Theoretical overview of heating power and necessary heating supply temperatures in typical Danish single-family houses from the 1900s

•Both old and new houses can be suited for low-temperature heating.•The supply temperature necessary in old houses can vary greatly.•Low-temperature heating can be used in many houses already today.

As existing buildings are renovated and energy-efficiency measures are implemented to meet requirements for reduced energy consumption, it becomes easier to heat our homes with low-temperature heating. This study set out to investigate how much the heating system supply temperature can be reduced in typical Danish single-family houses constructed in the 1900s. The study provides a simplified theoretical overview of typical building constructions and standards for the calculation of design heat loss and design heating power in Denmark in the 1900s. The heating power and heating demand in six typical Danish single-family houses constructed in the 1900s were estimated based on simple steady-state calculations. We found that the radiators in existing single-family houses should not necessarily be expected to be over-dimensioned compared to current design heat loss. However, there is considerable potential for using low-temperature space heating in existing single-family houses in typical operation conditions. Older houses were not always found to require higher heating system temperatures than newer houses. We found that when these houses have gone through reasonable energy renovations, most of them can be heated with a supply temperature below 50 °C for more than 97% of the year.