A family heats with the sun

Planning:
DI Marina Rubin MAS

The passive house design of this single-family home in the province of Salzburg, Austria, was built within six months as an energy-efficient solar house through the use of prefabricated wooden elements. The southern orientation of the building enables effective utilization of solar energy. The solar harvest justified reducing wall thickness to 38.4 cm while retaining an average annual heating requirement of 14 kWh/m².

A 24 m² thermal solar plant is built into the steep roof and stores solar energy in a 3000-liter buffer tank that feeds the radiant floor heating and water heating systems via a flow-through heat exchanger. Should solar energy not suffice, a secondary pellets furnace provides backup.

A ventilation system with heat recovery provides fresh air the year round. A 25 meter geothermal collector preheats the air in the winter and supplies cool air on hot summer days.