ABSTRACT
During the spring of 1975, a one-family, one-storey, experimental house, the Zero-Energy House, was constructed at the Technical University of Denmark. With energy conservation arrangements, such as well-insulated construction, heat-recovery equipment and a solar heating system, the Zero-Energy House is dimensioned to be self-sufficient in space heating and hot water supply during normal climatic conditions in Denmark. The planning and construction of the experimental house is the result of teamwork between three institutes at the Technical University of Denmark: the Thermal Insulation Laboratory, the Institute of Building Design, and the Heating and Air Conditioning Laboratory. The basis of the dimensioning of the Zero-Energy House and in particular of the solar energy system is the 'reference year'. It is a collection of data for Denmark, giving hourly values for 8760 hours of temperature, humidity, wind, direct solar radiation and diffuse radiation from the sky, cloud cover and cloud types.
