Energy-plus building: Difference between revisions

An '''energy-plus building''' (also called: plus-energy house, efficiency-plus house) produces more energy from [[renewable energy]] sources, over the course of a year, than it imports from external sources. This is achieved using a combination of [[microgeneration]] technology and [[low-energy building]] techniques, such as: [[passive solar building design]], [[Building insulation|insulation]] and careful site selection and placement. A reduction of [[modern conveniences]] can also contribute to [[energy conservation|energy savings]], however many energy-plus houses are almost indistinguishable from a traditional home, preferring instead to use highly energy-efficient appliances, fixtures, etc., throughout the house.

 

'''PlusEnergy''' is a brand name, used by [[Rolf Disch]], to describe a structure that produces more energy than it uses. The term was coined by Disch in 1994 when building his private residence, the [[Heliotrope (building)|Heliotrope]] as the first PlusEnergy house in the world. Disch then went on to refine the concepts involved with several more projects built by his company, Rolf Disch Solar Architecture, in order to promote PlusEnergy for wider adoption in residential, commercial and retail spaces.{{fact|date=February 2022}} Disch maintains that PlusEnergy is more than just a method of producing environmentally-friendly housing, but also an integrated ecological and architectural concept. As such, PlusEnergy is intended to be superior to low-energy or zero-energy designs such as those of [[Passivhaus]].{{fact|date=February 2022}}