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The term of “Active House” recently developed, addressing houses that target a balanced optimization of indoor environmental quality, energy performance and environmental performance. According to the idea of not only being energy efficient and eco-friendly, Active Houses equally focus on indoor environmental qualities, in particular daylight and air. With their tendency towards intensive sun penetration, natural ventilative systems and generally intensive connections to the exterior, Active Houses challenge the balance of technical and individual indoor climate control.
The paper in hand presents and discusses challenges and findings from six model Active House homes in five European countries:
- How to design and run heating, cooling control systems in Active Houses.
- How to balance hybrid ventilation systems in Active Houses.
- How to open the houses to the delight of sunlight but effectively protect against overheating.
- Finally how to balance technical control and still encourage spontaneous individual interference.
From 20010 to 2013 six model homes in Active House Standard have been erected and monitored in five European countries, funded by the company of VELUX. The authors have been deeply involved in design, erection and post occupancy performance monitoring of these model homes.