Building for the future

Houses without heating? Long considered only a subject for research projects, this idea has now become a practical reality. Zero-energy houses obtain electricity and heat from the sun free of charge. Yet this still doesn’t go far enough for architects and builders like Hubert Fritz who are working on houses that are also power plants.

Part I. Hubert Fritz’s best ideas always come to him in bed. Between four and six o’clock in the morning, he contemplates new ways of sealing joints, intelligent assembly techniques, and innovative marketing approaches. And if, a few hours later, at around eight o’clock, he arrives at work in Erkheim, Bavaria, with a pile of paper under his arm, his employees know: “The boss has just had another night of inspiration. And we now have a strenuous day ahead of us”.

The proprietor of the Baufritz construction business feels: “We ought to use our brains more when we build.” He considers the vast majority of buildings “ridiculous, energy-wasting rubble.” In contrast, the houses of the future, believes the 59-year-old, will be intelligent and recyclable, and not use any energy. This is what Fritz works on both night and day, and a growing number of architects, engineers, and clients are following his lead. In many German towns, what are known as “low energy houses”, “ultra houses” or “passive houses” are gaining ground – buildings that need only a small fraction of the heating energy and electricity required by conventional structures. The apex of this building philosophy is represented by so-called “plus-energy houses”, small power plants that feed more electricity into the grid over a year than they take out. All these houses have good wall insulation and use the sun as a source of energy. That’s the only way to consume less than 40% of primary energy needs on heating, cooling, and lighting.

A generation of ecologically inspired architects and construction businesses have made it their credo: “Save Fossil Fuel, Use Solar Energy.” They believe that energy needs can be met entirely by using the sun, wind, water, and biomass – provided that current energy consumption levels can be reduced by roughly half. This has not only been achieved by the first “passive house”, which was built in Darmstadt in 1991. By 1995 it was estimated that some 5% of new houses in Germany already fulfilled low-energy standards. According to an optimistic scenario presented by the Freiburg-based Öko-Institut, all new houses will be low-energy buildings by the year 2015. It is quite possible that 10% of new buildings will then achieve the energy-saving standards of “passive houses” and only require emergency heating systems.

Although the planners and construction firms are unanimous about the need to strike electricity and heat squandering bungalows and housing blocks from their order books, they also differ on the materials that will enable them to achieve this. While some put their faith in stone, concrete or plastic, Hubert Fritz is a firm believer in the virtues of wood. Some 90% of each house he builds is made of the renewable material: walls, ceilings, roof shingles – if client wishes, even drainpipes – are made of spruce and fir from sustainably managed forests. The moustached entrepreneur is particularly proud of the insulation material he developed in conjunction with researchers at the college in Rosenheim, Bavaria. To improve fire safety characteristics, Fritz mixes wood chips, produced by the ton in his factory, with whey, a by-product of cheese production. With a portion of soda added to prevent fungal attack, the special material provides good insulation.

Not all wood construction firms employ the ecological building material as extensively as Hubert Fritz. Yet most are working at near full capacity. While other construction firms are laying off employees, the wood sector has began to boom. More and more clients can not only imagine living in a wooden house, but are actually having them built. Germany is still not a centre of wooden house building like North America or Scandinavia. But Armin Seidel of Arbeitsgemeinshaft Holz, a working group that promotes the use of wood, estimates that 14% of new buildings in Germany will be made of wood by the turn of the millennium – twice as many as at present.

Wood has a number of advantages. The production of the material itself causes low levels of emissions and requires low energy input, it is a renewable and carbon-storing material, and has excellent building characteristics. This is why Hubert Fritz calls his products “Voll-Wert-Häuser” (whole-value products). In German the term brings to mind images of health food, but Fritz is not ‘a muesli manager’ advocating a return to nature. “Houses ought to be oases where people can relax without chemicals,” says the skilled carpenter. “And relaxation also involves technology that makes life easier.”

5. Answer the questions to part I:

What kind of person do you think is Hubert Fritz?

1. What is his opinion about conventional buildings?

2. What is the apex of his building philosophy?

3. Are his ideas popular in Germany?

4. Can you explain the difference between “zero-energy houses”, “low-energy houses” and “plus-energy houses”?

5. What can satisfy energy needs according to eco-architects?

6. Is a “passive house” still a dream?

7. When and where was the first passive house built?

8. Can you describe the optimistic scenario of the eco-construction sector development?

10. What building materials are mentioned in this part?

11. Is there the one and only material accepted by all construction managers?

12. What is Hubert Fritz’s favourite building material and why?

13. What material did he develop?

14. What sector in German construction industry has begun to boom and why?

15. What countries are the centres of wooden house building?

16. Can you prove that wood has a number of advantages?

17. What is Hubert Fritz’s opinion of what houses should be?

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30