On April 16, 2015, at the MosBuild exhibition site in Moscow, the 13th International Conference "Technologies for the Design and Construction of Energy Efficient Buildings, Passive House" was held. ISOVER specialists presented the results of monitoring the building of the "Accademia Saint-Gobain", reconstructed in accordance with the concept of multi-comfort construction.
In connection with the reduction of natural resources, the construction industry is now faced with the task of reducing energy consumption, a significant part of which (40.4%) is consumed by the construction sector; most of the CO emissions2 from fuel combustion (31.1%) falls on buildings1.
According to the director of the Passive House Institute Alexander Elokhov, in Europe from 2019 it will be possible to build houses of a standard not lower than passive2, characterized by an increased volume and capacity of engineering equipment based on alternative energy sources. “Reducing the energy consumption of buildings in several European countries has now become an integral part of building standards. Russia is still taking the first steps in this direction, but today a number of projects of buildings with reduced energy consumption have been implemented in our country through the use of modern building materials and technologies. The results obtained - real savings in energy resources and funds for the maintenance of such facilities - make it possible to speak about the prospects of this direction in construction,”he said.
Houses built or renovated with energy efficiency in mind have additional benefits that ensure a high level of comfort: good acoustics, optimal lighting, high air quality, fire safety, environmental friendliness of the materials used, which also helps to reduce the burden on the environment. Experts call the Saint-Gobain Academy one of the most successful examples of such construction.
As the head of the Saint-Gobain energy efficiency department, Alexander Shabaldin, told the conference participants, during the implementation of the Saint-Gobain Academy project, the main principles of energy-efficient construction were taken into account: a massive closed heat-insulating shell with minimized impact from cold bridges, a sealed shell, energy saving, rational use resources, as well as alternative energy. “Compliance with these principles allowed us to reconstruct an old office building built in 1961 into an innovative training center. The building has reduced the specific energy consumption for heating by more than 4 times. For over one and a half years, the Academy has been receiving many visitors to training courses.
“To optimize energy consumption, we have chosen the most detailed and accurate calculation methodology - PHPP (a program for calculating passive houses),” said Kirill Paramonov, specialist of the Saint-Gobain energy efficiency department. - In January 2015, we completed work on setting up an energy consumption monitoring system. The installed sensors allow you to track in real time how much the building is consuming, in which room the concentration of carbon dioxide is exceeded and a large supply of clean air is needed, where there were surges in electricity, etc. In other words, all changes in certain parameters of the building are recorded and corrected automatically. "Also, the Academy has installed a second fairly simple calculation system, Energy Operation. It allows you to form a complete picture of the "life" of the building, to understand the real cost savings.
The conference participants analyzed the key problems of the development of energy efficient construction in Russia and noted that this complex problem requires a step-by-step solution. "Academy Saint-Gobain" became one of the first implemented projects in the country, demonstrating in practice the possibility of introducing modern approaches in construction. A comprehensive solution to the tasks set has made it possible to significantly increase the energy efficiency of the building and reduce the burden on the environment.
1IPCC Fifth Assessment report 2014 (Fifth assessment report of the IPCC 2014).
2https://xn--80aaifbtankhlebg1amz.xn--p1ai/news/klassifikatciya-zdaniy-po-ikh-urovnyu-nergopotrebleniya
