Best Policy Practices

Best Policy Practices
New apartments with low energy consumption
Landskrona, Sweden
How does one save energy and CO 2 emissions
in new construction, using straight-forward
solutions and existing technologies?
The goal of the investments – both in new construction and
refurbishment – is to create energy efficient buildings, which,
at the same time, have a good indoor climate. The buildings
must also remain energy efficient and have a good indoor
climate over their entire service-life; this can be achieved
through good management
In Landskrona, in the Southern part of Sweden, the municipal
housing company, AB Landskronahem, erected 35
new rental apartments during 2003-2004. The apartment
layout is quite traditional and the sizes vary between 70 and
115 square meters of usable floor area. When compared to
standard new single family houses, the energy savings in the
35 apartments measure approximately 40-70 kWh per square
metre per year.
No conventional heating is used, that is, no radiators or
under the floor heating systems (the costs saved were invested
in thicker insulation and higher window quality, i.e. triple
glazed with krypton, U-value approx. 0.90 W/m 2 K). This
type of building is called a ‘passive house’. The energy needed
comes from equipment, and is called process energy. There
are mechanical ventilation systems with heat recovery. The
apartments cost no more than conventional ones and the rent
paid is less than for other apartments built during the same
period.
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