Saint-Gobain will supply materials for the First Czech Sustainable House!
The Czech Sustainable Houses organization has started preparations for the construction of two detailed, off-grid houses, i.e. buildings that are not connected to any grid and are fully self-sufficient, produce enough energy for lighting, heating and overall operation. Moreover, without any compromises to comfort of its users.
Czech Sustainable Houses is an organization that was established four years ago as a group of enthusiasts for green buildings. Every year, they organize a nationwide competition for students of architecture and construction who come up with their projects of energy self-sufficient and energy-efficient buildings. The long-term goal of the group was to actually build one. The plan has been implemented and the Saint-Gobain Group, as a long-time promoter of green buildings, is taking part in it.
Two small family houses with an area of 100 square meters look like ordinary buildings. But after taking a closer look, you will notice differences that make them special. The southern parts of the roofs will be completely equipped with aesthetic photovoltaics. There will be an ingenious system for draining rainwater into an underground tank around the houses, and if you have the opportunity to look inside the technical room, you will find a lithium-iron battery with a capacity of 20 kilowatt hours. Not only will the houses not be connected to a grid, but they also do not use water supply or sewerage. A dream for everyone who wants to become completely free, independent of centralized power grid and other sources.
During the preparation of the project, it soon became clear that a truly comprehensive and comfortable solution for energy self-sufficient buildings, from its placement on the piece of land and choice of materials, through individualized selection of technologies to their interconnection and management, is hard to find in the Czech Republic and is a major challenge to build. Therefore, a carefully assembled team of experts and professional partners was formed who conceived the implementation and developed their own management system for energy self-sufficient buildings. This system is the heart of the whole house and without it it would not be possible to build a self-sufficient house at all.
Another important element is building materials. The Saint-Gobain Group made a significant contribution in this regard. The engineer Petr Antl has been working with the project architects who designed the house since the emergence of the project. He recommended the best structures for the house that will ensure thermal comfort, reduce energy consumption and improve other parameters of the house, such as its acoustics. The basis of the house is a construction of brick blocks, which is complemented by Weber, Isover and Rigips materials. There are also Isover’s materials for insulation of foundations, facades, ceilings, attics and floors in the house. Furthermore, the project includes Rigips‘ plasterboards for covering the attic, building partitions or Rimat‘s gypsum plaster in interiors. Everything is complemented by a façade system with smart plaster, waterproofing, adhesives, levelling and flooring materials of Weber. The first self-sufficient house is planned to be completed in 2020 located close to Český Krumlov with the support of the Saint-Gobain Group.
You can follow the development of the construction on the social network page of the Czech Sustainable Houses.
PAVEL PODRUH, the founder of the project, due to his enthusiasm he managed to address a number of experts and partners who supported his idea. The Saint-Gobain was among them. For his work, he received the Manager of the Year 2017 award, the UN Award for Social Responsibility or the European Sustainable Energy Award 2018 (the highest award of the European Commission, category: innovation in energy). Through his activities, he acts as an accelerator of modern technologies based on renewable sources.
Pavel adds on the project: “All electricity will be produced by 10kWp of solar panels, which are directly integrated into the roof structure. We will store electricity in a 22KWh battery pack composed of lithium cells. For professionals, specifically from the highly stable and high-quality LiFePO4 technology. The energy solution is calculated in such a way that house can easily operate during the winter season and is divided into 4 different branches, of which the primary one is on and the others are, so to say, additions. So there always will be electricity, heating and most importantly water supply. The entire energy system was assembled by Michal Klečka, co-owner of the GWL Power, which is one of the largest distributors of lithium batteries in Europe. Thanks to that, we have top specialist by our side, who have experience from thousands of projects around the world. We are lucky. Hot water will also be heated by solar energy for most of the summer, supported by heat from an automatic pellet boiler. In addition, it has a Stirling engine, which also produces electricity from heat and recharges the batteries. We will draw water from a well and also use the rainwater for flushing among other things, and at the output we have a bio-WWTP. The entire water management and water technological solution was designed and supplied by the company Envi-Pur. It is important to say once again that the house will not be physically connected to any grid, this is our deliberate technological challenge. Challenges arouse human imagination.”
