Modular houses for permanent residence are just beginning to gain positions and popularity in the market housing construction. At the same time, the main problem that they have to overcome is the stereotype that long years developed around modular construction. Modular container homes have gained popularity as prefabricated temporary structures in areas where conventional home construction is either very difficult or prohibitively expensive.
Typical examples are dormitories, modular canteens and office buildings in the area of oil and gas production, cabins at construction sites, as well as tire shops, hostels, kiosks and simply modular stores, which can hardly be called attractive in architectural plan. However, having accumulated relevant experience, companies are increasingly offering to build modular houses for year-round living, adapting them to the wishes of future residents.
Modular private houses: advantages and disadvantages
A modular residential building is built from separate blocks, which may include a ready-made room (for example, bathroom or kitchen), and just be part of the room. This principle of construction, if you look at it in a simplified way, reminds everyone of the well-known LEGO constructor - it allows, taking as a basis standard solution, adapt modular house projects, creating optimal premises, increasing the area, changing the functional purpose of the rooms, etc. Therefore on construction site They deliver ready-made modules/blocks that only need to be connected by combining engineering communications.
The undoubted advantage of modular construction is the production of residential modules in the factory. Thanks to this, it is possible to solve several tasks at once:
- full compatibility of individual blocks/modules due to strict adherence to manufacturing standards
- When manufactured in a workshop, the materials are not subject to atmospheric influences - there is no danger that the insulation will become damp or wet. Plus - the quality of work is guaranteed by the use of modern equipment
- control of all processes - all operations are under supervision, because often in private housing construction you just have to take the word of the hired workers, because there is no way to fully control their work. This ensures both full compliance with technology and standards and improves the quality of work. Individual manufacturers carry out full control engineering communications, including the operation of the plumbing system.
The production of the base module is determined by the frequency of use of the future home. A modular house for permanent residence has stronger walls, for example:
- 12 mm cement laminated board
- vapor insulation (first layer, 0.15 mm)
- basalt insulation (minimum 15 mm)
- vapor insulation (second layer, 0.15 mm)
- 12 mm cement laminated board
In terms of its thermal insulation properties, such a “sandwich” is superior to half-meter brickwork. A prefabricated modular house for year-round use will require a reinforced base frame and the pouring of a solid foundation, improved hydro- and thermal insulation, installation effective system heating and ventilation.
There are a lot of options for choosing materials to create the base of the module. The most common is metal carcass with the installation of insulated panels, they are most often used for the construction of houses for permanent residence. For country houses, a suitable option is a frame created on the basis of a light steel structure, thin walls with thin insulation. Much less commonly used are frames mounted from wood, with sandwich panels or panels made of planed boards with mineral insulation.
- construction speed – if you do not take into account the time for laying the foundation (this will be the longest part of the construction), then the construction modular house will take 1-2 weeks. After all, ready-made modules will simply need to be installed and connected to engineering systems, connecting them to external communications, sealing the seams, installing strips and carrying out finishing work
- possibility of expansion – the project may provide for further expansion of the house by installing (on the sides or on top) additional blocks
- strength and earthquake resistance – modular houses are often built in areas with high seismic hazard; a reinforced metal frame ensures the safety of modular houses during earthquakes up to magnitude 9. Fact: in New Orleans, which was practically wiped off the face of the earth by Hurricane Katrina, it was modular houses built on the basis of metal block containers that suffered the least damage.
- minimum construction waste, which inevitably accompanies construction, because the module arrives at the site in a state of 95% readiness. This allows you to build houses while keeping the original natural landscape virtually untouched.
- low cost – the price per square meter in a modular house will cost almost 2 times less than in traditional construction.
The main disadvantage of modular construction is directly related to its advantage, namely the complexity of delivery and installation of the finished module, which will require a vehicle with a special platform, as well as a powerful truck crane. If we take European calculations, then a square meter of modular housing in a factory costs about $200-250, but due to the rental of heavy construction equipment, its cost in a finished (assembled) house increases by 1.5-2 times.
Construction of modular houses: from unification to individuality
Talk about the design limitations and monotony of architectural solutions for modular construction is a thing of the past. Today you can order a modular house in almost any style - from colonial with a traditional central hall and other rooms grouped around it to a house in Mediterranean style. But still, modular houses are most in demand in modern styles – high tech or minimalism. The simple quadrangular shape, in which clear and simple lines give geometric rigor, fully corresponds to the spirit of minimalism. Another popular solution typical for modular buildings is a large glass area, which helps fill the house with natural light, blurring the line between external environment and interior.
In order to save natural and energy resources, humanity has developed comprehensive measures to insulate buildings and bring the level of thermal insulation to a value close to absolute. This material will reveal the essence of a passive house as a modern and economical type of housing.
Concepts of passivity and energy efficiency
Our review will bypass the generally accepted list of advantages and technical indicators. For example, a building is considered energy efficient if its heat loss does not exceed 10 kWh per square meter during the year, but what should this tell the reader? If you count it, then in a year a small (up to 150 m2) house consumes approximately 1.5-2 MW of energy, which is comparable to the energy consumption of a regular cottage in one winter month. The same amount is consumed by 2-3 incandescent lamps of 100 W each, turned on constantly for one year, which is equivalent to 200 m 3 of natural gas.
Such low energy consumption makes it possible, in principle, to abandon the heating system in the house, using the heat generated by humans, animals and household appliances for heating. If a house does not require targeted energy expenditure for the operation of heating systems (or requires a small minimum), such a house is called passive. In the same way, a house with very high heat losses, the need for which is replenished by its own power plant running on renewable energy sources, can be called passive.
So an energy-efficient house does not necessarily claim to be passive; the opposite is also true. A house that not only covers its own energy needs, but also transmits some type of energy to the public network is called active.
What is the main idea of a passive house?
All three of the above concepts are usually combined: a passive house has the most expanded set of measures to ensure energy autonomy. In the end, no one is interested in testing their home for years, achieving heat loss standards in order to receive an honorary title. It is important that the inside is dry, warm and comfortable.
There is an opinion that today any new building should be built using passive house technology, fortunately that technical solutions there are even for multi-storey buildings. This makes sense: the cost of maintaining a house during the period between renovations is usually even higher than the cost of construction.
A passive house, with a larger initial investment, requires practically no costs throughout its service life, which, moreover, exceeds the service life of conventional buildings due to the absolute protection of load-bearing and enclosing structures in combination with the most modern and technological solutions for construction and repair.
Home technical feature A passive house can be called a continuous loop of thermal insulation, from the foundation to the roof. This “thermos” retains heat well, but not all materials are suitable for its construction.
Materials for thermal insulation
Expanded polystyrene is not applicable in such volumes; it is flammable and toxic. In a number of projects, this is solved by adding a fire-retardant layer near the load-bearing pillar and under the façade finishing, which leads to an unjustified increase in cost. The use of glass and mineral wool also does not solve the problem. Pests (insects and rodents) actively inhabit it, as well as expanded polystyrene, and the service life of cotton wool is 2-3 less than that of the passive house itself.
A material suitable for passive house purposes is foam glass. Brief summary of characteristics: the lowest thermal conductivity of known widely used materials, complete environmental friendliness due to the inertness of glass, simple processing and good ability to gluing. The downside is the high price and complexity of production, but the material is definitely worth the money.
A less expensive material, but suitable for insulating a passive house, is polyurethane foam. Technically, such houses cannot be called passive; their heat loss is 30-50 kWh per square meter per year, but these figures are quite acceptable. Polyurethane can be installed as a sheet material, or applied using shotcrete plastering.
Roof and warm attic
Another key difference between passive houses is the presence of an unheated attic or warm attic and high-quality insulation roofs without cold bridges. With this approach, two temperature boundaries are distinguished: on the ceiling top floor and in the roof itself. Thanks to the separation of the thermal protection, the formation of condensation in the roof insulation is guaranteed to be eliminated and heat loss is significantly reduced.
The ceiling of the upper floor is usually framed wooden beams, the voids are filled with a layer of medium-density mineral wool 20-25 cm thick. It is better to insulate the ceiling with sheet materials with a cross-cellular frame and precise adjustment of the insulation boards. All seams and joints are filled with special glue or foam. Special attention is given to the installation of a protective belt at the point of support rafter system on the walls.
A warm attic is arranged according to the principle of recovery of the ventilation system. The exhaust ventilation ducts go directly into the sealed attic space, from where they are discharged through a single opening with forced outflow. Often this channel is equipped with a recuperation unit that transfers part of the heat from the exhaust air to the supply air.
Windows, doors and other leak points
Everything is simple with windows for a passive house: they must be High Quality and necessarily certified for use in the energy saving industry. Signs of a suitable product include double-glazed windows with two or more chambers filled with gas, low-emission glass of different thicknesses and a double connection of the double-glazed window to the profile, sealed with rubber tape. For doors, it is important to have a honeycomb filling and the presence of a double door around the entire perimeter. It is equally important to follow the rules for installation and protection of junction points.
A passive house has its own foundation design features. To protect the structure of concrete, it is hydrophobized by injection and additionally protected with an outer layer coating waterproofing. The insulation is lowered to the entire depth of the foundation, thus ground floor becomes the second buffer zone after the warm attic.
Energy supply of a passive house
Gas is usually not supplied to a passive house; a single-phase electrical network is completely sufficient for domestic purposes and heating. With electric heaters, everything is simple: no matter how many kilowatts are invested in the house, so much remains in it, the efficiency is almost 99%, unlike gas boilers.
But the electrical network as the only source of energy supply has a lot of disadvantages, which mostly consist in unreliable connection. Often, houses are supplied with a fairly complex electrical network, including an emergency generator with automatic start, or they use a battery bank or solar panels for backup power.
Heating of water for domestic needs is usually carried out by solar collectors, mainly vacuum ones. In general, autonomous energy sources are quite diverse; among the varieties you can choose optimal solution for objects with different conditions.
Calculate the approximate cost of building an energy-efficient home using a construction calculator.
What is an energy efficient home?
This is a house in which:
Fulfillment of the above conditions ensures low and ultra-low energy consumption in the house. In Germany, good indicators of an energy-efficient house are considered when no more than 1.5...3 liters of standard fuel are consumed per 1 m2 of heated area per year, i.e. no more than 15...30 kW h/m² per year.
According to the theory of German scientists, any area has its own specific (for a given area) natural renewable sources, which, in the case of low energy consumption, can completely replace traditional sources of energy resources and ensure comfortable living in the house.
Low energy consumption at home makes it possible to use renewable energy sources from the environment. In this case, energy sources can be of various types: geothermal energy Earth, solar energy, wind energy, water energy. In the coastal zone, for example, wind turbines and tidal power plants. In mountainous areas - wind generators and geothermal systems. In flat areas - geothermal, solar installations, etc. This use of the environment is environmentally friendly, ensures the preservation of the environment, and most importantly, provides independence from constantly rising energy prices.
Despite the high cost of the equipment necessary to obtain heat from renewable energy sources, it becomes competitive with traditional equipment running on gas, electricity, wood and coal, since current operating costs are minimal and practically do not depend on rising prices. In addition, recently the cost of this equipment, which in the recent past was fantastic, has decreased significantly and continues to decrease every year.
Construction of individual low-rise energy-efficient residential buildings in Russia
Currently, individual low-rise energy-efficient houses for the majority of the Russian population are a pipe dream. Single copies built recently, at a cost (more than 100 thousand rubles/m²) significantly exceed the cost of ordinary houses calculated according to the standards in force in Russia.
The specialists of InterStroy LLC were tasked with developing a project and building a prototype of an energy-efficient individual low-rise building, at a cost not exceeding the average cost of a conventional country house(approximately no more than 60 thousand rubles/m²).
In the future, based on the results of monitoring the operational properties of the building under construction, it is planned to continue optimizing costs and reducing the cost of construction by another 10-15%. This condition is necessary for the implementation of mass construction of houses of this class in areas with limited energy resources (lack of electricity, gas).
Preliminary selection of basic architectural and technical solutions
Before the adoption of the main version of the “pilot project” of an individual low-rise residential building, specialists from Passive House Institute LLC analyzed several planning and constructive solutions, and also made preliminary calculations for selecting types of insulation and their thicknesses.
In order to reduce the cost of the house, it was adopted rectangular shape house plan, which made it possible to minimize the volume of external walls per unit area of the building.
Particular attention was paid to the choice of design of external walls. As a result of comparison various materials(brick, foam blocks, wooden frame, etc.), as load-bearing and enclosing structures, it was decided to use monolithic reinforced concrete structures. Concrete walls have a dense structure, which makes it possible to better perform the required sealing of the internal volume necessary to control and manage air exchange in order to minimize heat losses and maximize heat retention (up to 80%). It also ensures high load-bearing capacity with minimal thickness, which significantly reduces the volume of structures and reduces the cost and timing of work.
As insulation, among the huge variety of materials presented today (hard, soft, mineral, synthetic, “inflated”, etc.), a new generation of slab mineral wool insulation produced by the company was chosen "SAINT-GOBAIN". In addition, an agreement was reached on joint development with the company "SAINT-GOBAIN" attachment points for insulation (400 mm thick or more) to the concrete surface of external walls.
Exterior of the building
Main design solutions of the building
Architectural and planning solutions
The architects adopted a modular concept for the building's layout, using which it is possible to connect modules in different directions.
The module is a square with internal dimensions of 9.6×9.6 meters with a total area of about 90 m2. Square shape was adopted to reduce the material consumption of expensive external walls per 1 m2 of area.
The modular layout makes it possible to build houses with an area of: 90 m2, 135 m2, 180 m2, 225 m2, 270 m2, etc.
Foundation
The foundation is made in the form of a monolithic reinforced concrete slab 300 mm thick, the basement walls are made of monolithic reinforced concrete 150 mm thick.
Wall structures of the first, second and third floors
External walls are load-bearing, made of monolithic reinforced concrete 150 mm thick with subsequent insulation mineral wool slabs, with external finishing with ventilated facades and partially plaster facades. Internal walls, except for the two piers of the staircase and the first pier of the communication shaft, can be made from any wall materials at the request of the customer (brick, tongue-and-groove blocks, plasterboard, etc.).
Floors
Interfloor ceilings are beamless monolithic reinforced concrete, 160 mm thick, supported on external walls, staircase walls and communication shafts. A monolithic ceiling with a large span allows architects, when designing an interior, to carry out any individual layout and satisfy the most stringent customer requests.
Roof
The roof was accepted as partially unusable with a single-pitch radius curve with an internal drain and partially usable with a flat slope. The insulation of the radius roof is made from ISOVER mineral wool slabs with a thickness of 600 mm. Insulation of a flat roof – 450 mm of extruded polystyrene foam. Various decisions were made in order to show the possibility of using various types of roofs in this project (both flat and complex with a curved contour, as well as various types of one, two, four pitched).
Thermal envelope of the building
Insulation of a building begins from the foundation underneath foundation slab insulation made of extruded polystyrene foam 300 mm thick. Next, the basement walls are insulated with XPS insulation 350 mm thick. The external walls are insulated with mineral wool slabs 400 mm thick. To insulate the roof, parapets and cornices, insulation materials with low volumetric weight, both dense and loose (extruded polystyrene foam, ISOVER, etc.), are used. The choice of various thermal insulation materials is due to the fact that structures operating in different conditions (foundation, basement walls, external walls, roofing) are subject to insulation.
To attach semi-rigid insulation to walls, two options for ventilated and “wet” façade subsystems have been developed. One subsystem consists of I-beams made of OSB, installed vertically, with the space between the trusses filled with ISOVER type insulation. The second is made of metal brackets and wooden blocks, made in the form of a frame, filled with “ISOVER” type insulation. Together with the Saint-Gobain company, the development of other types of unified subsystems continues in order to reduce their cost and improve their characteristics (for the possibility of attaching insulation with a thickness of 400 mm, 500 mm and more).
External glazing and doors
Due to the fact that the thermal calculation of the experimental house was carried out according to German standards, the architects were given difficult task. When designing the glazing of the house, the orientation of the house to the cardinal points was strictly taken into account. The minimum glazing is accepted on the north side, the maximum - on the south. In the roast summer time An automatic sun protection system is provided on the façade of the house. In order to reduce heat loss, one input is provided. The windows and doors used must meet the following project requirements: Rо = 1.19 – 1.20 (m² C)/W.
External decorative elements of facades
There are various technical solutions that can eliminate the problems of freezing through these elements. However, they are often expensive and their use in construction will lead to unnecessary increases in cost. Therefore, in this project, the facade finishing elements are various combinations of a ventilated facade and external facade plaster. The varieties of these materials currently available on the construction market make it possible to satisfy the tastes of the most demanding customer.
Skillful combination of different types of finishing of ventilated facades, the use of different colors of external painting of wall sections, as well as the use different designs roofing allows architects to offer customers a wide variety of houses that are not similar to each other.
Internal layout
All rooms with maximum occupancy are concentrated on the south side, where maximum glazing is possible. Premises for technical and domestic purposes are located mainly on the north side, where there is no external glazing or it is minimal. From premises with double light it was decided to refuse due to a significant deterioration in the thermal performance of the building.
Home engineering equipment
Water supply
There is a well on the site. The well provides all the needs of the house. The automatic pump control and all equipment for water supply are located in a well equipped above the well head.
Inside the building in the basement there is an input unit equipped with the necessary shut-off valves, fine water filters and water flow meters.
Hot water is heated jointly using a heat pump and solar collectors, and if one of the systems fails, heating is provided using a backup source (in this project, a gas boiler).
In the event of a pump breakdown, the house has an emergency supply of drinking water of 1000 liters.
Drains and storm drains
The roof consists of a flat part with an area of about 45 m2 and a pitched part with a variable slope - 75 m2. On a flat roof, water drains along slopes towards funnels located in the corners of the building. On a sloping roof, water also flows along slopes to drainage funnels located at the lowest points in the corners of the building.
All drained rain and melt water is directed to the drainage wells of the wall drainage of the house.
It is possible to use internal gutters on a flat roof with a rainwater storage tank in the basement or a buried container in the ground (for use for irrigation).
Sewerage
The project provides for two types of sewerage:
1. For the basement, a pressure sewerage system is provided using the SOLOLIFT installation (for the bathroom, shower cabins and a ladder for collecting water from the floor of the washing room and sauna) and a drainage pump (for pumping water from the pit of the technical room during operation).
2. For the rest of the house, a gravity sewer is provided with one vertical riser in the technological shaft, a horizontal section under the basement ceiling and an outlet from the building in the basement at a height of 1 m from the finished floor.
Gravity sewer drains wastewater into a septic tank. The Tver brand septic tank provided for in this project is located 3 meters from the northern wall of the house.
Heating
Initially, this project set the task of using non-traditional, environmentally friendly, renewable energy sources of heat. It was customary to use it as an energy source heat pumps(using geothermal heat Earth) and solar collectors using solar energy. The heat generated by these installations, according to calculations by the organization LLC Company ENSO INTERNATIONAL, is enough to heat water and provide the house with heat throughout the year. Due to the fact that the heat loss of an energy-efficient house is significantly lower than in an ordinary house, then the required power of thermal installations does not exceed 10 kW.
Providing this power is possible from two wells with a total depth of about 200 m (50 W from each linear meter wells 200 meters = 10 kW).
A gas boiler is used as a backup power plant (other types of power plants are also possible: boilers running on wood, coal, diesel fuel, electricity, etc.).
The heating project using the joint work of a heat pump and a solar collector was carried out by ENSO INTERNATIONAL Company LLC.
In this project, for heating and hot water supply it is proposed modular system TYRRO with geothermal ground (horizontal or vertical) heat exchanger and function "freecooling" in summer time.
It is proposed to install solar collectors on special brackets on a flat roof on the south or south-west side of the building. Their area is determined during the design process, based on architectural and engineering considerations. In the summer, solar heat will be used to heat the soil at the site where the ground heat exchanger is installed, as well as to heat the water in the pool and water for watering plants. In winter, part of the low-temperature heat will be directed to heating the heat pump.
It also provides for air heating through the ventilation system in winter, and cooling in summer. While the heat pump is heating water, on the other side of the pump in the evaporator circuit (collector located in the ground) the ground will be cooled, increasing the cooling efficiency in the mode "freecooling".
Ventilation
This house design provides for forced ventilation using supply and exhaust ventilation units with heat recovery. The use of forced ventilation has both advantages and disadvantages.
The disadvantages of this system, compared to natural ventilation, are:
The advantage is the possibility of high-quality purification of the supplied air, which is an important indicator for the health of people, especially those suffering from allergic and pulmonary diseases. The cleanliness of the surrounding air, both in the city and in rural areas, leaves much to be desired. In the city - soot, exhaust gases from cars, etc. In rural areas - microparticles from flowering plants that cause allergic diseases, etc.
Control and management of air exchange makes it possible to ensure in any room, depending on the situation, the supply of a sufficient amount of air, respectively, oxygen, which qualitatively improves the functioning of the human body, especially his brain.
The ability to recover heat from air escaping into the atmosphere provides major savings in energy consumption. Modern installations recovery allows you to return up to 90% of the heat emitted from the house along with air in traditional systems natural ventilation. This allows you to significantly reduce operating costs for heat and provides significant budget savings.
To ensure ventilation in the house in the event of a power outage, a natural ventilation system is provided. To ensure its operation and the possibility of air circulation, windows with micro-ventilation mode are provided.
To remove waste gases from a gas boiler, which is backup source heat, there is a separate chimney with access to the roof. Air intake for boiler operation is carried out from the street, and not from the premises.
Electrics
According to the technical conditions, 10 kW of electricity is allocated to the site where the house is being built. The house is connected from the distribution electrical panel installed on a lighting pole.
The house has its own switchboard. A voltage stabilizer is provided. Horizontal layout cable lines are carried out on the ceiling (in cable ducts, trays, HDPE tubes). Vertical distribution of supply cable lines - in a technological shaft in a cable channel, as well as hidden along the walls, in a groove, followed by plastering and painting. A separate power line is used to connect the equipment.
A backup power supply is provided from a small diesel generator, which ensures the operation of engineering equipment in the event of an emergency shutdown. Connection and operation of the generator occurs automatically and is designed for 8-10 hours uninterrupted operation. During this time, all engineering systems must be switched to a special mode or turned off (depending on the purpose of this or that equipment).
Grounding
The house is equipped with grounding, adopted building codes and rules.
Lightning protection
To protect against lightning in the summer, the house is equipped with lightning protection that meets the safety requirements in force in Russia.
Operating Costs and Benefits
energy efficient home
Considering the ongoing rise in prices for utilities and energy resources in Russia, houses of this class make it much easier for their owners to survive the rising costs of housing and communal services.
The increase in prices for electricity and gas presented below, not to mention the increase in the cost of hot water, Maintenance and housing exploitation shows that it is several times higher than the statistical increase in the salary of the average working Russian. If the existing dynamics of rising prices for housing and communal services and growth average salary, within several years, payment for utilities will constitute a significant, and perhaps the main, amount of expenses in the budget of ordinary Russian citizens.
Dynamics of actual growth in prices for gas and electricity
from 2004 to 2014 and, if the existing dynamics are maintained
price growth for the period from 2014 to 2024.
According to preliminary calculations, additional general construction costs for ensuring the energy efficiency of the building and the costs of using modern expensive engineering equipment using alternative energy sources, at current tariffs, are justified within 5-6 years of operation. Taking into account the projected increase in tariffs, in the near future, the payback period may be reduced to 2 years.
Heating cost estimation an ordinary house with an energy consumption of about 150 kWh/m² year and an energy-efficient house of 25-30 kWh/m² year allows us to conclude that the costs of various types of energy resources (gas, electricity, etc.) when operating an energy-efficient house are reduced by 5-6 times , and if tariffs continue to rise, as evidenced by the last 10 years, saving on heating alone will help save your budget.
The following are the costs of heating an ordinary house with an energy consumption of 150 kWh/m² year and an energy-efficient house with an energy consumption of 28 kWh/m² year with the same areas of 300 m², and using different types of energy installations (electric boiler, heat pump, gas boiler).
Expenses for operating an electric boiler, rub./year
Expenses for operating a gas boiler, rub./year
| Year | Ordinary house | Energy efficient house |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 116 545 | 21 755 |
| 2019 | 45 556 | 8 504 |
| 2014 | 27 303 | 5 097 |
| 2009 | 10 062 | 1 878 |
| 2004 | 5 966 | 1 114 |
In custody
In the process of designing an energy-efficient house, engineers and architects of InterStroy LLC studied work experience and consulted with specialists, both domestic and foreign organizations working in this direction. Many of the achievements and recommendations that are worthy of attention were implemented in the development of an individual low-rise residential building of the series "IS-33e".
The construction of energy efficient houses in Russia is at initial stage of its development. In the process of working on this project, it became obvious that the modern achievements, technological and technical solutions we use are only a small part of what is currently used in foreign countries.
We have planned a lot of work to study and implement domestic and foreign developments that are most optimally suited to the climatic conditions of Russia.
InterStroy LLC has planned several directions for the construction of energy-efficient houses. Below are some of them:
.1. Continuing the search for the most optimal architectural and technical solutions using various types of materials in building structures, both traditional and new, more efficient materials to achieve a reduction in energy consumption (below 28 kWh/m² year).
2. Carry out further work on the selection of engineering equipment and systems running on renewable energy sources, as well as combining them with traditional equipment running on gas, electricity, diesel fuel, coal, wood, etc.
3. This year, complete the construction of a prototype of an individual low-rise energy-efficient house (28 kWh/m² year), at a cost not exceeding the average cost (in the Moscow region) of an ordinary house.
4. Carry out comprehensive monitoring of the performance indicators of engineering systems and building structures at this facility (after completion of construction - the next 2-3 years), which will allow:
Monitoring data is necessary to optimize and reduce construction costs and subsequent costs. In turn, reducing the cost of an energy-efficient house to a cost comparable to the cost of a conventional house will allow it to borrow worthy place in the housing market.
It is obvious that for any Client who cares about his financial well-being in the future, choosing to build an energy-efficient house will be the right decision.
An energy-efficient home is not an idealized vision of the home of the future, but a reality today that is becoming increasingly popular. An energy-saving, energy-efficient, passive house or eco-house is today called a home that requires a minimum of expenses to maintain comfortable living conditions in it. This is achieved through appropriate decisions in the field of construction and construction. What technologies for energy-efficient homes currently exist, and how many resources can they save?
No. 1. Designing an energy-saving house
A home will be as economical as possible if it was designed taking into account all energy-saving technologies. It will be more difficult to remodel an already built house, more expensive, and it will be difficult to achieve the expected results. The project is developed by experienced specialists taking into account the customer’s requirements, but it must be remembered that the set of solutions used must, first of all, be cost-effective. Important point – taking into account the climatic features of the region.
As a rule, houses in which people live permanently are made energy-saving, so the first priority is to save heat, maximize the use of natural light, etc. The project must take into account individual requirements, but it’s better if there is a passive house as compact as possible, i.e. cheaper to maintain.
Can meet the same requirements various options . Joint decision-making by the best architects, designers and engineers made it possible to create a universal energy-saving frame house(read more -). The unique design combines all economically advantageous offers:
- thanks to SIP panel technology, the structure is highly durable;
- decent level of thermal and noise insulation, as well as the absence of cold bridges;
- the construction does not require the usual expensive heating system;
- using frame panels, a house is built very quickly and has a long service life;
- The premises are compact, comfortable and convenient during their subsequent use.
As an alternative, it can be used to build load-bearing walls, insulating the structure on all sides and ultimately obtaining a large “thermos”. Used frequently wood as the most environmentally friendly material.
No. 2. Architectural solutions for an energy-saving house
To achieve resource savings, you need to pay attention to the layout and appearance of your home. The home will be as energy efficient as possible if the following nuances are taken into account:
- correct location. The house can be located in the meridional or latitudinal direction and receive different solar radiation. It is better to build a northern house meridionally to increase the influx of sunlight by 30%. Southern houses, on the contrary, are better to be built in a latitudinal direction to reduce air conditioning costs;
- compactness, under which in in this case understand the relationship between the internal and external area of the house. It should be minimal, and this is achieved through rejection of protruding premises and architectural decorations type of bay windows. It turns out that the most economical house is a parallelepiped;
- thermal buffers, which separate living spaces from contact with the environment. Garages, loggias, basements and non-residential attics will be an excellent barrier to the penetration of cold air from outside into rooms;
- proper natural light. Thanks to simple architectural techniques, it is possible to illuminate the house with sunlight for 80% of the entire working time. Premises, where the family spends the most time(living room, dining room, children's room) better positioned on the south side, for the pantry, bathrooms, garage and other auxiliary rooms there is enough diffused light, so they can have windows on the north side. East facing windows in the bedroom In the morning they will provide you with a boost of energy, and in the evening the rays will not interfere with your rest. In summer, in such a bedroom it will be possible to do without artificial light altogether. As for window size, then the answer to the question depends on everyone’s priorities: saving on lighting or heating. Great welcome - installation solar tube. It has a diameter of 25-35 cm and is completely mirrored inner surface: receiving the sun's rays on the roof of the house, it maintains their intensity at the entrance to the room, where they are dispersed through a diffuser. The light is so bright that once installed, users often reach for the switch when leaving the room;
- roof. Many architects recommend doing as much as possible simple roofs for an energy-saving home. They often opt for a gable option, and the flatter it is, the more economical the house will be. Snow will be retained on a flat roof, which provides additional insulation in winter.
No. 3. Thermal insulation for an energy-efficient home
Even a house built taking into account all the architectural tricks requires proper insulation in order to be completely airtight and not release heat into the environment.
Thermal insulation of walls
About 40% of the heat from the house escapes through the walls Therefore, increased attention is paid to their insulation. The most common and simplest method of insulation is the organization of a multi-layer system. sheathed insulation, which often plays the role of mineral wool or expanded polystyrene, a reinforcing mesh is mounted on top, and then a base and main layer of plaster.
More expensive and advanced technology – ventilated facade. The walls of the house are covered with mineral wool slabs, and cladding panels made of stone, metal or other materials and mounted on a special frame. There remains a small gap between the insulation layer and the frame, which plays the role of a “thermal cushion”, prevents the thermal insulation from getting wet and maintains optimal conditions in the home.
In addition, in order to reduce heat loss through the walls, insulating compounds are used at the junction of the roof, taking into account future shrinkage and changes in the properties of some materials with increasing temperature.
The principle of operation of a ventilated facade
Roof thermal insulation
About 20% of the heat escapes through the roof. To insulate the roof, the same materials are used as for the walls. Widespread today mineral wool and polystyrene foam. Architects advise making roof insulation no thinner than 200 mm, regardless of the type of material. It is important to calculate the load on, bearing structures and the roof so that the integrity of the structure is not compromised.
Thermal insulation of window openings
Windows account for 20% of heat loss in a home. Although they protect the house from drafts and isolate the room from external influences better than old wooden windows, they are not ideal.
More progressive options for an energy-efficient home are:
Thermal insulation of floor and foundation
10% of heat is lost through the foundation and floor of the first floor. The floor is insulated with the same materials as the walls, but other options can be used: self-leveling heat-insulating mixtures, foam concrete and aerated concrete, granular concrete with a record thermal conductivity of 0.1 W/(m°C). You can insulate not the floor, but the ceiling of the basement, if such is provided for in the project.
It is better to insulate the foundation from the outside, which will help protect it not only from freezing, but also from other negative factors, incl. influence groundwater, temperature changes, etc. To insulate the foundation, use sprayed polyurethane and foam.
No. 4. Heat recovery
Heat leaves the house not only through the walls and roof, but also through. To reduce heating costs use supply and exhaust ventilation with recovery.
Recuperator called a heat exchanger that is built into the ventilation system. The principle of its operation is as follows. Heated air through ventilation ducts leaves the room, gives up its heat to the recuperator, coming into contact with it. Cold fresh air from the street, passing through the recuperator, heats up and enters the house at room temperature. As a result, households receive clean fresh air, but do not lose heat.
Such a ventilation system can be used together with natural ventilation: air will enter the room forcibly and leave due to natural draft. There is one more trick. The air intake cabinet can be located 10 meters from the house, and the air duct is laid underground at a freezing depth. In this case, even before the recuperator, the air will be cooled in the summer and heated in the winter due to the soil temperature.
No. 5. Smart House
To make life more comfortable and at the same time save resources, you can and technology, thanks to which it is already possible today:
No. 6. Heating and hot water supply
Solar systems
The most economical and environmentally friendly way to heat a room and heat water– is to use the energy of the sun. This is possible thanks to solar collectors installed on the roof of the house. Such devices are easily connected to the heating and hot water supply system of the house, and the principle of their operation is as follows. The system consists of the collector itself, a heat exchange circuit, an accumulator tank and a control station. A coolant (liquid) circulates in the collector, which is heated by the energy of the sun and transfers heat through a heat exchanger to the water in the storage tank. The latter, due to its good thermal insulation, is able to retain hot water for a long time. This system can be equipped with a backup heater, which heats the water to the required temperature in case of cloudy weather or insufficient sunshine.
Collectors can be flat or vacuum. Flat ones are a box covered with glass, inside it there is a layer with tubes through which the coolant circulates. Such collectors are more durable, but today they are being replaced by vacuum ones. The latter consist of many tubes, inside of which there is another tube or several with coolant. There is a vacuum between the outer and inner tubes, which serves as a heat insulator. Vacuum collectors are more efficient, even in winter and in cloudy weather, and are repairable. The service life of collectors is about 30 years or more.
Heat pumps
Heat pumps use low-grade ambient heat to heat the house, incl. air, subsoil and even secondary heat, for example from a central heating pipeline. Such devices consist of an evaporator, a condenser, an expansion valve and a compressor. All of them are connected by a closed pipeline and operate based on the Carnot principle. Simply put, a heat pump is similar in operation to a refrigerator, only it functions in reverse. If in the 80s of the last century heat pumps were rare and even a luxury, today in Sweden, for example, 70% of houses are heated in this way.
Condensing boilers
Biogas as fuel
If a lot of organic waste accumulates Agriculture, then you can build bioreactor for biogas production. In it, biomass is processed by anaerobic bacteria, resulting in the formation of biogas, consisting of 60% methane, 35% carbon dioxide and 5% other impurities. After the cleaning process, it can be used for heating and hot water supply at home. The processed waste is converted into excellent fertilizer that can be used in the fields.
No. 7. Electricity sources
An energy-efficient home should, and preferably, receive it from renewable sources. Today, a lot of technologies have been implemented for this.
Wind generator
Wind energy can be converted into electricity not only by large wind turbines, but also by compact “home” wind turbines. In windy areas, such installations are capable of fully providing electricity. small house, in regions with low wind speeds, it is better to use them together with solar panels.
The force of the wind moves the blades of the windmill, which causes the rotor of the electricity generator to rotate. The generator produces an alternating unstable current, which is rectified in the controller. There the batteries are charged, which, in turn, are connected to inverters, where the DC voltage is converted into alternating voltage used by the consumer.
Windmills can have a horizontal or vertical axis of rotation. With one-time costs, they solve the problem of energy independence for a long time.
Solar battery
The use of sunlight to generate electricity is not so common, but in the near future the situation risks changing dramatically. The principle of operation of a solar battery very simple: used to convert sunlight into electricity p-n junction. Directed movement of electrons provoked solar energy, and represents electricity.
The designs and materials used are constantly being improved, and the amount of electricity directly depends on the illumination. Various modifications are currently the most popular silicon solar cells, but an alternative to them are new polymer film batteries, which are still in the development stage.
Energy Saving
The resulting electricity must be used wisely. The following solutions will be useful for this:
No. 8. Water supply and sewerage
Ideally, energy saving house must get water from a well located under the dwelling. But when the water lies at great depths or its quality does not meet the requirements, such a solution has to be abandoned.
It is better to pass household wastewater through a recuperator and take away their warmth. Can be used for wastewater treatment septic tank, where the transformation will be accomplished by anaerobic bacteria. The resulting compost is a good fertilizer.
To save water, it would be a good idea to reduce the volume of water drained. In addition, a system can be implemented where the water used in the bathtub and sink is used to flush the toilet.
No. 9. What to build an energy-saving house from
Of course, it is better to use the most natural and natural raw materials, the production of which does not require numerous processing stages. This wood and stone. It is better to give preference to materials that are produced in the region, because this way, transportation costs are reduced. In Europe, passive houses began to be built from the products of processing inorganic waste. , glass and metal.
If you once pay attention to studying energy-saving technologies, think through the design of an eco-house and invest in it, in subsequent years the costs of its maintenance will be minimal or even tend to zero.
A person does not need a thing, he needs its function. A new trend, a simple idea in its essence, seems to be changing the idea of suburban construction in Russia. Especially regarding monthly heating of the house. For a house to be called energy efficient, it must have two properties. On the one hand, it warmed up quickly, that is, it had low energy consumption. On the other hand, it retained the required amount of heat for as long as possible without additional heating of the room. Perhaps, the closest to the status of energy-efficient houses in terms of the given ideal parameters are the so-called modular houses.
Sergey Katargin
The house was produced at the junction of two technologies, frame and SIP. The main frame is made and covered with SIP panels to increase rigidity and increase the insulation layer. The houses are pre-fabricated and are designed to be transported in modules. Accordingly, the entire power frame is designed to move. It already has greater structural rigidity than a conventional house.
The principle of modular housing construction was invented at the beginning of the 20th century, when the task was to build quickly. The energy-efficient properties of such houses appeared later, and today they have become an integral property.
Sergey Katargin
director of a modular housing construction company
We are in the middle module. This 40 square meter house consists of 3 modules. The middle module connects to the outer one along this wall. There is a joint under the baseboard. Before transporting the modules, the end is insulated with mineral wool insulation or jute and when the modules are joined, it is foamed at the top and bottom. And it is additionally secured with metal ties.
One way to increase the energy efficiency of a home is to increase the thermal contour of the building. Perhaps the most popular wall insulation is polystyrene foam, which in turn can also carry a distributed load, that is, act not only as insulation, but also as part of the frame system. Sometimes it is used as decoration, but at the same time it does not lose its insulating properties. On average, an insulation thickness of 320 mm is sufficient for the Ural climate. Meanwhile, in modular houses it can be even more. For increased wall thickness, parameters are individually calculated power frame still at the design stage.
Sergey Katargin
director of a modular housing construction company
Of course, these houses, due to the fact that there is a large layer of insulation, will compare favorably with houses built using standard technologies, in addition to the fact that there will be a constant temperature in hot and cold weather, there is ventilation with heat recovery.
Heat recovery is the transfer of heat to fresh air, which is carried out in a special heat exchanger. Since modular houses are classified as a type of building where the walls are homogeneous and there are no cold bridges, they require mandatory installation of ventilation, and forced ventilation at that. By the way, forced ventilation is hallmark energy efficient houses. Modular homes are no exception. But in order to ensure that the temperature of the incoming air does not affect the microclimate in the house, a recuperator is also installed. And the room is thus never cold, stuffy, and there are no drafts.
Sergey Katargin
director of a modular housing construction company
It must be said that modular houses have a design that allows the building not to depend on the presence or absence of gas as a heat source. Eg, stone houses It is impossible not to drown at all. But heating brick walls with an electric boiler is unreasonably expensive. Meanwhile, in modular houses, the heating can be turned off completely during departure. And upon the arrival of the owners, an electric radiator will quickly heat the room. And gas can be used in cylinders for cooking. By the way, connecting a house to a gas main costs from 100 to 300 thousand rubles. And heating 40 square meters of a modular house in winter using electric radiators costs no more than 900 rubles per month. The arithmetic is stunning, especially when it is already known that gas prices will definitely rise.
