| > What is the big difference between houses built in North America and Europe is that the European houses are built using concrete and masonry which give them a lot of thermal mass which is crucial to this kind of builds. Here's a 500 sq. m. (5000 sq. ft.) house built with heating equipment that uses 1800W (the equivalent of a hair drier): * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vul4vMFdkA The same person building his own personal home up to Passive House standards: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBOvflXoWlw You do not need concrete† and masonry to make homes efficient. Switching from using 2x4s @16" off centre (OC), to 2x6 @24" OC ("advanced framing") would allow for less wood use, less thermal bridging, and more cavity space for insulation. † It should be noted that concrete creates a lot of CO2 emissions, as does baking bricks. Growing wood on the other hand is a way to sequester carbon. |
Recently in Romania it really took of building houses using CLT (cross-laminated-timber) but it costs so much more than a regular brick and mortar house that few people afford it.
When -15 outside and 20 degrees inside, my house requires 2000W to keep the balance. This kind of simulations are done using PHPP package from PassivHaus Institut.
L.E. What I wanted to point out, thermal mass can have a huge impact on the house energy footprint.. to give you an example, today and tomorrow will be sunny days and this will drive my interior temp to about 23-24 degrees, this heat will heat-up the masonry and slabs and then give me back the heat in the next days when there will be no sun.