediation options to almost double or treble the R value from the typical 1 – 2.5 range.

They either can buy custom sized ‘Windotherm’ panels from AEP at about $10 per sq ft or make their own ‘winserts’ for about $1 per sq ft. Both use custom sized frames with heat shrink plastic stretched over both sides with a 1/2″ thick open cell poly foam tape to make a snug fit. Both are easily googled.
Brian N

The EcoRock / ThermaRock aerogel based drywall also looks interesting claiming R4.1 v 0.5 for gypsum.

The windows from Serious Materials claim a R6 value which is very good. Windows typically lose 1/3 of a homes heat assuming normal ratios of typical R20 walls & attic to R2 window areas. R6 windows really justify improving the whole building envelope to the point of needing heat recovery mechanical ventilation.

High R windows are really comfortable with no cold zones.

Home owners not looking to upgrade windows do have two other window thermal re-mediation options to almost double or treble the R value from the typical 1 – 2.5 range.

They either can buy custom sized ‘Windotherm’ panels from AEP at about $10 per sq ft or make their own ‘winserts’ for about $1 per sq ft. Both use custom sized frames with heat shrink plastic stretched over both sides with a 1/2″ thick open cell poly foam tape to make a snug fit. Both are easily googled.
MD

“Europeans now have half the carbon footprint of Americans, so we can learn how it’s done from them. It won’t kill us to get our energy from renewables and efficiency. It might even be quite pleasant.”

You know, we can take the existing generators out of our existing dams and refit them with newer more efficient units that produce more power, but that’s not hip or cool like throwing up windmills…

Europeans also have crappy little houses and most have no or very few children, “Here for a good time, not a long time”…

Oh and before you freak out.. yes I’m a European… I’m a British Citizen…
MD

“Europeans now have half the carbon footprint of Americans, so we can learn how it’s done from them. It won’t kill us to get our energy from renewables and efficiency. It might even be quite pleasant.”

You know, we can take the existing generators out of our existing dams and refit them with newer more efficient units that produce more power, but that’s not hip or cool like throwing up windmills…

Europeans also have crappy little houses and most have no or very few children, “Here for a good time, not a long time”…

Oh and before you freak out.. yes I’m a European… I’m a British Citizen…
Erik

Improving technology and implementing it is a key, though crucial for Americans and in fact all Westerners (me, myself and i including) is wanting less, consuming and using less, living more ordinary: keep it simple. Do you need that extra car, or do you need one at all? Do you need to live big? Etcetera. Try to find joy in small things. The smile on the face of your girl for example.
Erik

Improving technology and implementing it is a key, though crucial for Americans and in fact all Westerners (me, myself and i including) is wanting less, consuming and using less, living more ordinary: keep it simple. Do you need that extra car, or do you need one at all? Do you need to live big? Etcetera. Try to find joy in small things. The smile on the face of your girl for example.