Conference article

The paper describes the Danish contribution to the IEA-ECBCS Annex 51: “energy efficient communities”. We present three case studies; two from Annex subtask A (state-of-the-art review) and one from subtask B (ongoing projects). The first case study is “Samsoe: a renewable energy island”. In a ten-year period; the community achieved a net 100% share of renewable energy in its total energy use; relying on available technical solutions; but finding new ways of organizing; financing and owning. The second project is “Concerto class I: Stenloese Syd”. The buildings in the settlement are low-energy buildings class I (Building Regulation 2008). The project envisaged the implementation of selected key energy-supply technologies and building components and carried out an evaluation of user preferences to give suggestions to designers and constructors of low-energy houses. The third case study is: “low-energy neighborhood in Lystrup; Denmark”. The project integrates sustainable solutions both for the building sector and the energy supply side; which in the case consists on a low-temperature district heating network. The analysis of the successful/unsuccessful factors in the projects contributes to develop the instruments that are needed to prepare local energy and climate change strategies and supports the planning and implementation of energy-efficient communities.

Energy efficiency; urban planning; renewable energy; district heating