{"id":14294,"date":"2020-10-26T14:49:31","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T12:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/?p=14294"},"modified":"2022-12-05T18:35:37","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T16:35:37","slug":"the-upcoming-positive-energy-building-in-kalasatama-will-set-a-new-framework-for-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/insight\/news\/the-upcoming-positive-energy-building-in-kalasatama-will-set-a-new-framework-for-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"The upcoming positive-energy building in Kalasatama will set a new framework for construction"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Kalasatama<\/h2>\n

The upcoming positive-energy building in Kalasatama will set a new framework for construction<\/h1>\n

Is it possible to build an eight-storey residential building in the northern climate of Finland and have it produce more energy than it consumes? This will be studied in Kalasatama in Helsinki, which will be the location for a positive-energy building.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The project is a part of\u00a0the EU\u2019s EXCESS project<\/a>. In the project, four positive-energy pilot buildings will be constructed in different climate conditions around Europe. In addition to Finland, positive-energy buildings will be constructed in Belgium, Austria and Spain. The goal is to prove that we can move from low-energy buildings to zero-energy or even positive-energy buildings using existing technology.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a topical and essential project on our way towards carbon neutrality,\u201d says\u00a0Anne Lehtinen<\/strong>, Sweco\u2019s architect and principal designer for the project. Lehtinen is in charge of the architectural design together with Sweco\u2019s responsible construction planner\u00a0Simo Anttilainen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The EXCESS project is funded by the EU\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. In Finland, the construction project is managed by Bassotalo. Sweco is in charge of the overall design. VTT is involved as a research partner.\u00a0 Corporate partners include Gebwell, Muovitech and Tom Allen Senera. The project is also a part of the City of Helsinki\u2019s\u00a0Re-thinking Urban Housing programme<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Solar power and geothermal heating are critical\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In each country participating in EXCESS, the attempted methods of achieving positive-energy goals are slightly different. In Finland, energy efficiency is based on building service systems, says\u00a0Jukka Lehtonen<\/strong>\u00a0from Bassotalo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not using any new and groundbreaking technology. We believe that positive-energy construction is possible with the existing technology. We focus on a highly effective geothermal heating system, solar panels and smart control of the building services systems,\u201d Lehtonen says.<\/p>\n

Sweco\u2019s specialist responsible for energy design\u00a0Joni Hilpinen<\/strong>\u00a0says that Kalasatama is the most challenging one of the four pilot locations: energy is needed more during the dark and cold northern winters, but there is also less sunlight to produce the energy.<\/p>\n

According to Hilpinen, achieving the goal depends on how many solar panels can be fitted on the building\u2019s facade. The solar panels will not be on the building\u2019s roof as usual, but also on its facades and balcony railings, Anne Lehtinen adds.<\/p>\n

Aiming at a reproducible concept<\/strong><\/p>\n

EXCESS started in autumn 2019, and construction in Kalasatama will start in early 2021. VTT\u2019s energy expert\u00a0Ismo Heimonen<\/strong>\u00a0says that VTT will collect data measured over a few years in the four locations in Europe and assess how energy efficiency is achieved.<\/p>\n

He points out that Kalasatama is a pilot location, and the goal of energy positivity may not be achieved, even though the team will do all they can. Even if this project does not achieve energy positivity, it may be possible to reach the goal on a smaller scale.<\/p>\n

The goals of EXCESS include not only proving that positive-energy buildings are possible, but also developing a reproducible concept through which the operating model of an positive-energy building can become a standard product in housing construction.<\/p>\n

Bassotalo\u2019s Jukka Lehtonen agrees that, instead of simply achieving energy-positivity, the goal is to develop a concept with optimal energy efficiency to be used as a basis for future housing projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just working on this one project but a reproducible concept that can be developed further,\u201d Lehtonen states.<\/p>\n

\u201cSlowly towards zero and then towards positive values,\u201d Heimonen summarises the idea.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it possible to build an eight-storey residential building in the northern climate of Finland and have it produce more energy than it consumes? This will be studied in Kalasatama in Helsinki, which will be the location for a positive-energy building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":14764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"The positive-energy building: new framework for construction","_seopress_titles_desc":"Is it possible to build an eight-storey residential building in the northern climate of Finland and have it produce more energy than it consumes? Read more! ","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14294"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38544,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14294\/revisions\/38544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sweco.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}