Energy consumption in a naturally ventilated house in Finland.

In this paper, measurement and simulation results are presented that demonstrate the energy performance of a recently built ecological house in Helsinki, Finland. The space heating energy consumption was measured to be 76 kWh/(m 2 a) of which 29% was provided by wood. For comparison, Finnish houses typically consume 120 kWh/(m 2 a) or nearly 60% more energy for space heating. The total energy consumption (121 kWh/(m 2 a)) and electricity consumption (28 kWh/(m 2 a)) were quite low. As a result, the total primary energy consumption was only 162 kWh/(m 2 a), while the primary energy consumption in typical Finnish houses is over 40% higher. The paper also includes simulation results from several cases to illustrate the effect of insulation level, household electricity and domestic hot water consumption, window area, ventilation rate and heat recovery effectiveness on the energy use.