A comprehensive investigation of a low-energy building in Sweden

In Sweden, the building sector alone accounts for almost 40% of the total energy demand and people spend more than 80% of their time indoors. Reducing energy demand in the buildings is essential to the achievement of a sustainable built environment. At the same time, it is important to not deteriorate people's health, well-being and comfort in buildings. Thus, designing healthy and energy efficient buildings are one of the most challenging tasks for building scientists. A low-energy building that uses less than half of the purchased energy of a comparable typical Swedish building has been investigated from different viewpoints in an attempt to represent the building at different system levels. First, the ventilation performance in different rooms using the tracer gas method is reported. Second, results from simulations and in situ measurements are used to analyse the building's power demand and energy performance. The household's behaviour and their impact on energy usage as well as acceptance are reported. Finally, the CO2 emissions with regard to the energy usage are analysed on the basis of different supply energy forms from surrounding energy systems, for example a Swedish and European electricity mix, or district heating as a substitute for electrical heating.