are only few studies on occupant experiences and satisfaction of living in low-energy houses. This chapter
presents the work in this area carried out within the Class1 project.
meet the future lower energy requirements of the planned Danish Building Regulations 2015. The purpose
was to study experiences and satisfaction among occupants living in new low-energy houses. It included i.a.
overall satisfaction, perceived indoor climate and experiences and satisfaction with technical installations
for heating and ventilation, the ability of regulating the indoor climate, the availability and quality of
information and the experienced heat consumption. The survey showed an overall satisfaction with new
low-energy houses, but also that there were problems that should be addressed in order to make low-
energy houses attractive to ordinary people. Occupants experienced among other things noise from the
technical installations and that it was too hot in summer and too cold in winter, that there were a series of
problems with the technical installations and that their use was difficult and that the energy consumption
was higher than expected. A series of recommendations to increase occupant satisfaction in existing and
future low-energy houses are given.
municipality to tighten the energy requirements in the local plan regarding the establishment of new
settlements. During the years from 2007 to 2014, a total of 442 dwellings are to be designed and
constructed with a heating demand corresponding to the low-energy standard in the Danish Building
Regulations 2008 (BR08) referred to as "low-energy class 1" in a new settlement called Stenloese Syd. This
means that the energy consumption is to be 50% lower than the requirement in BR08 or what corresponds
to "low-energy class 2015" in the present Danish Building Regulations 2010 (BR10). Sixty-six dwellings were
to be designed and constructed with a yearly net space heating demand of 15 kWh/mē. All the single-family
houses were to be heated by a heat pump supported by a 3 mē thermal solar system for domestic hot water.
The dense low-rise housing was to be heated by a district heating network. All dwellings were to be
equipped with a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery and an electronic system for energy
monitoring and control of the heating systems. The first houses were occupied in 2008. An EU-CONCERTO
project "Cost-effective Low-energy Advanced Sustainable Solutions Class1" (1) was developed around this
planning initiative to support the demonstration activities through development, monitoring and evaluation.
The CONCERTO community in the Class1 project includes additional the new construction of a kindergarten,
an activity centre for elderly people and the energy renovation of 2 schools and 5 institutions of the
municipality.
single-family houses, which were completed at the time of the conductance of the survey. This was part of
an evaluation of the settlement that also included an assessment of energy consumption of the houses and