established yet, smaller windows facing the sun, having a strategy related to the practices of ventilating by
opening and closing windows (natural ventilation) and a faster temperature regulation with sufficient heat
capacity in all rooms.
like for example a ventilation system, a heating system, a heat pump, photovoltaic and solar heating. It
seems to be a challenge to make all installations run as intended from day one after occupants move into
their new houses. There were a series of initial problems with the technical installations. More than half
(55%) of the occupants experienced problems with technical installations in summer and 70% experienced
problems in winter. This resulted in a number of critical comments from the occupants related to the heat
pump, solar heating, ventilation system as well as geothermal heat. The complaints about heat pumps were
twofold; they had too little capacity and used more energy than promised. Moreover, some installations
were not functioning properly.
that the technical installations run as intended from day one, and are able to provide the required indoor
climate at a low noise level and at the required ventilation rate. This should be combined with a better
follow-up on acute and periodic problems.
interface, with its own logic, terminology and symbols. Therefore, there is a risk that a house is so advanced
and that it can be difficult to use and to achieve an optimal interplay between the different installations. This
can lead to energy consumption not being as low and indoor climate not being as good as it was intended. In
some houses, it was apparently forgotten that occupants feel more satisfied with the indoor climate if they
can control it, e.g. by adjusting the temperature, the ventilation or the use of solar shading, see below.
four questions (Q1-Q4) were asked about the availability of information and their opinion about the
information if they received it , see Table 2. It is seen that there were problems with the information both
with respect to availability and quality. From this and a series of critical comments, it is clear that there is a
need for making it simpler to operate a low-energy house as intended. This may include issues like more user
friendly and robust installations that take into account normal peoples' competences and an informative and
easy-to-understand guide to operating the technical installations of the house. A personal initial introduction
by a pedagogic expert is recommended in order to improve the experiences of the hand-over process. It
could also be a user manual or online support or an improved commissioning process and follow-up, which
would allow the occupants to be able to use their house from day one as intended. To achieve this, it is
recommended to involve real occupants in innovative product development rather than only engineers and
ensure that there is a follow-up that picks up the experience gained by occupants.