Classification of Low Energy Houses

in Danish Building Regulations

Jørgen Rose, Research Assistant Professor,
Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark;
jro@byg.dtu.dk, www.byg.dtu.dk

Svend Svendsen, Professor,

Department of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Denmark;
ss@byg.dtu.dk, www.byg.dtu.dk

KEYWORDS: Building Regulations, total energy consumption, low energy classification system, type-
houses, calculations, BSIM 2002.

SUMMARY:
The new Danish Building Regulations (Building Regulations, 2005) introduces the total energy
consumption, i.e. energy use for heating, ventilation, cooling and domestic hot water, for buildings as a
measure for the energy efficiency of new buildings, i.e. moving away from the former U-value demands. In
addition to the minimum requirements for new buildings, the new Building Regulations also specify
requirements for characterizing a building as either low energy building class 1 or low energy building
class 2. This paper describes a type-house that is presently being built in Denmark. The type-house easily
meets the requirements for being categorized as a low energy building class 1, and the paper investigates
how much U-values can be increased if the type-house were to fulfil the requirements for a low energy
building class 2 or a building that just fulfils the minimum demands.

1. Introduction
The EU Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings (EU Directive, 2002) will be implemented in
Denmark by 2006. To comply with the directive, Denmark will introduce new energy performance
requirements in accordance with the directive in 2005. This will reduce the energy consumption in new
buildings by 25-30% compared to current demands, and at the same time introduce a classification system,
where buildings can be classified as being a “Low energy building class 1” or a “Low energy building class
2”. The new classification system will make it possible for building contractors to better promote low
energy houses for the consumers, and the public will be able to demand that their new houses have a better
energy performance than the minimum requirements specified in the Building Regulations. This paper
describes a type-house that is presently being built in Denmark. The purpose of developing the type-house
is to demonstrate how the energy requirements in the new Building Regulations along with the two low-
energy classifications can be achieved. A series of calculations of the energy-consumption for the type-
house have been performed using the building simulation program BSIM 2002 (Danish Building Research
Institute, 2002), and these calculations have documented that the type-house will have a total energy
consumption that easily classifies it as a “Low energy building class 1”. Further simulations have been
performed in order to evaluate how the type-house systems and constructions could be altered so that the
house would be categorized as a “Low energy building class 2” or a house that would just meet the
minimum requirements.

2. Energy requirements according to the new Building Regulations

According to the new Building Regulations in Denmark new houses should meet an energy frame, i.e. total
energy consumption, including energy for heating, ventilation, cooling and hot water, of maximum:
 2200 
 70 +  kWh/m pr. year
2

 A 
where A is the total heated area.
In addition to this minimum requirement, the new Danish Building Regulations also state specific
requirements for characterization of houses as low energy buildings in two different classes:
 1600 
 50 +  kWh/m pr. year, low energy house class 2
2

 A 

 1100 
 35 +  kWh/m pr. year, low energy house class 1
2

 A 

3. Description of the house

The house facades are shown in figure 1 and a cross-section is shown in figure 2.

Fig. 1: Facades of the low energy house (north, east, west, south).

Fig. 2: Cross-section of the low-energy house.

The house has a total floor area of 223 m2 (net floor area 200 m2) and a net volume of 529 m3. This means
that if the house were to just fulfil the requirements in the new Building Regulations, it should have a total
energy consumption of less than 18925 kWh pr. year. If it were to fulfil the requirements of either a low
energy building class 2 or class 1, it should have a total energy consumption of less than 12750 kWh pr.
year or 8905 kWh pr. year respectively. In figure 3 and 4 the floor plans of the low energy house are
shown.
Fig. 3: Ground floor of the low energy house.

Fig. 4: 1st floor of the low energy house.

3.1 Wall construction

The external wall consists of (from the inside out) 10 mm gypsum board, 38 x 57 mm wooden laths + 50
mm insulation, 12,5 mm wooden board, 45 x 145 mm wooden beams + 145 mm insulation, 18 mm wooden
board, 2 x 100 mm insulation, 28 x 100 mm laths and 8 mm cladding. The U-value has been calculated as
0.092 W/m2K including the effects of thermal bridges.

3.2 Floor construction

The floor construction consists of (from the inside out) 14 mm wooden floor or tiles, 22 mm chipboard, 75
mm insulation, vapour retarder, 120 mm concrete, 250 mm insulation and 200 mm shingle. The U-value of
the floor construction has been calculated as 0.098W/m2K including the effects of thermal bridges.
3.3 Roof construction
The roof construction consists of (from the inside out) 10 mm gypsum board, 38 x 57 wooden laths + 50
mm insulation, Hygrodiode, Prefabricated 503 x 45 mm beams + 2 x 250 mm insulation, 18 mm wooden
board and a double layer of roof membrane. The U-value of the roof construction has been calculated as
0.071 W/m2K including the effects of thermal bridges.

3.4 Windows and doors

Windows and doors have wooden frames and cannot be opened. Venting is therefore achieved through
hatches placed in room I, room II, room III and the kitchen. In addition to these hatches there are two roof-
windows in the ceiling that can be opened. The standard windows have 3 layers of glazing and each layer is
6 mm’s and the spaces are 12 mm’s and are filled with an argon-air blend with 93 % argon and 7 % air.
The g-value (transmittance) of the glass is 0.47 and the U-value is 0.74 W/m2K. The overall U-values for
the windows vary between 0.81 W/m2K and 0.96 W/m2K and the overall U-values for the doors vary
between 0.67 W/m2K and 0.96 W/m2K depending on glass/frame ratio and size. The hatches are made
entirely of wood and have U-values of 0.69 W/m2K. The roof-windows’ frames are wooden and the overall
U-values for the roof-windows are 1.04 W/m2K.

3.5 Thermal bridges

The primary thermal bridges in the house are the foundation construction and the window/door/wall joints.
In figure 5 the foundation construction is shown and in figure 6 the window/wall joint is shown.

Fig. 5: Foundation construction. Fig. 6: Window/wall joint

The foundation construction has a linear thermal transmittance of 0.075 W/mK and the window/wall joint
has a linear thermal transmittance of 0.031 W/mK.
In addition to these, the linear thermal transmittance of the wall/roof joint (0.033 W/mK) has also been
taken into account. In the BSIM2002 calculations, the thermal bridges are taken into account by using an
equivalent thermal conductance for the insulation in the wall, i.e. raising the transmission heat loss to also
cover the effects of the thermal bridges.

3.6 Ventilation system

The ventilation system has two fans of 25 W each and it is estimated that the mean electricity use from the
fans during time of operation is 40 W. The ventilation system has an energy recovery efficiency of 90 %.
The inlet air of the ventilation system is drawn through a 200 m pipe that runs below the ground. This will
preheat the inlet air before the heat recovery unit during cold months and cool down the inlet air during
warm months. This feature is not taken into account in the calculations presented in this paper, but it will be
interesting to see the benefits of this feature when measurements are performed at a later stage.
During summer the heat recovery unit is not in use, and instead natural ventilation is used. Ventilation
hatches and roof-windows are mechanically controlled to achieve the desired indoor climate in this period.

3.7 Heating system

The low energy house is primarily heated by radiators, which are supplied with 35 °C water. In bath I, bath
II, hall and utility room there is individually controlled floor-heating. The pump used in the system has an
expected mean electricity use of 53 W, corresponding to a typical small pump used in single-family houses.
Room I, room II and room III is heated to 20 °C and the rest of the house is heated to 22 °C.

3.8 Internal heat gains

According to Danish Building Regulations the internal heat gains from electrical appliances and people can
be set to 5 W/m2, and this value is used throughout the calculations.

3.9 Infiltration
The infiltration of the house was originally guessed as 0.04 h-1, corresponding to a very air-tight house,
however a pressurization test of the house has shown that the infiltration is actually as low as 0.02 h-1. This
degree of air-tightness is achieved through very detailed planning of the constructions and building process.

3.10 Venting
In order to achieve a reasonable indoor climate during the summer, ventilation hatches will be opened
whenever the indoor temperature is above 24 °C and the effective venting is set as 3 h-1 during this time.

4. Total energy consumption

BSIM2002 is used for the calculation of the heating demand for the building. BSIM2002 is a program
package for simulating the indoor climate and energy use for buildings. One of the major differences
between BSIM2002 and EN 832 (EN, 1998) is the handling of the heat capacity, i.e. the buildings ability to
store and release heat accumulated in the inner parts of the constructions. For instance, BSIM2002 works
with relatively small user defined time-steps (typically 6 steps or more pr. hour) whereas EN 832 will
typically use “time-steps” of one month. This will inevitable mean that the precision of results obtained
with BSIM2002 will be much higher than for those achieved with EN 832, and typically heating demands
will be higher if calculated with BSIM2002, especially if the building is heavy construction wise.
The total energy consumption for the building is calculated by combining results from BSIM2002 with
simplified calculations of the energy use for domestic hot water, heat losses from the heating system and
electricity use for ventilation, pumps etc.
A photo of the house is shown in figure 7.

Fig. 7: Photo of the low energy house.

The simulation is performed using the Danish Reference Year (Jensen and Lund, 1995) weather data. The
energy balance for the house is shown in table 1.
Table 1. Energy balance for low energy house.
Energy balance kWh pr. year
Qheat Energy use for heating 1910
Qinfiltration Heat loss by infiltration -455
Qventing Heat loss by venting (when Tinside > 24 °C) -2473
Qsolar Solar heat gains 5128
Qinternal Internal heat gains 10188
Qtransmission Transmission heat loss -10612
Qmixing Mixing between rooms of different temperature -819
Qventilation Ventilation heat loss -2867
The energy use for heating is 1910 kWh pr. year and in order to obtain the total energy consumption for the
building, we add the energy used for heating domestic hot water and the electricity used for the ventilation
and heating system.
The energy use for domestic hot water is calculated as an expected use of domestic hot water of 250 l/m2
pr. year, i.e. 56 m3 pr. year. The water is heated from 10 °C to 55 °C and therefore the total energy use for
domestic hot water is 2940 kWh.
The heat loss from the domestic hot water tank is estimated as 75 W, corresponding to an annual energy
use of an additional 660 kWh.
The electricity use for the heating system is calculated by multiplying the mean electricity use of the pump
by the number of hours that the pump is in use. The pump will be running all the time during the heating
season and will be almost out of use during summer. The total number of hours is found to be 5008 h, and
therefore the total electricity use is 264 kWh.
The electricity use for the ventilation system is calculated by multiplying the mean electricity use for the
fans of 40 W by the number of hours that they are in use, i.e. all the time. This yields a total electricity use
for the fans in the ventilation system of 350 kWh.
According to the Danish building regulations, electricity use should be multiplied by a factor of 2.5 when
comparing to the energy requirements. This factor is meant to take into account the extra cost that
electricity production imposes when compared to heat production. The total energy consumption for the
low energy house is given in table 2.
Table 2. Total energy consumption for low energy house.
Energy used for heating 1910 kWh
Domestic hot water 2940 kWh
Heat loss from hot water tank 660 kWh
Electricity use for pump in heating system (265 kWh ⋅ 2.5) 660 kWh
Electricity use for fans in ventilation system (350 kWh ⋅ 2.5) 880 kWh
Total 7050 kWh
From table 2 it is clear that the building easily qualifies as a low energy building class 1.
5. Classifications of the low energy house
In this section we investigate what changes can be made to the building in order to raise the total energy
consumption to levels corresponding to a “low energy building class 1”, a “low energy building class 2”
and just meeting the minimum requirements specified in the Building Regulations.
The parameters that are investigated in this respect are the overall insulation level of the house, the
windows and doors used, the efficiency of the heat recovery unit for the ventilation air, the infiltration, the
internal heat gains and the electricity use by the ventilation and heating systems.

5.1 Overall insulation level

The overall insulation level of the low energy house is quite high, i.e. 395 mm’s insulation in the wall, 550
mm’s of insulation in the roof construction and 250 mm’s insulation in the floor construction. In order to
evaluate the influence of reducing the overall insulation level three scenarios are investigated; reducing the
overall insulation level by 50 mm’s of insulation, reducing the overall insulation level by 100 mm’s and
reducing the overall insulation level to the minimum requirements as given in the Building Regulations.
The minimum requirements are; Uwall = 0.20 W/m2K, Ufloor = 0.15 W/m2K, and Uroof = 0.15 W/m2K.
Reducing the overall insulation level by 50 mm’s increases the heating demand by 480 kWh pr. year.
Reducing by 100 mm’s increases the heating demand by 1170 kWh pr. year. Reducing to the minimum
requirements in the new Building Regulations increases the heating demand by 2620 kWh pr. year.

5.2 Windows and doors

Windows and doors in the house have very low U-values mainly because of the 3 layers of glass with
argon-filling that is used. In order to evaluate the influence of using different, and less insulating types of
glass, a single scenario is investigated; using glass with a U-value that means that the overall mean U-value
for the windows meet the requirements in the new Building Regulations, i.e. 1.50 W/m2K.
By exchanging the original 3 layer glass with argon-filling in the windows with a glass that increases the
overall mean U-value for the windows to 1.50 W/m2K (g-value remains the same), the heating demand for
the low energy house increases by 1350 kWh.

5.3 Efficiency of the heat recovery

The efficiency of the heat recovery is originally set to 90%, which corresponds to the best units available
today. In order to evaluate the influence of the unit having a slightly lower efficiency, two scenarios are
investigated; using a heat recovery unit with an efficiency of 85% or an efficiency of 75%.
By using a less efficient heat recovery unit with temperature efficiencies of 85% and 75%, the heating
demand for the house is increased by 260 kWh and 800 kWh respectively.

5.4 Infiltration
The infiltration is quite significant for the heating demand, and in order to reach a level as low as 0.02 h-1 it
is necessary to carefully plan and build the house. It would be interesting to see how much the infiltration
influences the heating demand, and as the new Danish building regulations allow for a maximum
infiltration of 0.15 h-1, 3 scenarios are considered; an infiltration of 0.05 h-1, 0.10 h-1 and 0.15 h-1.
The heating demand for the house increases by 350 kWh, 1000 kWh and 1690 kWh respectively.

5.5 Internal heat gains

The internal heat gains can be taken as 5 W/m2 according to the Danish building regulations, however it
could be argued whether this is realistic when dealing with low energy houses like this one. Therefore a
scenario where the internal heat gains are taken as 3 W/m2 instead is considered.
Reducing the internal heat gains from 5 W/m2 to 3 W/m2 and this increases the heating demand for the
house by 1750 kWh.
5.6 Electricity use for fans in ventilation system
The electricity used by fans in the ventilation system corresponds to the best systems available today, and
therefore a scenario where a more typical solution is used is evaluated. The electricity use in more typically
used systems is approximately 80 W, i.e. corresponding to an annual electricity use of 700 kWh.

5.7 Low energy classes and minimum requirements

The original low energy house had a total energy consumption of 7050 kWh and in order to fulfil the
requirements for a low energy building class 1 the low energy house should have a total energy
consumption of maximum 8905 kWh. By combining the different scenarios discussed above, we can
therefore alter the building to just fulfil this requirement, and this could be done by e.g. reducing the overall
insulation level by 100 mm’s of insulation, allowing for an increase in the infiltration to a level of 0.05 h-1
and allowing for a heat recovery unit with a temperature efficiency of 85% instead of 90%. This would
yield a total energy consumption for the building of approximately 8830 kWh.
To just fulfil the requirements for a low energy class 2 building, i.e. 12750 kWh, could be achieved by
increasing the U-value for the windows to a mean value of 1.5 W/m2K, allowing for an infiltration of 0.10
h-1, reducing the overall insulation level by 100 mm’s, allowing for the heat recovery unit efficiency to be
75% instead of 90% and finally allowing the electricity use by ventilation fans to be doubled. This would
yield a total energy consumption for the building of approximately 12250 kWh.
To just fulfil the minimum requirements in the new Building Regulations, i.e. 18925 kWh, could be
achieved by increasing the U-value for the windows to a mean value of 1.5 W/m2K, allowing for an
infiltration of 0.15 h-1, allowing for the internal heat gains to be 3 W/m2 instead of 5 W/m2, using an overall
insulation level corresponding to the minimum requirements stated in the Building Regulations, allowing
for the heat recovery unit to have a temperature efficiency of 75% and finally allowing the electricity use
by ventilation fans to be doubled. This would yield a total energy consumption for the building of 16140
kWh, and there would still be room for other alterations that would increase the total energy consumption.

6. Conclusions
The new Danish Building Regulations will reduce the energy consumption for heating for new buildings by
25-30% in order to comply with the EU directive concerning energy performance of buildings, and in
addition to this reduction, the new regulations will introduce the characterization of low energy buildings
by specifying additional requirements for low energy buildings in two different classes. This paper has
shown an example of a low energy house that fulfils the requirements for a low energy building class 1, and
has shown examples on how the building could be modified to meet the less strict requirements of low
energy class 2 buildings or by just meeting the minimum requirements.

7. Acknowledgements
This work was financed by Rockwool A/S.

8. References
Building Regulations 2005. Draft February 3. 2005. Danish Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs.
Danish Building Research Institute. 2002. BSIM2002: Computer program for calculating and analyzing
indoor climate conditions, energy demands and energy consumption in buildings.
EN 832. Thermal performance of buildings – Calculation of energy use for heating – Residential buildings.
1998. European Committee for Standardization. (ISO/DIS 832).
European Directive on the Energy Use from Buildings. 2002. Directive 2002/91/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 16. December 2002 on the Energy Performance of Buildings.
Jensen J. and Lund H. 1995. Design Reference Year, DRY – A new Danish Reference Year (in Danish),
report 281. Department of Buildings and Energy, Technical University of Denmark.